SHE By H. Rider Haggard First Published 1886. IN EARTH AND SKIE AND SEA STRANGE THYNGS THER BE Doggerel couplet from the Sherd of Amenartas I inscribe this history to ANDREW LANG in token of personal regard and of my sincere admiration for his learning and his works ORIGINAL PREPARER'S NOTE This text was prepared from an 1888 edition published by Longmans, Green, and Co. , London. A number of fragments of Greek text, and sketches, have been omitted due to the difficulty of representing them as plain text. However, small fragments of Greek have been transcribed in brackets "{}" using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table, without diacritical marks. PREPARER'S NOTE--UNICODE EDITION A number of fragments of Greek and other text, omitted from the original posting, have been restored in this Unicode text. Sketches, however, have not yet been restored. SHE INTRODUCTION In giving to the world the record of what, looked at as an adventureonly, is I suppose one of the most wonderful and mysterious experiencesever undergone by mortal men, I feel it incumbent on me to explain whatmy exact connection with it is. And so I may as well say at once that Iam not the narrator but only the editor of this extraordinary history, and then go on to tell how it found its way into my hands. Some years ago I, the editor, was stopping with a friend, "_virdoctissimus et amicus neus_, " at a certain University, which for thepurposes of this history we will call Cambridge, and was one day muchstruck with the appearance of two persons whom I saw going arm-in-armdown the street. One of these gentlemen was I think, without exception, the handsomest young fellow I have ever seen. He was very tall, verybroad, and had a look of power and a grace of bearing that seemed asnative to him as it is to a wild stag. In addition his face was almostwithout flaw--a good face as well as a beautiful one, and when he liftedhis hat, which he did just then to a passing lady, I saw that his headwas covered with little golden curls growing close to the scalp. "Good gracious!" I said to my friend, with whom I was walking, "why, that fellow looks like a statue of Apollo come to life. What a splendidman he is!" "Yes, " he answered, "he is the handsomest man in the University, and oneof the nicest too. They call him 'the Greek god'; but look at the otherone, he's Vincey's (that's the god's name) guardian, and supposed to befull of every kind of information. They call him 'Charon. '" I looked, and found the older man quite as interesting in his way as the glorifiedspecimen of humanity at his side. He appeared to be about forty yearsof age, and was I think as ugly as his companion was handsome. To beginwith, he was shortish, rather bow-legged, very deep chested, and withunusually long arms. He had dark hair and small eyes, and the hair grewright down on his forehead, and his whiskers grew right up to his hair, so that there was uncommonly little of his countenance to be seen. Altogether he reminded me forcibly of a gorilla, and yet there wassomething very pleasing and genial about the man's eye. I remembersaying that I should like to know him. "All right, " answered my friend, "nothing easier. I know Vincey;I'll introduce you, " and he did, and for some minutes we stoodchatting--about the Zulu people, I think, for I had just returned fromthe Cape at the time. Presently, however, a stoutish lady, whose nameI do not remember, came along the pavement, accompanied by a prettyfair-haired girl, and these two Mr. Vincey, who clearly knew them well, at once joined, walking off in their company. I remember being ratheramused because of the change in the expression of the elder man, whosename I discovered was Holly, when he saw the ladies advancing. Hesuddenly stopped short in his talk, cast a reproachful look at hiscompanion, and, with an abrupt nod to myself, turned and marched offalone across the street. I heard afterwards that he was popularlysupposed to be as much afraid of a woman as most people are of a maddog, which accounted for his precipitate retreat. I cannot say, however, that young Vincey showed much aversion to feminine society on thisoccasion. Indeed I remember laughing, and remarking to my friend atthe time that he was not the sort of man whom it would be desirable tointroduce to the lady one was going to marry, since it was exceedinglyprobable that the acquaintance would end in a transfer of heraffections. He was altogether too good-looking, and, what is more, he had none of that consciousness and conceit about him which usuallyafflicts handsome men, and makes them deservedly disliked by theirfellows. That same evening my visit came to an end, and this was the last I sawor heard of "Charon" and "the Greek god" for many a long day. Indeed, Ihave never seen either of them from that hour to this, and do not thinkit probable that I shall. But a month ago I received a letter and twopackets, one of manuscript, and on opening the first found that it wassigned by "Horace Holly, " a name that at the moment was not familiar tome. It ran as follows:-- "---- College, Cambridge, May 1, 18-- "My dear Sir, --You will be surprised, considering the very slight natureof our acquaintance, to get a letter from me. Indeed, I think I hadbetter begin by reminding you that we once met, now some five years ago, when I and my ward Leo Vincey were introduced to you in the street atCambridge. To be brief and come to my business. I have recentlyread with much interest a book of yours describing a Central Africanadventure. I take it that this book is partly true, and partly an effortof the imagination. However this may be, it has given me an idea. Ithappens, how you will see in the accompanying manuscript (which togetherwith the Scarab, the 'Royal Son of the Sun, ' and the original sherd, Iam sending to you by hand), that my ward, or rather my adopted son LeoVincey and myself have recently passed through a real African adventure, of a nature so much more marvellous than the one which you describe, that to tell the truth I am almost ashamed to submit it to you lest youshould disbelieve my tale. You will see it stated in this manuscriptthat I, or rather we, had made up our minds not to make this historypublic during our joint lives. Nor should we alter our determinationwere it not for a circumstance which has recently arisen. We are forreasons that, after perusing this manuscript, you may be able to guess, going away again this time to Central Asia where, if anywhere upon thisearth, wisdom is to be found, and we anticipate that our sojourn therewill be a long one. Possibly we shall not return. Under these alteredconditions it has become a question whether we are justified inwithholding from the world an account of a phenomenon which we believeto be of unparalleled interest, merely because our private life isinvolved, or because we are afraid of ridicule and doubt being castupon our statements. I hold one view about this matter, and Leoholds another, and finally, after much discussion, we have come to acompromise, namely, to send the history to you, giving you full leave topublish it if you think fit, the only stipulation being that you shalldisguise our real names, and as much concerning our personal identity asis consistent with the maintenance of the _bona fides_ of the narrative. "And now what am I to say further? I really do not know beyond once morerepeating that everything is described in the accompanying manuscriptexactly as it happened. As regards _She_ herself I have nothing to add. Day by day we gave greater occasion to regret that we did not betteravail ourselves of our opportunities to obtain more information fromthat marvellous woman. Who was she? How did she first come to the Cavesof Kôr, and what was her real religion? We never ascertained, and now, alas! we never shall, at least not yet. These and many other questionsarise in my mind, but what is the good of asking them now? "Will you undertake the task? We give you complete freedom, and as areward you will, we believe, have the credit of presenting to the worldthe most wonderful history, as distinguished from romance, that itsrecords can show. Read the manuscript (which I have copied out fairlyfor your benefit), and let me know. "Believe me, very truly yours, "L. Horace Holly. [*] "P. S. --Of course, if any profit results from the sale of the writingshould you care to undertake its publication, you can do what youlike with it, but if there is a loss I will leave instructions with mylawyers, Messrs. Geoffrey and Jordan, to meet it. We entrust the sherd, the scarab, and the parchments to your keeping, till such time as wedemand them back again. --L. H. H. " [*] This name is varied throughout in accordance with the writer's request. --Editor. This letter, as may be imagined, astonished me considerably, but when Icame to look at the MS. , which the pressure of other work prevented mefrom doing for a fortnight, I was still more astonished, as I think thereader will be also, and at once made up my mind to press on with thematter. I wrote to this effect to Mr. Holly, but a week afterwardsreceived a letter from that gentleman's lawyers, returning my own, withthe information that their client and Mr. Leo Vincey had already leftthis country for Thibet, and they did not at present know their address. Well, that is all I have to say. Of the history itself the reader mustjudge. I give it him, with the exception of a very few alterations, made with the object of concealing the identity of the actors from thegeneral public, exactly as it came to me. Personally I have made up mymind to refrain from comments. At first I was inclined to believe thatthis history of a woman on whom, clothed in the majesty of her almostendless years, the shadow of Eternity itself lay like the dark wingof Night, was some gigantic allegory of which I could not catch themeaning. Then I thought that it might be a bold attempt to portray thepossible results of practical immortality, informing the substance ofa mortal who yet drew her strength from Earth, and in whose human bosompassions yet rose and fell and beat as in the undying world around herthe winds and the tides rise and fall and beat unceasingly. But as Iwent on I abandoned that idea also. To me the story seems to bear thestamp of truth upon its face. Its explanation I must leave to others, and with this slight preface, which circumstances make necessary, Iintroduce the world to Ayesha and the Caves of Kôr. --The Editor. P. S. --There is on consideration one circumstance that, after a reperusalof this history, struck me with so much force that I cannot resistcalling the attention of the reader to it. He will observe that so faras we are made acquainted with him there appears to be nothing in thecharacter of Leo Vincey which in the opinion of most people would havebeen likely to attract an intellect so powerful as that of Ayesha. He isnot even, at any rate to my view, particularly interesting. Indeed, onemight imagine that Mr. Holly would under ordinary circumstances haveeasily outstripped him in the favour of _She_. Can it be that extremesmeet, and that the very excess and splendour of her mind led her bymeans of some strange physical reaction to worship at the shrine ofmatter? Was that ancient Kallikrates nothing but a splendid animalloved for his hereditary Greek beauty? Or is the true explanation whatI believe it to be--namely, that Ayesha, seeing further than we cansee, perceived the germ and smouldering spark of greatness which lay hidwithin her lover's soul, and well knew that under the influence of hergift of life, watered by her wisdom, and shone upon with the sunshineof her presence, it would bloom like a flower and flash out like a star, filling the world with light and fragrance? Here also I am not able to answer, but must leave the reader to form hisown judgment on the facts before him, as detailed by Mr. Holly in thefollowing pages. I MY VISITOR There are some events of which each circumstance and surrounding detailseems to be graven on the memory in such fashion that we cannot forgetit, and so it is with the scene that I am about to describe. It risesas clearly before my mind at this moment as thought it had happened butyesterday. It was in this very month something over twenty years ago that I, LudwigHorace Holly, was sitting one night in my rooms at Cambridge, grindingaway at some mathematical work, I forget what. I was to go up for myfellowship within a week, and was expected by my tutor and my collegegenerally to distinguish myself. At last, wearied out, I flung my bookdown, and, going to the mantelpiece, took down a pipe and filled it. There was a candle burning on the mantelpiece, and a long, narrow glassat the back of it; and as I was in the act of lighting the pipe I caughtsight of my own countenance in the glass, and paused to reflect. Thelighted match burnt away till it scorched my fingers, forcing me to dropit; but still I stood and stared at myself in the glass, and reflected. "Well, " I said aloud, at last, "it is to be hoped that I shall be ableto do something with the inside of my head, for I shall certainly neverdo anything by the help of the outside. " This remark will doubtless strike anybody who reads it as being slightlyobscure, but I was in reality alluding to my physical deficiencies. Most men of twenty-two are endowed at any rate with some share of thecomeliness of youth, but to me even this was denied. Short, thick-set, and deep-chested almost to deformity, with long sinewy arms, heavyfeatures, deep-set grey eyes, a low brow half overgrown with a mop ofthick black hair, like a deserted clearing on which the forest had oncemore begun to encroach; such was my appearance nearly a quarter of acentury ago, and such, with some modification, it is to this day. Like Cain, I was branded--branded by Nature with the stamp of abnormalugliness, as I was gifted by Nature with iron and abnormal strength andconsiderable intellectual powers. So ugly was I that the spruceyoung men of my College, though they were proud enough of my feats ofendurance and physical prowess, did not even care to be seen walkingwith me. Was it wonderful that I was misanthropic and sullen? Was itwonderful that I brooded and worked alone, and had no friends--at least, only one? I was set apart by Nature to live alone, and draw comfortfrom her breast, and hers only. Women hated the sight of me. Only a weekbefore I had heard one call me a "monster" when she thought I was outof hearing, and say that I had converted her to the monkey theory. Once, indeed, a woman pretended to care for me, and I lavished all the pent-upaffection of my nature upon her. Then money that was to have come to mewent elsewhere, and she discarded me. I pleaded with her as I have neverpleaded with any living creature before or since, for I was caught byher sweet face, and loved her; and in the end by way of answer she tookme to the glass, and stood side by side with me, and looked into it. "Now, " she said, "if I am Beauty, who are you?" That was when I was onlytwenty. And so I stood and stared, and felt a sort of grim satisfaction in thesense of my own loneliness; for I had neither father, nor mother, norbrother; and as I did so there came a knock at my door. I listened before I went to open it, for it was nearly twelve o'clock atnight, and I was in no mood to admit any stranger. I had but one friendin the College, or, indeed, in the world--perhaps it was he. Just then the person outside the door coughed, and I hastened to openit, for I knew the cough. A tall man of about thirty, with the remains of great personal beauty, came hurrying in, staggering beneath the weight of a massive iron boxwhich he carried by a handle with his right hand. He placed the box uponthe table, and then fell into an awful fit of coughing. He coughed andcoughed till his face became quite purple, and at last he sank intoa chair and began to spit up blood. I poured out some whisky into atumbler, and gave it to him. He drank it, and seemed better; though hisbetter was very bad indeed. "Why did you keep me standing there in the cold?" he asked pettishly. "You know the draughts are death to me. " "I did not know who it was, " I answered. "You are a late visitor. " "Yes; and I verily believe it is my last visit, " he answered, with aghastly attempt at a smile. "I am done for, Holly. I am done for. I donot believe that I shall see to-morrow. " "Nonsense!" I said. "Let me go for a doctor. " He waved me back imperiously with his hand. "It is sober sense; but Iwant no doctors. I have studied medicine and I know all about it. Nodoctors can help me. My last hour has come! For a year past I haveonly lived by a miracle. Now listen to me as you have never listened toanybody before; for you will not have the opportunity of getting me torepeat my words. We have been friends for two years; now tell me howmuch do you know about me?" "I know that you are rich, and have had a fancy to come to College longafter the age that most men leave it. I know that you have been married, and that your wife died; and that you have been the best, indeed almostthe only friend I ever had. " "Did you know that I have a son?" "No. " "I have. He is five years old. He cost me his mother's life, and I havenever been able to bear to look upon his face in consequence. Holly, if you will accept the trust, I am going to leave you that boy's soleguardian. " I sprang almost out of my chair. "_Me!_" I said. "Yes, you. I have not studied you for two years for nothing. I haveknown for some time that I could not last, and since I realised the factI have been searching for some one to whom I could confide the boy andthis, " and he tapped the iron box. "You are the man, Holly; for, like arugged tree, you are hard and sound at core. Listen; the boy will be theonly representative of one of the most ancient families in the world, that is, so far as families can be traced. You will laugh at me whenI say it, but one day it will be proved to you beyond a doubt, that mysixty-fifth or sixty-sixth lineal ancestor was an Egyptian priestof Isis, though he was himself of Grecian extraction, and was calledKallikrates. [*] His father was one of the Greek mercenaries raisedby Hak-Hor, a Mendesian Pharaoh of the twenty-ninth dynasty, and hisgrandfather or great-grandfather, I believe, was that very Kallikratesmentioned by Herodotus. [+] In or about the year 339 before Christ, justat the time of the final fall of the Pharaohs, this Kallikrates (thepriest) broke his vows of celibacy and fled from Egypt with a Princessof Royal blood who had fallen in love with him, and was finally wreckedupon the coast of Africa, somewhere, as I believe, in the neighbourhoodof where Delagoa Bay now is, or rather to the north of it, he and hiswife being saved, and all the remainder of their company destroyed inone way or another. Here they endured great hardships, but were at lastentertained by the mighty Queen of a savage people, a white woman ofpeculiar loveliness, who, under circumstances which I cannot enter into, but which you will one day learn, if you live, from the contents ofthe box, finally murdered my ancestor Kallikrates. His wife, however, escaped, how, I know not, to Athens, bearing a child with her, whom shenamed Tisisthenes, or the Mighty Avenger. Five hundred years or moreafterwards, the family migrated to Rome under circumstances of which notrace remains, and here, probably with the idea of preserving the ideaof vengeance which we find set out in the name of Tisisthenes, theyappear to have pretty regularly assumed the cognomen of Vindex, orAvenger. Here, too, they remained for another five centuries or more, till about 770 A. D. , when Charlemagne invaded Lombardy, where they werethen settled, whereon the head of the family seems to have attachedhimself to the great Emperor, and to have returned with him across theAlps, and finally to have settled in Brittany. Eight generations laterhis lineal representative crossed to England in the reign of Edwardthe Confessor, and in the time of William the Conqueror was advanced togreat honour and power. From that time to the present day I can tracemy descent without a break. Not that the Vinceys--for that was the finalcorruption of the name after its bearers took root in English soil--havebeen particularly distinguished--they never came much to the fore. Sometimes they were soldiers, sometimes merchants, but on the whole theyhave preserved a dead level of respectability, and a still deader levelof mediocrity. From the time of Charles II. Till the beginning of thepresent century they were merchants. About 1790 by grandfather made aconsiderable fortune out of brewing, and retired. In 1821 he died, andmy father succeeded him, and dissipated most of the money. Ten years agohe died also, leaving me a net income of about two thousand a year. Thenit was that I undertook an expedition in connection with _that_, " and hepointed to the iron chest, "which ended disastrously enough. On my wayback I travelled in the South of Europe, and finally reached Athens. There I met my beloved wife, who might well also have been called the'Beautiful, ' like my old Greek ancestor. There I married her, and there, a year afterwards, when my boy was born, she died. " [*] The Strong and Beautiful, or, more accurately, the Beautiful in strength. [+] The Kallikrates here referred to by my friend was a Spartan, spoken of by Herodotus (Herod. Ix. 72) as being remarkable for his beauty. He fell at the glorious battle of Platæa (September 22, B. C. 479), when the Lacedæmonians and Athenians under Pausanias routed the Persians, putting nearly 300, 000 of them to the sword. The following is a translation of the passage, "For Kallikrates died out of the battle, he came to the army the most beautiful man of the Greeks of that day--not only of the Lacedæmonians themselves, but of the other Greeks also. He when Pausanias was sacrificing was wounded in the side by an arrow; and then they fought, but on being carried off he regretted his death, and said to Arimnestus, a Platæan, that he did not grieve at dying for Greece, but at not having struck a blow, or, although he desired so to do, performed any deed worthy of himself. " This Kallikrates, who appears to have been as brave as he was beautiful, is subsequently mentioned by Herodotus as having been buried among the ἰρένες (young commanders), apart from the other Spartans and the Helots. --L. H. H. He paused a while, his head sunk upon his hand, and then continued-- "My marriage had diverted me from a project which I cannot enter intonow. I have no time, Holly--I have no time! One day, if you accept mytrust, you will learn all about it. After my wife's death I turned mymind to it again. But first it was necessary, or, at least, I conceivedthat it was necessary, that I should attain to a perfect knowledge ofEastern dialects, especially Arabic. It was to facilitate my studiesthat I came here. Very soon, however, my disease developed itself, andnow there is an end of me. " And as though to emphasise his words heburst into another terrible fit of coughing. I gave him some more whisky, and after resting he went on-- "I have never seen my boy, Leo, since he was a tiny baby. I never couldbear to see him, but they tell me that he is a quick and handsome child. In this envelope, " and he produced a letter from his pocket addressedto myself, "I have jotted down the course I wish followed in the boy'seducation. It is a somewhat peculiar one. At any rate, I could notentrust it to a stranger. Once more, will you undertake it?" "I must first know what I am to undertake, " I answered. "You are to undertake to have the boy, Leo, to live with you till he istwenty-five years of age--not to send him to school, remember. On histwenty-fifth birthday your guardianship will end, and you will then, with the keys that I give you now" (and he placed them on the table)"open the iron box, and let him see and read the contents, and saywhether or no he is willing to undertake the quest. There is noobligation on him to do so. Now, as regards terms. My present income istwo thousand two hundred a year. Half of that income I have securedto you by will for life, contingently on your undertaking theguardianship--that is, one thousand a year remuneration to yourself, foryou will have to give up your life to it, and one hundred a year topay for the board of the boy. The rest is to accumulate till Leo istwenty-five, so that there may be a sum in hand should he wish toundertake the quest of which I spoke. " "And suppose I were to die?" I asked. "Then the boy must become a ward of Chancery and take his chance. Onlybe careful that the iron chest is passed on to him by your will. Listen, Holly, don't refuse me. Believe me, this is to your advantage. You arenot fit to mix with the world--it would only embitter you. In a fewweeks you will become a Fellow of your College, and the income that youwill derive from that combined with what I have left you will enable youto live a life of learned leisure, alternated with the sport of whichyou are so fond, such as will exactly suit you. " He paused and looked at me anxiously, but I still hesitated. The chargeseemed so very strange. "For my sake, Holly. We have been good friends, and I have no time tomake other arrangements. " "Very well, " I said, "I will do it, provided there is nothing in thispaper to make me change my mind, " and I touched the envelope he had putupon the table by the keys. "Thank you, Holly, thank you. There is nothing at all. Swear to me byGod that you will be a father to the boy, and follow my directions tothe letter. " "I swear it, " I answered solemnly. "Very well, remember that perhaps one day I shall ask for the account ofyour oath, for though I am dead and forgotten, yet I shall live. Thereis no such thing as death, Holly, only a change, and, as you may perhapslearn in time to come, I believe that even that change could undercertain circumstances be indefinitely postponed, " and again he brokeinto one of his dreadful fits of coughing. "There, " he said, "I must go, you have the chest, and my will will befound among my papers, under the authority of which the child will behanded over to you. You will be well paid, Holly, and I know that youare honest, but if you betray my trust, by Heaven, I will haunt you. " I said nothing, being, indeed, too bewildered to speak. He held up the candle, and looked at his own face in the glass. It hadbeen a beautiful face, but disease had wrecked it. "Food for the worms, "he said. "Curious to think that in a few hours I shall be stiff andcold--the journey done, the little game played out. Ah me, Holly! lifeis not worth the trouble of life, except when one is in love--at least, mine has not been; but the boy Leo's may be if he has the courage andthe faith. Good-bye, my friend!" and with a sudden access of tendernesshe flung his arm about me and kissed me on the forehead, and then turnedto go. "Look here, Vincey, " I said, "if you are as ill as you think, you hadbetter let me fetch a doctor. " "No, no, " he said earnestly. "Promise me that you won't. I am going todie, and, like a poisoned rat, I wish to die alone. " "I don't believe that you are going to do anything of the sort, " Ianswered. He smiled, and, with the word "Remember" on his lips, wasgone. As for myself, I sat down and rubbed my eyes, wondering if I hadbeen asleep. As this supposition would not bear investigation I gave itup and began to think that Vincey must have been drinking. I knew thathe was, and had been, very ill, but still it seemed impossible that hecould be in such a condition as to be able to know for certain that hewould not outlive the night. Had he been so near dissolution surely hewould scarcely have been able to walk, and carry a heavy iron box withhim. The whole story, on reflection, seemed to me utterly incredible, for I was not then old enough to be aware how many things happen inthis world that the common sense of the average man would set down asso improbable as to be absolutely impossible. This is a fact that I haveonly recently mastered. Was it likely that a man would have a son fiveyears of age whom he had never seen since he was a tiny infant? No. Wasit likely that he could foretell his own death so accurately? No. Wasit likely that he could trace his pedigree for more than threecenturies before Christ, or that he would suddenly confide the absoluteguardianship of his child, and leave half his fortune, to a collegefriend? Most certainly not. Clearly Vincey was either drunk or mad. Thatbeing so, what did it mean? and what was in the sealed iron chest? The whole thing baffled and puzzled me to such an extent that at last Icould stand it no longer, and determined to sleep over it. So I jumpedup, and having put the keys and the letter that Vincey had left awayinto my despatch-box, and stowed the iron chest in a large portmanteau, I turned in, and was soon fast asleep. As it seemed to me, I had only been asleep for a few minutes when I wasawakened by somebody calling me. I sat up and rubbed my eyes; it wasbroad daylight--eight o'clock, in fact. "Why, what is the matter with you, John?" I asked of the gyp who waitedon Vincey and myself. "You look as though you had seen a ghost!" "Yes, sir, and so I have, " he answered, "leastways I've seen a corpse, which is worse. I've been in to call Mr. Vincey, as usual, and there helies stark and dead!" II THE YEARS ROLL BY As might be expected, poor Vincey's sudden death created a great stirin the College; but, as he was known to be very ill, and a satisfactorydoctor's certificate was forthcoming, there was no inquest. They werenot so particular about inquests in those days as they are now; indeed, they were generally disliked, because of the scandal. Under all thesecircumstances, being asked no questions, I did not feel called upon tovolunteer any information about our interview on the night of Vincey'sdecease, beyond saying that he had come into my rooms to see me, as heoften did. On the day of the funeral a lawyer came down from London andfollowed my poor friend's remains to the grave, and then went back withhis papers and effects, except, of course, the iron chest which had beenleft in my keeping. For a week after this I heard no more of the matter, and, indeed, my attention was amply occupied in other ways, for I wasup for my Fellowship, a fact that had prevented me from attending thefuneral or seeing the lawyer. At last, however, the examination wasover, and I came back to my rooms and sank into an easy chair with ahappy consciousness that I had got through it very fairly. Soon, however, my thoughts, relieved of the pressure that had crushedthem into a single groove during the last few days, turned to the eventsof the night of poor Vincey's death, and again I asked myself what itall meant, and wondered if I should hear anything more of the matter, and if I did not, what it would be my duty to do with the curious ironchest. I sat there and thought and thought till I began to grow quitedisturbed over the whole occurrence: the mysterious midnight visit, theprophecy of death so shortly to be fulfilled, the solemn oath that I hadtaken, and which Vincey had called on me to answer to in another worldthan this. Had the man committed suicide? It looked like it. And whatwas the quest of which he spoke? The circumstances were uncanny, somuch so that, though I am by no means nervous, or apt to be alarmedat anything that may seem to cross the bounds of the natural, I grewafraid, and began to wish I had nothing to do with them. How much moredo I wish it now, over twenty years afterwards! As I sat and thought, there came a knock at the door, and a letter, in abig blue envelope, was brought in to me. I saw at a glance that it wasa lawyer's letter, and an instinct told me that it was connected with mytrust. The letter, which I still have, runs thus:-- "Sir, --Our client, the late M. L. Vincey, Esq. , who died on the 9thinstant in ---- College, Cambridge, has left behind him a Will, of whichyou will please find copy enclosed and of which we are the executors. Under this Will you will perceive that you take a life-interest in abouthalf of the late Mr. Vincey's property, now invested in Consols, subjectto your acceptance of the guardianship of his only son, Leo Vincey, atpresent an infant, aged five. Had we not ourselves drawn up the documentin question in obedience to Mr. Vincey's clear and precise instructions, both personal and written, and had he not then assured us that he hadvery good reasons for what he was doing, we are bound to tell you thatits provisions seem to us of so unusual a nature, that we should havebound to call the attention of the Court of Chancery to them, in orderthat such steps might be taken as seemed desirable to it, either bycontesting the capacity of the testator or otherwise, to safeguardthe interests of the infant. As it is, knowing that the testator wasa gentleman of the highest intelligence and acumen, and that he hasabsolutely no relations living to whom he could have confided theguardianship of the child, we do not feel justified in taking thiscourse. "Awaiting such instructions as you please to send us as regardsthe delivery of the infant and the payment of the proportion of thedividends due to you, "We remain, Sir, faithfully yours, "Geoffrey and Jordan. "Horace L. Holly, Esq. " I put down the letter, and ran my eye through the Will, which appeared, from its utter unintelligibility, to have been drawn on the strictestlegal principles. So far as I could discover, however, it exactly boreout what my friend Vincey had told me on the night of his death. Soit was true after all. I must take the boy. Suddenly I remembered theletter which Vincey had left with the chest. I fetched and opened it. It only contained such directions as he had already given to me as toopening the chest on Leo's twenty-fifth birthday, and laid down theoutlines of the boy's education, which was to include Greek, the higherMathematics, and _Arabic_. At the end there was a postscript to theeffect that if the boy died under the age of twenty-five, which, however, he did not believe would be the case, I was to open the chest, and act on the information I obtained if I saw fit. If I did not seefit, I was to destroy all the contents. On no account was I to pass themon to a stranger. As this letter added nothing material to my knowledge, and certainlyraised no further objection in my mind to entering on the task I hadpromised my dead friend to undertake, there was only one course opento me--namely, to write to Messrs. Geoffrey and Jordan, and express myacceptance of the trust, stating that I should be willing to commencemy guardianship of Leo in ten days' time. This done I went to theauthorities of my college, and, having told them as much of the storyas I considered desirable, which was not very much, after considerabledifficulty succeeded in persuading them to stretch a point, and, in theevent of my having obtained a fellowship, which I was pretty certainI had done, allow me to have the child to live with me. Their consent, however, was only granted on the condition that I vacated my roomsin college and took lodgings. This I did, and with some difficultysucceeded in obtaining very good apartments quite close to the collegegates. The next thing was to find a nurse. And on this point I came to adetermination. I would have no woman to lord it over me about the child, and steal his affections from me. The boy was old enough to dowithout female assistance, so I set to work to hunt up a suitable maleattendant. With some difficulty I succeeded in hiring a most respectableround-faced young man, who had been a helper in a hunting-stable, butwho said that he was one of a family of seventeen and well-accustomed tothe ways of children, and professed himself quite willing to undertakethe charge of Master Leo when he arrived. Then, having taken the ironbox to town, and with my own hands deposited it at my banker's, I boughtsome books upon the health and management of children and read them, first to myself, and then aloud to Job--that was the young man'sname--and waited. At length the child arrived in the charge of an elderly person, who weptbitterly at parting with him, and a beautiful boy he was. Indeed, I donot think that I ever saw such a perfect child before or since. His eyeswere grey, his forehead was broad, and his face, even at that early age, clean cut as a cameo, without being pinched or thin. But perhaps hismost attractive point was his hair, which was pure gold in colour andtightly curled over his shapely head. He cried a little when his nursefinally tore herself away and left him with us. Never shall I forget thescene. There he stood, with the sunlight from the window playing uponhis golden curls, his fist screwed over one eye, whilst he took us inwith the other. I was seated in a chair, and stretched out my hand tohim to induce him to come to me, while Job, in the corner, was making asort of clucking noise, which, arguing from his previous experience, orfrom the analogy of the hen, he judged would have a soothing effect, andinspire confidence in the youthful mind, and running a wooden horse ofpeculiar hideousness backwards and forwards in a way that was littleshort of inane. This went on for some minutes, and then all of a suddenthe lad stretched out both his little arms and ran to me. "I like you, " he said: "you is ugly, but you is good. " Ten minutes afterwards he was eating large slices of bread and butter, with every sign of satisfaction; Job wanted to put jam on to them, butI sternly reminded him of the excellent works that we had read, andforbade it. In a very little while (for, as I expected, I got my fellowship) theboy became the favourite of the whole College--where, all orders andregulations to the contrary notwithstanding, he was continually inand out--a sort of chartered libertine, in whose favour all rules wererelaxed. The offerings made at his shrine were simply without number, and I had serious difference of opinion with one old resident Fellow, now long dead, who was usually supposed to be the crustiest man in theUniversity, and to abhor the sight of a child. And yet I discovered, when a frequently recurring fit of sickness had forced Job to keep astrict look-out, that this unprincipled old man was in the habit ofenticing the boy to his rooms and there feeding him upon unlimitedquantities of brandy-balls, and making him promise to say nothing aboutit. Job told him that he ought to be ashamed of himself, "at his age, too, when he might have been a grandfather if he had done what wasright, " by which Job understood had got married, and thence arose therow. But I have no space to dwell upon those delightful years, around whichmemory still fondly hovers. One by one they went by, and as they passedwe two grew dearer and yet more dear to each other. Few sons havebeen loved as I love Leo, and few fathers know the deep and continuousaffection that Leo bears to me. The child grew into the boy, and the boy into the young man, while oneby one the remorseless years flew by, and as he grew and increased sodid his beauty and the beauty of his mind grow with him. When he wasabout fifteen they used to call him Beauty about the College, and methey nicknamed the Beast. Beauty and the Beast was what they called uswhen we went out walking together, as we used to do every day. Once Leoattacked a great strapping butcher's man, twice his size, because hesang it out after us, and thrashed him, too--thrashed him fairly. Iwalked on and pretended not to see, till the combat got too exciting, when I turned round and cheered him on to victory. It was the chaff ofthe College at the time, but I could not help it. Then when he was alittle older the undergraduates found fresh names for us. They called meCharon, and Leo the Greek god! I will pass over my own appellation withthe humble remark that I was never handsome, and did not grow more so asI grew older. As for his, there was no doubt about its fitness. Leo attwenty-one might have stood for a statue of the youthful Apollo. I neversaw anybody to touch him in looks, or anybody so absolutely unconsciousof them. As for his mind, he was brilliant and keen-witted, but not ascholar. He had not the dulness necessary for that result. We followedout his father's instructions as regards his education strictly enough, and on the whole the results, especially in the matters of Greek andArabic, were satisfactory. I learnt the latter language in order to helpto teach it to him, but after five years of it he knew it as well as Idid--almost as well as the professor who instructed us both. I alwayswas a great sportsman--it is my one passion--and every autumn we wentaway somewhere shooting or fishing, sometimes to Scotland, sometimesto Norway, once even to Russia. I am a good shot, but even in this helearnt to excel me. When Leo was eighteen I moved back into my rooms, and entered him at myown College, and at twenty-one he took his degree--a respectable degree, but not a very high one. Then it was that I, for the first time, toldhim something of his own story, and of the mystery that loomed ahead. Of course he was very curious about it, and of course I explained tohim that his curiosity could not be gratified at present. After that, topass the time away, I suggested that he should get himself called to theBar; and this he did, reading at Cambridge, and only going up to Londonto eat his dinners. I had only one trouble about him, and that was that every young womanwho came across him, or, if not every one, nearly so, would insist onfalling in love with him. Hence arose difficulties which I need notenter into here, though they were troublesome enough at the time. On thewhole, he behaved fairly well; I cannot say more than that. And so the time went by till at last he reached his twenty-fifthbirthday, at which date this strange and, in some ways, awful historyreally begins. III THE SHERD OF AMENARTAS On the day preceding Leo's twenty-fifth birthday we both journeyed toLondon, and extracted the mysterious chest from the bank where I haddeposited it twenty years before. It was, I remember, brought up by thesame clerk who had taken it down. He perfectly remembered having hiddenit away. Had he not done so, he said, he should have had difficulty infinding it, it was so covered up with cobwebs. In the evening we returned with our precious burden to Cambridge, and Ithink that we might both of us have given away all the sleep we got thatnight and not have been much the poorer. At daybreak Leo arrived in myroom in a dressing-gown, and suggested that we should at once proceed tobusiness. I scouted the idea as showing an unworthy curiosity. The chesthad waited twenty years, I said, so it could very well continue to waituntil after breakfast. Accordingly at nine--an unusually sharp nine--webreakfasted; and so occupied was I with my own thoughts that I regret tostate that I put a piece of bacon into Leo's tea in mistake for a lumpof sugar. Job, too, to whom the contagion of excitement had, of course, spread, managed to break the handle off my Sèvres china tea-cup, theidentical one I believe that Marat had been drinking from just before hewas stabbed in his bath. At last, however, breakfast was cleared away, and Job, at my request, fetched the chest, and placed it upon the table in a somewhat gingerlyfashion, as though he mistrusted it. Then he prepared to leave the room. "Stop a moment, Job, " I said. "If Mr. Leo has no objection, I shouldprefer to have an independent witness to this business, who can berelied upon to hold his tongue unless he is asked to speak. " "Certainly, Uncle Horace, " answered Leo; for I had brought him up tocall me uncle--though he varied the appellation somewhat disrespectfullyby calling me "old fellow, " or even "my avuncular relative. " Job touched his head, not having a hat on. "Lock the door, Job, " I said, "and bring me my despatch-box. " He obeyed, and from the box I took the keys that poor Vincey, Leo'sfather, had given me on the night of his death. There were three ofthem; the largest a comparatively modern key, the second an exceedinglyancient one, and the third entirely unlike anything of the sort that wehad ever seen before, being fashioned apparently from a strip of solidsilver, with a bar placed across to serve as a handle, and leavingsome nicks cut in the edge of the bar. It was more like a model of anantediluvian railway key than anything else. "Now are you both ready?" I said, as people do when they are going tofire a mine. There was no answer, so I took the big key, rubbed somesalad oil into the wards, and after one or two bad shots, for my handswere shaking, managed to fit it, and shoot the lock. Leo bent over andcaught the massive lid in both his hands, and with an effort, for thehinges had rusted, forced it back. Its removal revealed another casecovered with dust. This we extracted from the iron chest without anydifficulty, and removed the accumulated filth of years from it with aclothes-brush. It was, or appeared to be, of ebony, or some such close-grained blackwood, and was bound in every direction with flat bands of iron. Itsantiquity must have been extreme, for the dense heavy wood was in partsactually commencing to crumble from age. "Now for it, " I said, inserting the second key. Job and Leo bent forward in breathless silence. The key turned, andI flung back the lid, and uttered an exclamation, and no wonder, forinside the ebony case was a magnificent silver casket, about twelveinches square by eight high. It appeared to be of Egyptian workmanship, and the four legs were formed of Sphinxes, and the dome-shaped cover wasalso surmounted by a Sphinx. The casket was of course much tarnished anddinted with age, but otherwise in fairly sound condition. I drew it out and set it on the table, and then, in the midst of themost perfect silence, I inserted the strange-looking silver key, andpressed this way and that until at last the lock yielded, and the casketstood before us. It was filled to the brim with some brown shreddedmaterial, more like vegetable fibre than paper, the nature of which Ihave never been able to discover. This I carefully removed to the depthof some three inches, when I came to a letter enclosed in an ordinarymodern-looking envelope, and addressed in the handwriting of my deadfriend Vincey. "_To my son Leo, should he live to open this casket. _" I handed the letter to Leo, who glanced at the envelope, and then put itdown upon the table, making a motion to me to go on emptying the casket. The next thing that I found was a parchment carefully rolled up. Iunrolled it, and seeing that it was also in Vincey's handwriting, andheaded, "Translation of the Uncial Greek Writing on the Potsherd, " putit down by the letter. Then followed another ancient roll of parchment, that had become yellow and crinkled with the passage of years. This Ialso unrolled. It was likewise a translation of the same Greek original, but into black-letter Latin, which at the first glance from the styleand character appeared to me to date from somewhere about the beginningof the sixteenth century. Immediately beneath this roll was somethinghard and heavy, wrapped up in yellow linen, and reposing upon anotherlayer of the fibrous material. Slowly and carefully we unrolled thelinen, exposing to view a very large but undoubtedly ancient potsherdof a dirty yellow colour! This potsherd had in my judgment, once beena part of an ordinary amphora of medium size. For the rest, it measuredten and a half inches in length by seven in width, was about a quarterof an inch thick, and densely covered on the convex side that laytowards the bottom of the box with writing in the later uncial Greekcharacter, faded here and there, but for the most part perfectlylegible, the inscription having evidently been executed with thegreatest care, and by means of a reed pen, such as the ancientsoften used. I must not forget to mention that in some remote age thiswonderful fragment had been broken in two, and rejoined by means ofcement and eight long rivets. Also there were numerous inscriptions onthe inner side, but these were of the most erratic character, and hadclearly been made by different hands and in many different ages, andof them, together with the writings on the parchments, I shall have tospeak presently. [plate 1] FACSIMILE OF THE SHERD OF AMENARTAS One 1/2 size Greatest length of the original 10½ inches Greatest breadth 7 inches Weight 1lb 5½ oz [plate 2] FACSIMILE OF THE SHERD OF AMENARTAS One 1/2 size "Is there anything more?" asked Leo, in a kind of excited whisper. I groped about, and produced something hard, done up in a little linenbag. Out of the bag we took first a very beautiful miniature doneupon ivory, and secondly, a small chocolate-coloured composition_scarabæus_, marked thus:-- [sketch omitted] symbols which, we have since ascertained, mean "Suten se Ra, " which isbeing translated the "Royal Son of Ra or the Sun. " The miniature was apicture of Leo's Greek mother--a lovely, dark-eyed creature. On the backof it was written, in poor Vincey's handwriting, "My beloved wife. " "That is all, " I said. "Very well, " answered Leo, putting down the miniature, at which hehad been gazing affectionately; "and now let us read the letter, " andwithout further ado he broke the seal, and read aloud as follows:-- "My Son Leo, --When you open this, if you ever live to do so, you willhave attained to manhood, and I shall have been long enough dead tobe absolutely forgotten by nearly all who knew me. Yet in reading itremember that I have been, and for anything you know may still be, andthat in it, through this link of pen and paper, I stretch out my handto you across the gulf of death, and my voice speaks to you from thesilence of the grave. Though I am dead, and no memory of me remainsin your mind, yet am I with you in this hour that you read. Since yourbirth to this day I have scarcely seen your face. Forgive me this. Yourlife supplanted the life of one whom I loved better than women are oftenloved, and the bitterness of it endureth yet. Had I lived I should intime have conquered this foolish feeling, but I am not destined to live. My sufferings, physical and mental, are more than I can bear, and whensuch small arrangements as I have to make for your future well-being arecompleted it is my intention to put a period to them. May God forgive meif I do wrong. At the best I could not live more than another year. " "So he killed himself, " I exclaimed. "I thought so. " "And now, " Leo went on, without replying, "enough of myself. What has tobe said belongs to you who live, not to me, who am dead, and almost asmuch forgotten as though I had never been. Holly, my friend (to whom, ifhe will accept the trust, it is my intention to confide you), will havetold you something of the extraordinary antiquity of your race. Inthe contents of this casket you will find sufficient to prove it. Thestrange legend that you will find inscribed by your remote ancestressupon the potsherd was communicated to me by my father on his deathbed, and took a strong hold in my imagination. When I was only nineteen yearsof age I determined, as, to his misfortune, did one of our ancestorsabout the time of Elizabeth, to investigate its truth. Into all thatbefell me I cannot enter now. But this I saw with my own eyes. On thecoast of Africa, in a hitherto unexplored region, some distance to thenorth of where the Zambesi falls into the sea, there is a headland, at the extremity of which a peak towers up, shaped like the head of anegro, similar to that of which the writing speaks. I landed there, and learnt from a wandering native, who had been cast out by his peoplebecause of some crime which he had committed, that far inland are greatmountains, shaped like cups, and caves surrounded by measureless swamps. I learnt also that the people there speak a dialect of Arabic, and areruled over by a _beautiful white woman_ who is seldom seen by them, butwho is reported to have power over all things living and dead. Twodays after I had ascertained this the man died of fever contractedin crossing the swamps, and I was forced by want of provisions and bysymptoms of an illness which afterwards prostrated me to take to my dhowagain. "Of the adventures that befell me after this I need not now speak. I waswrecked upon the coast of Madagascar, and rescued some months afterwardsby an English ship that brought me to Aden, whence I started forEngland, intending to prosecute my search as soon as I had madesufficient preparations. On my way I stopped in Greece, and there, for'Omnia vincit amor, ' I met your beloved mother, and married her, andthere you were born and she died. Then it was that my last illnessseized me, and I returned hither to die. But still I hoped against hope, and set myself to work to learn Arabic, with the intention, should Iever get better, of returning to the coast of Africa, and solvingthe mystery of which the tradition has lived so many centuries in ourfamily. But I have not got better, and, so far as I am concerned, thestory is at an end. "For you, however, my son, it is not at an end, and to you I hand onthese the results of my labour, together with the hereditary proofs ofits origin. It is my intention to provide that they shall not be putinto your hands until you have reached an age when you will be able tojudge for yourself whether or no you will choose to investigate what, ifit is true, must be the greatest mystery in the world, or to put it byas an idle fable, originating in the first place in a woman's disorderedbrain. "I do not believe that it is a fable; I believe that if it can onlybe re-discovered there is a spot where the vital forces of the worldvisibly exist. Life exists; why therefore should not the means ofpreserving it indefinitely exist also? But I have no wish to prejudiceyour mind about the matter. Read and judge for yourself. If you areinclined to undertake the search, I have so provided that you will notlack for means. If, on the other hand, you are satisfied that the wholething is a chimera, then, I adjure you, destroy the potsherd and thewritings, and let a cause of troubling be removed from our race forever. Perhaps that will be wisest. The unknown is generally taken to beterrible, not as the proverb would infer, from the inherent superstitionof man, but because it so often _is_ terrible. He who would tamper withthe vast and secret forces that animate the world may well fall a victimto them. And if the end were attained, if at last you emerged from thetrial ever beautiful and ever young, defying time and evil, and liftedabove the natural decay of flesh and intellect, who shall say that theawesome change would prove a happy one? Choose, my son, and may thePower who rules all things, and who says 'thus far shalt thou go, andthus much shalt thou learn, ' direct the choice to your own happinessand the happiness of the world, which, in the event of your success, you would one day certainly rule by the pure force of accumulatedexperience. -- Farewell!" Thus the letter, which was unsigned and undated, abruptly ended. "What do you make of that, Uncle Holly, " said Leo, with a sort of gasp, as he replaced it on the table. "We have been looking for a mystery, andwe certainly seem to have found one. " "What do I make of it? Why, that your poor dear father was off his head, of course, " I answered, testily. "I guessed as much that night, twentyyears ago, when he came into my room. You see he evidently hurried hisown end, poor man. It is absolute balderdash. " "That's it, sir!" said Job, solemnly. Job was a most matter-of-factspecimen of a matter-of-fact class. "Well, let's see what the potsherd has to say, at any rate, " said Leo, taking up the translation in his father's writing, and commencing toread:-- "_I, Amenartas, of the Royal House of the Pharaohs of Egypt, wife ofKallikrates (the Beautiful in Strength), a Priest of Isis whom thegods cherish and the demons obey, being about to die, to my little sonTisisthenes (the Mighty Avenger). I fled with thy father from Egypt inthe days of Nectanebes, [*] causing him through love to break the vowsthat he had vowed. We fled southward, across the waters, and we wanderedfor twice twelve moons on the coast of Libya (Africa) that looks towardsthe rising sun, where by a river is a great rock carven like the headof an Ethiopian. Four days on the water from the mouth of a mighty riverwere we cast away, and some were drowned and some died of sickness. Butus wild men took through wastes and marshes, where the sea fowl hid thesky, bearing us ten days' journey till we came to a hollow mountain, where a great city had been and fallen, and where there are caves ofwhich no man hath seen the end; and they brought us to the Queen of thepeople who place pots upon the heads of strangers, who is a magicianhaving a knowledge of all things, and life and loveliness that does notdie. And she cast eyes of love upon thy father, Kallikrates, and wouldhave slain me, and taken him to husband, but he loved me and feared her, and would not. Then did she take us, and lead us by terrible ways, bymeans of dark magic, to where the great pit is, in the mouth of whichthe old philosopher lay dead, and showed to us the rolling Pillar ofLife that dies not, whereof the voice is as the voice of thunder; andshe did stand in the flames, and come forth unharmed, and yet morebeautiful. Then did she swear to make thy father undying even as she is, if he would but slay me, and give himself to her, for me she couldnot slay because of the magic of my own people that I have, and thatprevailed thus far against her. And he held his hand before his eyes tohide her beauty, and would not. Then in her rage did she smite him byher magic, and he died; but she wept over him, and bore him thence withlamentations: and being afraid, me she sent to the mouth of the greatriver where the ships come, and I was carried far away on the shipswhere I gave thee birth, and hither to Athens I came at last after manywanderings. Now I say to thee, my son, Tisisthenes, seek out the woman, and learn the secret of Life, and if thou mayest find a way slay her, because of thy father Kallikrates; and if thou dost fear or fail, thisI say to all thy seed who come after thee, till at last a brave man befound among them who shall bathe in the fire and sit in the place of thePharaohs. I speak of those things, that though they be past belief, yetI have known, and I lie not. _" [*] Nekht-nebf, or Nectanebo II. , the last native Pharaoh of Egypt, fled from Ochus to Ethiopia, B. C. 339. --Editor. "May the Lord forgive her for that, " groaned Job, who had been listeningto this marvellous composition with his mouth open. As for myself, I said nothing: my first idea being that my poor friend, being demented, had composed the whole thing, though it scarcely seemedlikely that such a story could have been invented by anybody. It was toooriginal. To solve my doubts I took up the potsherd and began to readthe close uncial Greek writing on it; and very good Greek of the periodit is, considering that it came from the pen of an Egyptian born. Hereis an exact transcript of it:-- ΑΜΕΝΑΡΤΑΣΤΟΥΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΟΥΓΕΝΟΥΣΤΟΥΑΙΓΥΠΤΙΟΥΗΤΟΥΚΑΛΛΙΚΡΑΤΟΥΣΙΣΙΔΟΣΙΕΡΕΩΣΗΝΟΙΜΕΝΘΕΟΙΤΡΕΦΟΥΣΙΤΑΔΕΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΑΥΠΟΤΑΣΣΕΤΑΙΗΔΗΤΕΛΕΥΤΩΣΑΤΙΣΙΣΘΕΝΕΙΤΩΠΑΙΔΙΕΠΙΣΤΕΛΛΕΙΤΑΔΕΣΥΝΕΦΥΓΟΝΓΑΡΠΟΤΕΕΚΤΗΣΑΙΓΥΠΤΙΑΣΕΠΙΝΕΚΤΑΝΕΒΟΥΜΕΤΑΤΟΥΣΟΥΠΑΤΡΟΣΔΙΑΤΟΝΕΡΩΤΑΤΟΝΕΜΟΝΕΠΙΟΡΚΗΣΑΝΤΟΣΦΥΓΟΝΤΕΣΔΕΠΡΟΣΝΟΤΟΝΔΙΑΠΟΝΤΙΟΙΚΑΙΚΔΜΗΝΑΣΚΑΤΑΤΑΠΑΡΑΘΑΛΑΣΣΙΑΤΗΣΛΙΒΥΗΣΤΑΠΡΟΣΗΛΙΟΥΑΝΑΤΟΛΑΣΠΛΑΝΗΘΕΝΤΕΣΕΝΘΑΠΕΡΠΕΤΡΑΤΙΣΜΕΓΑΛΗΓΛΥΠΤΟΝΟΜΟΙΩΜΑΑΙΘΙΟΠΟΣΚΕΦΑΛΗΣΕΙΤΑΗΜΕΡΑΣΔΑΠΟΣΤΟΜΑΤΟΣΠΟΤΑΜΟΥΜΕΓΑΛΟΥΕΚΠΕΣΟΝΤΕΣΟΙΜΕΝΚΑΤΕΠΟΝΤΙΣΘΗΜΕΝΟΙΔΕΝΟΣΩΙΑΠΕΘΑΝΟΜΕΝΤΕΛΟΣΔΕΥΠΑΓΡΙΩΝΑΝΘΡΩΠΩΝΕΦΕΡΟΜΕΘΑΔΙΑΕΛΕΩΝΤΕΚΑΙΤΕΝΑΓΕΩΝΕΝΘΑΠΕΡΠΤΗΝΩΝΠΛΗΘΟΣΑΠΟΚΡΥΠΤΕΙΤΟΝΟΥΡΑΝΟΝΗΜΕΡΑΣΙΕΩΣΗΛΘΟΜΕΝΕΙΣΚΟΙΛΟΝΤΙΟΡΟΣΕΝΘΑΠΟΤΕΜΕΓΑΛΗΜΕΝΠΟΛΙΣΗΝΑΝΤΡΑΔΕΑΠΕΙΡΟΝΑΗΓΑΓΟΝΔΕΩΣΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΝΤΗΝΤΩΝΞΕΝΟΥΣΧΥΤΡΑΙΣΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΥΝΤΩΝΗΤΙΣΜΑΓΕΙΑΜΕΝΕΧΡΗΤΟΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΗΔΕΠΑΝΤΩΝΚΑΙΔΗΚΑΙΚΑΛΛΟΣΚΑΙΡΩΜΗΝΑΓΗΡΩΣΗΝΗΔΕΚΑΛΛΙΚΡΑΤΟΥΣΤΟΥΣΟΥΠΑΤΡΟΣΕΡΑΣΘΕΙΣΑΤΟΜΕΝΠΡΩΤΟΝΣΥΝΟΙΚΕΙΝΕΒΟΥΛΕΤΟΕΜΕΔΕΑΝΕΛΕΙΝΕΠΕΙΤΑΩΣΟΥΚΑΝΕΠΕΙΘΕΝΕΜΕΓΑΡΥΠΕΡΕΦΙΛΕΙΚΑΙΤΗΝΞΕΝΗΝΕΦΟΒΕΙΤΟΑΠΗΓΑΓΕΝΗΜΑΣΥΠΟΜΑΓΕΙΑΣΚΑΘΟΔΟΥΣΣΦΑΛΕΡΑΣΕΝΘΑΤΟΒΑΡΑΘΡΟΝΤΟΜΕΓΑΟΥΚΑΤΑΣΤΟΜΑΕΚΕΙΤΟΟΓΕΡΩΝΟΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΣΤΕΘΝΕΩΣΑΦΙΚΟΜΕΝΟΙΣΔΕΔΕΙΞΕΦΩΣΤΟΥΒΙΟΥΕΥΘΥΟΙΟΝΚΙΟΝΑΕΛΙΣΣΟΜΕΝΟΝΦΩΝΗΝΙΕΝΤΑΚΑΘΑΠΕΡΒΡΟΝΤΗΣΕΙΤΑΔΙΑΠΥΡΟΣΒΕΒΗΚΥΙΑΑΒΛΑΒΗΣΚΑΙΕΤΙΚΑΛΛΙΩΝΑΥΤΗΕΑΥΤΗΣΕΞΕΦΑΝΗΕΚΔΕΤΟΥΤΩΝΩΜΟΣΕΚΑΙΤΟΝΣΟΝΠΑΤΕΡΑΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΝΑΠΟΔΕΙΞΕΙΝΕΙΣΥΝΟΙΚΕΙΝΟΙΒΟΥΛΟΙΤΟΕΜΕΔΕΑΝΕΛΕΙΝΟΥΓΑΡΟΥΝΑΥΤΗΑΝΕΛΕΙΝΙΣΧΥΕΝΥΠΟΤΩΝΗΜΕΔΑΠΩΝΗΝΚΑΙΑΥΤΗΕΧΩΜΑΓΕΙΑΣΟΔΟΥΔΕΝΤΙΜΑΛΛΟΝΗΘΕΛΕΤΩΧΕΙΡΕΤΩΝΟΜΜΑΤΩΝΠΡΟΙΣΧΩΝΙΝΑΔΗΤΟΤΗΣΓΥΝΑΙΚΟΣΚΑΛΛΟΣΜΗΟΡΩΗΕΠΕΙΤΑΟΡΓΙΣΘΕΙΣΑΚΑΤΕΓΟΗΤΕΥΣΕΜΕΝΑΥΤΟΝΑΠΟΛΟΜΕΝΟΝΜΕΝΤΟΙΚΛΑΟΥΣΑΚΑΙΟΔΥΡΟΜΕΝΗΕΚΕΙΘΕΝΑΠΗΝΕΓΚΕΝΕΜΕΔΕΦΟΒΩΙΑΦΗΚΕΝΕΙΣΣΤΟΜΑΤΟΥΜΕΓΑΛΟΥΠΟΤΑΜΟΥΤΟΥΝΑΥΣΙΠΟΡΟΥΠΟΡΡΩΔΕΝΑΥΣΙΝΕΦΩΝΠΕΡΠΛΕΟΥΣΑΕΤΕΚΟΝΣΕΑΠΟΠΛΕΥΣΑΣΑΜΟΛΙΣΠΟΤΕΔΕΥΡΟΑΘΗΝΑΖΕΚΑΤΗΓΑΓΟΜΗΝΣΥΔΕΩΤΙΣΙΣΘΕΝΕΣΩΝΕΠΙΣΤΕΛΛΩΜΗΟΛΙΓΩΡΕΙΔΕΙΓΑΡΤΗΝΓΥΝΑΙΚΑΑΝΑΖΗΤΕΙΝΗΝΠΩΣΤΟΤΟΥΒΙΟΥΜΥΣΤΗΡΙΟΝΑΝΕΥΡΗΣΚΑΙΑΝΑΙΡΕΙΝΗΝΠΟΥΠΑΡΑΣΧΗΔΙΑΤΟΝΣΟΝΠΑΤΕΡΑΚΑΛΛΙΚΡΑΤΗΝΕΙΔΕΦΟΒΟΥΜΕΝΟΣΗΔΙΑΑΛΛΟΤΙΑΥΤΟΣΛΕΙΠΕΙΤΟΥΕΡΓΟΥΠΑΣΙΤΟΙΣΥΣΤΕΡΟΝΑΥΤΟΤΟΥΤΟΕΠΙΣΤΕΛΛΩΕΩΣΠΟΤΕΑΓΑΘΟΣΤΙΣΓΕΝΟΜΕΝΟΣΤΩΠΥΡΙΛΟΥΣΑΣΘΑΙΤΟΛΜΗΣΕΙΚΑΙΤΑΑΡΙΣΤΕΙΑΕΧΩΝΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣΑΙΤΩΝΑΝΘΡΩΠΩΝΑΠΙΣΤΑΜΕΝΔΗΤΑΤΟΙΑΥΤΑΛΕΓΩΟΜΩΣΔΕΑΑΥΤΗΕΓΝΩΚΑΟΥΚΕΨΕΥΣΑΜΗΝ The general convenience in reading, I have here accurately transcribedthis inscription into the cursive character. Ἀμενάρτας, τοῦ βασικοῦ γένουςτοῦ Αἰγυπτίου, ἡ τοῦ ΚαλλικράτουςἼσιδος ἱερέως, ἣν οἱ μὲν θεοὶτρέφουσι τὰ δὲ δαιμονια ὑποτάσσεται, ἤδη τελευτῶσα Τισισθένει τῷ παιδὶἐπιστέλλει τάδε· συνέφυγον γάρ ποτεἐκ τῆς Αἰγυπτίας ἐπὶ Νεκτανέβουμετὰ τοῦ σοῦ πατρός, διὰ τὸν ἔρωτατὸν ἐμὸν ἐπιορκήσαντος. φυγόντες δὲπρὸς νότον διαπόντιοι καὶ κʹδʹ μῆναςκατὰ τὰ παραθαλάσσια τῆς Αιβύης τὰπρός ἡλίου ἀνατολὰς πλανηθέντες, ἔνθαπερ πέτρα τις μελάλη, γλυπτὸνὁμοίωμα Αἰθίοπος κεφαλῆς, εἶταἡμέρας δʹ ἀπὸ στόματος ποταμοῦμεγάλου ἐκπεσόντες, οἱ μένκατεποντίσθημεν, οἱ δὲ νόσῳἀπεθάνομεν· τέλος δὲ ὑπ᾽ ἀλρίωνἀνθρώπων ἐφερόμεθα διὰ ἐλέων τεκαὶ τεναλέων ἔνθαπερ πτηνῶν πλῆθοςἀποκρύπτει τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἡμέρας ί, ἕως ἤλθομεν εἰς κοῖλόν τι ὄρος, ἔνθαποτὲ μεγάλη μὲν πόλις ἦν, ἄντρα δὲἀπείρονα· ἤγαγον δὲ ὡς βασίλειαντὴν τῶν ξένους χύτραις στεφανούντων, ἥτις μαλεία μὲν ἐχρῆτο ἐπιστήμη δὲπάντων καὶ δὴ καὶ κάλλός καὶ ῥώμηνἀλήρως ἦν· ἡ δὲ Καλλικράτους τοῦπατρὸς ἐρασθεῖδα τὸ μὲν πρῶτονσυνοικεῖν ἐβούλετο ἐμὲ δὲ ἀνελεῖν·ἔπειτα, ὡς οὐκ ἀνέπειθεν, ἐμὲ γὰρὑπερεφίλει καὶ τὴν ξένην ἐφοβεῖτο, ἀπήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ὑπὸ μαγείας καθʹὁδοὺς σφαλερὰς ἔνθα τὸ βάραθρον τὸμέγα, οὗ κατὰ στόμα ἔκειτο ὁ γέρωνὁ φιλόσοφος τεθνεώς, ἀφικομένοιςδʹ ἔδειξε φῶς τοῦ βίου εὐθύ, οἷονκίονα ἑλισσόμενον φώνην ἱέντακαθάπερ βροντῆς, εἶτα διὰ πυρὸςβεβηκυῖα ἀβλαβὴς καὶ ἔτι καλλίωναὐτὴ ἑαυτῆς ἐξεφάνη. ἐκ δὲ τούτωνὤμοσε καὶ τὸν σὸν πατέρα ἀθάνατονἀποδείξειν, εἰ συνοικεῖν οἱβούλοιτο ἐμὲ δε ὰνελεῖν, οὐ γὰροὖν αὐτὴ ἀνελεῖν ἴσχυεν ὑπὸ τῶνἡμεδαπῶν ἣν καὶ αὐτὴ ἔχω μαγείας. ὁ δʹ οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ἤθελε, τὼ χεῖρετῶν ὀμμάτων προίσχων ἵνα δὴ τὸ τῆςγυναικὸς κάλλος μὴ ὁρῴη· ἔπειταὀργισθεῖσα κατεγοήτευσε μὲν αὐτόν, ἀπολόμενον μέντοι κλάουσα καὶὀδυρμένη ἐκεῖθεν ἀπήνεγκεν, ἐμὲ δὲφόβῳ ἀφῆκεν εἰς στόμα τοῦ μεγάλουποταμοῦ τοῦ ναυσιπόρου, πόδδω δὲναυσίν, ἐφʹ ὧνπερ πλέουσα ἔτεκόνσε, ἀποπλεύσασα μόλις ποτὲ δεῦροἈθηνάζε κατηγαγόν. σὺ δέ, ὦΤισίσθενες, ὧν ἐπιστέλλω μὴὀλιγώρει· δεῖ γὰρ τῆν γυναῖκαἀναζητεῖν ἤν πως τῦ βίου μυστήριονἀνεύρῃς, καὶ ἀναιρεῖν, ἤνπου παρασχῇ, διὰ τὸν πατέραΚαλλικράτους. εἐ δὲ φοβούμενος ἢ διὰἄλλο τι αὐτὸς λείπει τοῦ ἔργου, πᾶσιτοῖς ὕστερον αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐπιστέλλω, ἕως ποτὲ ἀγαθός τις γενόμενος τῷπυρὶ λούσασθαι τολμήσει καὶ τὰἀριστεῖα ἔχων βασιλεῦσαι τῶνἀνθρώπων· ἄπιστα μὲν δὴ τὰ τοιαῦταλέγω, ὅμως δὲ ἃ αὐτὴ ἔγνωκα οὐκἐψευσάμην. The English translation was, as I discovered on further investigation, and as the reader may easily see by comparison, both accurate andelegant. Besides the uncial writing on the convex side of the sherd at the top, painted in dull red, on what had once been the lip of the amphora, wasthe cartouche already mentioned as being on the _scarabæus_, which wehad also found in the casket. The hieroglyphics or symbols, however, were reversed, just as though they had been pressed on wax. Whether thiswas the cartouche of the original Kallikrates, [*] or of some Prince orPharaoh from whom his wife Amenartas was descended, I am not sure, norcan I tell if it was drawn upon the sherd at the same time that theuncial Greek was inscribed, or copied on more recently from the Scarabby some other member of the family. Nor was this all. At the foot ofthe writing, painted in the same dull red, was the faint outline of asomewhat rude drawing of the head and shoulders of a Sphinx wearingtwo feathers, symbols of majesty, which, though common enough upon theeffigies of sacred bulls and gods, I have never before met with on aSphinx. [*] The cartouche, if it be a true cartouche, cannot have been that of Kallikrates, as Mr. Holly suggests. Kallikrates was a priest and not entitled to a cartouche, which was the prerogative of Egyptian royalty, though he might have inscribed his name or title upon an _oval_. --Editor. Also on the right-hand side of this surface of the sherd, paintedobliquely in red on the space not covered by the uncial characters, andsigned in blue paint, was the following quaint inscription:-- IN EARTH AND SKIE AND SEA STRANGE THYNGES THER BE. HOC FECIT DOROTHEA VINCEY. Perfectly bewildered, I turned the relic over. It was covered from topto bottom with notes and signatures in Greek, Latin, and English. Thefirst in uncial Greek was by Tisisthenes, the son to whom the writingwas addressed. It was, "I could not go. Tisisthenes to his son, Kallikrates. " Here it is in fac-simile with its cursive equivalent:-- ΟΥΚΑΝΔΥΝΑΙΜΗΝΠΟΡΕΥΕϹΘΑΙΤΙϹΙϹΘΕΝΗϹΚΑΛΛΙΚΡΑΤΕΙΤΩΙΠΑΙΔΙ οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην πορεύεσθαι. Τισισθένης Καλλικράτει τῷ παιδί. This Kallikrates (probably, in the Greek fashion, so named after hisgrandfather) evidently made some attempt to start on the quest, for hisentry written in very faint and almost illegible uncial is, "I ceasedfrom my going, the gods being against me. Kallikrates to his son. " Hereit is also:-- ΤΩΝΘΕΩΝΑΝΤΙΣΤΑΝΤΩΝΕΠΑΥΣΑΜΗΝΤΗΣΠΟΡΕΙΑΣΑΛΛΙΚΡΑΤΗΣΤΩΙΠΑΙΔΙ τῶν θεῶν ἀντιστάντων ἐπαυσάμην τῆςπορείας. Καλλικράτης τῷ παιδί. Between these two ancient writings, the second of which was inscribedupside down and was so faint and worn that, had it not been for thetranscript of it executed by Vincey, I should scarcely have been able toread it, since, owing to its having been written on that portion of thetile which had, in the course of ages, undergone the most handling, itwas nearly rubbed out--was the bold, modern-looking signature of oneLionel Vincey, "Ætate sua 17, " which was written thereon, I think, byLeo's grandfather. To the right of this were the initials "J. B. V. , "and below came a variety of Greek signatures, in uncial and cursivecharacter, and what appeared to be some carelessly executed repetitionsof the sentence τῷ παιδί (to my son), showing that the relicwas religiously passed on from generation to generation. The next legible thing after the Greek signatures was the word"Romae, A. U. C. , " showing that the family had now migrated to Rome. Unfortunately, however, with the exception of its termination (evi) thedate of their settlement there is for ever lost, for just where it hadbeen placed a piece of the potsherd is broken away. Then followed twelve Latin signatures, jotted about here and there, wherever there was a space upon the tile suitable to their inscription. These signatures, with three exceptions only, ended with the name"Vindex" or "the Avenger, " which seems to have been adopted by thefamily after its migration to Rome as a kind of equivalent to the Greek"Tisisthenes, " which also means an avenger. Ultimately, as might beexpected, this Latin cognomen of Vindex was transformed first into DeVincey, and then into the plain, modern Vincey. It is very curiousto observe how the idea of revenge, inspired by an Egyptian who livedbefore the time of Christ, is thus, as it were, embalmed in an Englishfamily name. A few of the Roman names inscribed upon the sherd I have actually sincefound mentioned in history and other records. They were, if I rememberright, MVSSIVS. VINDEX SEX. VARIVS MARVLLVS C. FVFIDIVS. C. F. VINDEX and LABERIA POMPEIANA. CONIVX. MACRINI. VINDICIS this last being, of course, the name of a Roman lady. The following list, however, comprises all the Latin names upon thesherd:-- C. CAECILIVS VINDEX M. AIMILIVS VINDEX SEX. VARIVS. MARVLLVS Q. SOSIVS PRISCVS SENECIO VINDEX L. VALERIVS COMINIVS VINDEX SEX. OTACILIVS. M. F. L. ATTIVS. VINDEX MVSSIVS VINDEX C. FVFIDIVS. C. F. VINDEX LICINIVS FAVSTVS LABERIA POMPEIANA CONIVX MACRINI VINDICIS MANILIA LVCILLA CONIVX MARVLLI VINDICIS After the Roman names there is evidently a gap of very many centuries. Nobody will ever know now what was the history of the relic during thosedark ages, or how it came to have been preserved in the family. Mypoor friend Vincey had, it will be remembered, told me that his Romanancestors finally settled in Lombardy, and when Charlemagne invadedit, returned with him across the Alps, and made their home in Brittany, whence they crossed to England in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Howhe knew this I am not aware, for there is no reference to Lombardy orCharlemagne upon the tile, though, as will presently be seen, there is areference to Brittany. To continue: the next entries on the sherd, if Imay except a long splash either of blood or red colouring matter ofsome sort, consist of two crosses drawn in red pigment, and probablyrepresenting Crusaders' swords, and a rather neat monogram ("D. V. ")in scarlet and blue, perhaps executed by that same Dorothea Vincey whowrote, or rather painted, the doggrel couplet. To the left of this, inscribed in faint blue, were the initials A. V. , and after them a date, 1800. Then came what was perhaps as curious an entry as anything upon thisextraordinary relic of the past. It is executed in black letter, writtenover the crosses or Crusaders' swords, and dated fourteen hundred andforty-five. As the best plan will be to allow it to speak for itself, Ihere give the black-letter fac-simile, together with the original Latinwithout the contractions, from which it will be seen that the writerwas a fair mediæval Latinist. Also we discovered what is still morecurious, an English version of the black-letter Latin. This, alsowritten in black letter, we found inscribed on a second parchment thatwas in the coffer, apparently somewhat older in date than that on whichwas inscribed the mediæval Latin translation of the uncial Greek ofwhich I shall speak presently. This I also give in full. _Fac-simile of Black-Letter Inscription on the Sherd of Amenartas. _ "Iſta reliq̅ia eſt valde miſticu̅ et myrificu̅ op̅s q̅d maioresmei ex Armorica ſſ Brittania mi̅ore ſecu̅ co̅veheba̅t et q̅dmſc̅s cleric̅s ſe̅per p̅ri meo in manu ferebat q̅d pe̅itus illvddeſtrueret, affirma̅s q̅d eſſet ab ipſo ſathana co̅flatu̅preſtigioſa et dyabolica arte q̅re p̅ter mevs co̅fregit illvdi̅ dvas p̅tes q̅s q̅dm ego Johs̅ de Vi̅ceto ſalvas ſervavi etadaptavi ſicut ap̅paret die lu̅e p̅r̅ poſt feſt beate Mrie vir{g}anni gr̅e mccccxlv. " _Expanded Version of the above Black-Letter Inscription. _ "Ista reliquia est valde misticum et myrificum opus, quod majores meiex Armorica, scilicet Britannia Minore, secum convehebant; et et quidamsanctus clericus semper patri meo in manu ferebat quod penitus illuddestrueret, affirmans quod esset ab ipso Sathana conflatum prestigiosaet dyabolica arte, quare pater meus confregit illud in duas partes, quasquidem ego Johannes de Vinceto salvas servavi et adaptavi sicut apparetdie lune proximo post festum beate Marie Virginis anni gratie MCCCCXLV. " _Fac-simile of the Old English Black-Letter Translation of the aboveLatin Inscription from the Sherd of Amenartas found inscribed upon aparchment. _ "Thys rellike ys a ryghte mistycall worke & a marvaylous yᵉ whychemyne aunceteres afore tyme dyd conveigh hider wᵗ yᵐ ffrom Armorykewhᵉ ys to ſeien Britaine yᵉ leſſe & a certayne holye clerkeſhoulde allweyes beare my ffadir on honde yᵗ he owghte uttirly fforto ffruſſhe yᵉ ſame affyrmynge yᵗ yt was ffourmyd & confflatydoff ſathanas hym ſelffe by arte magike & dyvellyſſhe wherefore myffadir dyd take yᵉ ſame & to braſt yt yn tweyne but I John de Vinceydyd ſave whool yᵉ tweye p̄tes therof & topeecyd yᵐ togydder agayneſoe as yee ſe on y{s} daye mondaye next ffolowynge after yᵉ ffeesteof ſeynte Marye yᵉ bleſſed vyrgyne yn yᵉ yeere of ſalvaciounffowertene hundreth & ffyve & ffowrti. " _Modernised Version of the above Black-Letter Translation. _ "Thys rellike ys a ryghte mistycall worke and a marvaylous, ye whychemyne aunceteres aforetyme dyd conveigh hider with them from Armorykewhich ys to seien Britaine ye Lesse and a certayne holye clerke shouldallweyes beare my fadir on honde that he owghte uttirly for to frussheye same, affyrmynge that yt was fourmed and conflatyed of Sathanas hymselfe by arte magike and dyvellysshe wherefore my fadir dyd take ye sameand tobrast yt yn tweyne, but I, John de Vincey, dyd save whool ye tweyepartes therof and topeecyd them togydder agayne soe as yee se, on thisdaye mondaye next followynge after ye feeste of Seynte Marye ye BlessedVyrgyne yn ye yeere of Salvacioun fowertene hundreth and fyve andfowerti. " The next and, save one, last entry was Elizabethan, and dated 1564. "Amost strange historie, and one that did cost my father his life; for inseekynge for the place upon the east coast of Africa, his pinnancewas sunk by a Portuguese galleon off Lorenzo Marquez, and he himselfperished. --John Vincey. " Then came the last entry, apparently, to judge by the style ofwriting, made by some representative of the family in the middle of theeighteenth century. It was a misquotation of the well-known lines inHamlet, and ran thus: "There are more things in Heaven and earth thanare dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio. "[*] [*] Another thing that makes me fix the date of this entry at the middle of the eighteenth century is that, curiously enough, I have an acting copy of "Hamlet, " written about 1740, in which these two lines are misquoted almost exactly in the same way, and I have little doubt but that the Vincey who wrote them on the potsherd heard them so misquoted at that date. Of course, the lines really run:-- There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. --L. H. H. And now there remained but one more document to be examined--namely, theancient black-letter transcription into mediæval Latin of the uncialinscription on the sherd. As will be seen, this translation was executedand subscribed in the year 1495, by a certain "learned man, " Edmundusde Prato (Edmund Pratt) by name, licentiate in Canon Law, of ExeterCollege, Oxford, who had actually been a pupil of Grocyn, the firstscholar who taught Greek in England. [*] No doubt, on the fame of thisnew learning reaching his ears, the Vincey of the day, perhaps that sameJohn de Vincey who years before had saved the relic from destruction andmade the black-letter entry on the sherd in 1445, hurried off toOxford to see if perchance it might avail to dissolve the secret ofthe mysterious inscription. Nor was he disappointed, for the learnedEdmundus was equal to the task. Indeed his rendering is so excellentan example of mediæval learning and latinity that, even at the risk ofsating the learned reader with too many antiquities, I have made up mymind to give it in fac-simile, together with an expanded version for thebenefit of those who find the contractions troublesome. The translationhas several peculiarities on which this is not the place to dwell, but Iwould in passing call the attention of scholars to the passage "duxeruntautem nos ad reginam _advenaslasaniscoronantium_, " which strikes me asa delightful rendering of the original, "ἤγαγον δὲ ὡςβασίλειαν τὴν τῶν ξένους χύτραιςστεφανούντων. " [*] Grocyn, the instructor of Erasmus, studied Greek under Chalcondylas the Byzantine at Florence, and first lectured in the Hall of Exeter College, Oxford, in 1491. --Editor. _Mediæval Black-Letter Latin Translation of the Uncial Inscription on the Sherd of Amenartas_ Amenartas e gen. Reg. Egyptii uxor Callicratis ſacerdot̅ Iſidisqua̅ dei fove̅t demonia atte̅du̅t filiol’ ſuo Tiſiſtheni ia̅moribu̅da ita ma̅dat: Effugi quo̅da̅ ex Egypto regna̅te Nectanebocu̅ patre tuo, p̃pter mei amore̅ pejerato. Fugie̅tes aute̅ v’ſusNotu̅ trans mare et xxiiij me̅ſes p’r litora Libye v’ſusOrie̅te̅ errant̃ ubi eſt petra queda̅ m̃gna ſculpta inſtarEthiop̃ capit̃, deinde dies iiij ab oſt̃ flum̃ m̃gni eiectip’tim ſubmerſi ſumus p’tim morbo mortui ſum̃: in fine aute̅ afer̃ ho̅i̅bs portabamur p̃r palud̃ et vada. Ubi aviu̅ m’titudocelu̅ obu̅brat dies x. Donec advenim̃ ad cavu̅ que̅da̅ monte̅, ubi olim m̃gna urbs erat, caverne quoq̃ im̅e̅ſe: duxeru̅t aute̅nos ad regina̅ Advenaſlaſaniſcorona̅tiu̅ que magic̃ utebat̃et peritia omniu̅ rer̃ et ſalte̅ pulcrit̃ et vigorei̅ſe̅eſcibil’ erat. Hec m̃gno patr̃ tui amore p̃culſap’mu̅ q’de̅ ei con̅ubiu̅ michi morte̅ parabat. Poſtea v’rorecuſa̅te Callicrate amore mei et timore regine affecto nos p̃rmagica̅ abduxit p’r vias horribil’ ubi eſt puteus ille p̃fu̅dus, cuius iuxta aditu̅ iacebat ſenior̃ philoſophi cadaver, etadve̅ie̅tib̃ mo̅ſtravit flam̅a̅ Vite erecta̅, i̅star columnevoluta̅tis, voces emitte̅te̅ q̃ſi tonitrus: tu̅c p̃r igne̅i̅petu nociuo expers tra̅ſiit et ia̅ ipsa ſeſe formoſior viſaeſt. Quib̃ fact̃ iuravit ſe patre̅ tuu̅ quoq̃ im̅ortale̅oſte̅ſura̅ eſſe, ſi me prius occiſa regine co̅tuberniu̅mallet; neq̃ eni̅ ipſa me occidere valuit, p̃pter noſtratu̅m̃gica̅ cuius egomet p̃tem habeo. Ille vero nichil huius geñ maluit, manib ante ocul̃ paſſis ne mulier̃ formoſitate̅ adſpiceret:poſtea eu̅ m̃gica p̃cuſſit arte, at mortuu̅ efferebat i̅decu̅ fletib̃ et vagitib̃, me p̃r timore̅ expulit ad oſtiu̅ m̃gniflumiñ veliuoli porro in nave in qua te peperi, uix poſt dies hvcAthenas invecta ſu̅. At tu, O Tiſiſtheñ, ne q’d quoru̅ ma̅donauci fac: neceſſe eni̅ eſt muliere̅ exquirere ſi qva Vitemyſteriu̅ i̅petres et vi̅dicare, qua̅tu̅ in te eſt, patre̅tuu̅ Callierat̃ in regine morte. Sin timore ſue aliq̃ cavſa re̅reli̅quis i̅fecta̅, hoc ipſu̅ oi̅b̃ poſter̃ ma̅do du̅ bonvsq̃s inveniatur qvi ignis lauacru̅ no̅ p̃rhorreſcet et p̃tentiadigñ do̅i̅abit̃ ho̅i̅u̅. Talia dico incredibilia q̃de̅ at min̅e ñcta de reb̃ michi cognitis. Hec Grece scripta Latine reddidit vir doctus Edm̅ds de Prato, inDecretis Licenciatus e Coll. Exon: Oxon: doctiſſimi Grocyni quondam epupillis, Id. Apr. Aᵒ. Dn̅i. MCCCCLXXXXV°. _Expanded Version of the above Mediæval Latin Translation_ Amenartas, e genere regio Egyptii, uxor Callicratis, sacerdotis Isidis, quam dei fovent demonia attendunt, filiolo suo Tisistheni jam moribundaita mandat: Effugi quodam ex Egypto, regnante Nectanebo, cum patre tuo, propter mei amorem pejerato. Fugientes autem versus Notum trans mare, et viginti quatuor menses per litora Libye versus Orientem errantes, ubi est petra quedam magna sculpta instar Ethiopis capitis, deinde diesquatuor ab ostio fluminis magni ejecti partim submersi sumus partimmorbo mortui sumus: in fine autem a feris hominibus portabamur perpaludes et vada, ubi avium multitudo celum obumbrat, dies decem, donecadvenimus ad cavum quendam montem, ubi olim magna urbs erat, cavernequoque immense; duxerunt autem nos ad reginam Advenaslasaniscoronantium, que magicâ utebatur et peritiá omnium rerum, et saltem pulcritudine etvigore insenescibilis erat. Hec magno patris tui amore perculsa, primum quidem ei connubium michi mortem parabat; postea vero, recusanteCallicrate, amore mei et timore regine affecto, nos per magicam abduxitper vias horribiles ubi est puteus ille profundus, cujus juxta aditumjacebat senioris philosophi cadaver, et advenientibus monstravitflammam Vite erectam, instar columne voluntantis, voces emittentem quasitonitrus: tunc per ignem impetu nocivo expers transiit et jam ipsa seseformosior visa est. Quibus factis juravit se patrem tuum quoque immortalem ostensuramesse, si me prius occisa regine contubernium mallet; neque enim ipsa meoccidere valuit, propter nostratum magicam cujus egomet partem habeo. Ille vero nichil hujus generis malebat, manibus ante oculos passis, nemulieris formositatem adspiceret: postea illum magica percussit arte, at mortuum efferebat inde cum fletibus et vagitibus, et me per timoremexpulit ad ostium magni fluminis, velivoli, porro in nave, in qua tepeperi, vix post dies huc Athenas vecta sum. At tu, O Tisisthenes, nequid quorum mando nauci fac: necesse enim est mulierem exquirere si quaVite mysterium impetres et vindicare, quautum in te est, patrem tuumCallieratem in regine morte. Sin timore sue aliqua causa rem reliquisinfectam, hoc ipsum omnibus posteris mando, dum bonus quis inveniaturqui ignis lavacrum non perhorrescet, et potentia dignus dominabiturhominum. Talia dico incredibilia quidem at minime ficta de rebus michi cognitis. Hec Grece scripta Latine reddidit vir doctus Edmundus de Prato, inDescretis Licenciatus, e Collegio Exoniensi Oxoniensi doctissimi Grocyniquondam e pupillis, Idibus Aprilis Anno Domini MCCCCLXXXXV°. "Well, " I said, when at length I had read out and carefully examinedthese writings and paragraphs, at least those of them that were stilleasily legible, "that is the conclusion of the whole matter, Leo, andnow you can form your own opinion on it. I have already formed mine. " "And what is it?" he asked, in his quick way. "It is this. I believe that potsherd to be perfectly genuine, and that, wonderful as it may seem, it has come down in your family from sincethe fourth century before Christ. The entries absolutely prove it, andtherefore, however improbable it may seem, it must be accepted. Butthere I stop. That your remote ancestress, the Egyptian princess, orsome scribe under her direction, wrote that which we see on the sherdI have no doubt, nor have I the slightest doubt but that her sufferingsand the loss of her husband had turned her head, and that she was notright in her mind when she did write it. " "How do you account for what my father saw and heard there?" asked Leo. "Coincidence. No doubt there are bluffs on the coast of Africa thatlook something like a man's head, and plenty of people who speak bastardArabic. Also, I believe that there are lots of swamps. Another thingis, Leo, and I am sorry to say it, but I do not believe that your poorfather was quite right when he wrote that letter. He had met witha great trouble, and also he had allowed this story to prey on hisimagination, and he was a very imaginative man. Anyway, I believe thatthe whole thing is the most unmitigated rubbish. I know that there arecurious things and forces in nature which we rarely meet with, and, whenwe do meet them, cannot understand. But until I see it with my own eyes, which I am not likely to, I never will believe that there is any meansof avoiding death, even for a time, or that there is or was a whitesorceress living in the heart of an African swamp. It is bosh, my boy, all bosh!--What do you say, Job?" "I say, sir, that it is a lie, and, if it is true, I hope Mr. Leo won'tmeddle with no such things, for no good can't come of it. " "Perhaps you are both right, " said Leo, very quietly. "I express noopinion. But I say this. I am going to set the matter at rest once andfor all, and if you won't come with me I will go by myself. " I looked at the young man, and saw that he meant what he said. When Leomeans what he says he always puts on a curious look about the mouth. Ithas been a trick of his from a child. Now, as a matter of fact, I had nointention of allowing Leo to go anywhere by himself, for my own sake, ifnot for his. I was far too attached to him for that. I am not a manof many ties or affections. Circumstances have been against me in thisrespect, and men and women shrink from me, or at least, I fancy thatthey do, which comes to the same thing, thinking, perhaps, that mysomewhat forbidding exterior is a key to my character. Rather thanendure this, I have, to a great extent, secluded myself from the world, and cut myself off from those opportunities which with most men resultin the formation of relations more or less intimate. Therefore Leo wasall the world to me--brother, child, and friend--and until he wearied ofme, where he went there I should go too. But, of course, it would not doto let him see how great a hold he had over me; so I cast about for somemeans whereby I might let myself down easy. "Yes, I shall go, Uncle; and if I don't find the 'rolling Pillar ofLife, ' at any rate I shall get some first-class shooting. " Here was my opportunity, and I took it. "Shooting?" I said. "Ah! yes; I never thought of that. It must be a verywild stretch of country, and full of big game. I have always wanted tokill a buffalo before I die. Do you know, my boy, I don't believe in thequest, but I do believe in big game, and really on the whole, if, afterthinking it over, you make up your mind to go, I will take a holiday, and come with you. " "Ah, " said Leo, "I thought that you would not lose such a chance. Buthow about money? We shall want a good lot. " "You need not trouble about that, " I answered. "There is all your incomethat has been accumulating for years, and besides that I have savedtwo-thirds of what your father left to me, as I consider, in trust foryou. There is plenty of cash. " "Very well, then, we may as well stow these things away and go up totown to see about our guns. By the way, Job, are you coming too? It'stime you began to see the world. " "Well, sir, " answered Job, stolidly, "I don't hold much with foreignparts, but if both you gentlemen are going you will want somebody tolook after you, and I am not the man to stop behind after serving youfor twenty years. " "That's right, Job, " said I. "You won't find out anything wonderful, butyou will get some good shooting. And now look here, both of you. I won'thave a word said to a living soul about this nonsense, " and I pointedto the potsherd. "If it got out, and anything happened to me, my next ofkin would dispute my will on the ground of insanity, and I should becomethe laughing stock of Cambridge. " That day three months we were on the ocean, bound for Zanzibar. IV THE SQUALL How different is the scene that I have now to tell from that which hasjust been told! Gone are the quiet college rooms, gone the wind-swayedEnglish elms, the cawing rooks, and the familiar volumes on the shelves, and in their place there rises a vision of the great calm ocean gleamingin shaded silver lights beneath the beams of the full African moon. Agentle breeze fills the huge sail of our dhow, and draws us throughthe water that ripples musically against her sides. Most of the men aresleeping forward, for it is near midnight, but a stout swarthy Arab, Mahomed by name, stands at the tiller, lazily steering by the stars. Three miles or more to our starboard is a low dim line. It is theEastern shore of Central Africa. We are running to the southward, beforethe North East Monsoon, between the mainland and the reef that forhundreds of miles fringes this perilous coast. The night is quiet, soquiet that a whisper can be heard fore and aft the dhow; so quiet that afaint booming sound rolls across the water to us from the distant land. The Arab at the tiller holds up his hand, and says one word:--"_Simba_(lion)!" We all sit up and listen. Then it comes again, a slow, majestic sound, that thrills us to the marrow. "To-morrow by ten o'clock, " I say, "we ought, if the Captain is not outin his reckoning, which I think very probable, to make this mysteriousrock with a man's head, and begin our shooting. " "And begin our search for the ruined city and the Fire of Life, "corrected Leo, taking his pipe from his mouth, and laughing a little. "Nonsense!" I answered. "You were airing your Arabic with that man atthe tiller this afternoon. What did he tell you? He has been trading(slave-trading, probably) up and down these latitudes for half of hisiniquitous life, and once landed on this very 'man' rock. Did he everhear anything of the ruined city or the caves?" "No, " answered Leo. "He says that the country is all swamp behind, andfull of snakes, especially pythons, and game, and that no man livesthere. But then there is a belt of swamp all along the East Africancoast, so that does not go for much. " "Yes, " I said, "it does--it goes for malaria. You see what sort of anopinion these gentry have of the country. Not one of them will go withus. They think that we are mad, and upon my word I believe that they areright. If ever we see old England again I shall be astonished. However, it does not greatly matter to me at my age, but I am anxious for you, Leo, and for Job. It's a Tom Fool's business, my boy. " "All right, Uncle Horace. So far as I am concerned, I am willing to takemy chance. Look! What is that cloud?" and he pointed to a dark blotchupon the starry sky, some miles astern of us. "Go and ask the man at the tiller, " I said. He rose, stretched his arms, and went. Presently he returned. "He says it is a squall, but it will pass far on one side of us. " Just then Job came up, looking very stout and English in hisshooting-suit of brown flannel, and with a sort of perplexed appearanceupon his honest round face that had been very common with him since hegot into these strange waters. "Please, sir, " he said, touching his sun hat, which was stuck on to theback of his head in a somewhat ludicrous fashion, "as we have got allthose guns and things in the whale-boat astern, to say nothing of theprovisions in the lockers, I think it would be best if I got down andslept in her. I don't like the looks" (here he dropped his voice to aportentous whisper) "of these black gentry; they have such a wonderfulthievish way about them. Supposing now that some of them were to slipinto the boat at night and cut the cable, and make off with her? Thatwould be a pretty go, that would. " The whale-boat, I may explain, was one specially built for us at Dundee, in Scotland. We had brought it with us, as we knew that this coast was anetwork of creeks, and that we might require something to navigatethem with. She was a beautiful boat, thirty-feet in length, with acentre-board for sailing, copper-bottomed to keep the worm out of her, and full of water-tight compartments. The Captain of the dhow had toldus that when we reached the rock, which he knew, and which appeared tobe identical with the one described upon the sherd and by Leo's father, he would probably not be able to run up to it on account of the shallowsand breakers. Therefore we had employed three hours that very morning, whilst we were totally becalmed, the wind having dropped at sunrise, in transferring most of our goods and chattels to the whale-boat, and placing the guns, ammunition, and preserved provisions in thewater-tight lockers specially prepared for them, so that when we didsight the fabled rock we should have nothing to do but step into theboat, and run her ashore. Another reason that induced us to take thisprecautionary step was that Arab captains are apt to run past the pointthat they are making, either from carelessness or owing to a mistake inits identity. Now, as sailors know, it is quite impossible for a dhowwhich is only rigged to run before the monsoon to beat back against it. Therefore we got our boat ready to row for the rock at any moment. "Well, Job, " I said, "perhaps it would be as well. There are lots ofblankets there, only be careful to keep out of the moon, or it may turnyour head or blind you. " "Lord, sir! I don't think it would much matter if it did; it is thatturned already with the sight of these blackamoors and their filthy, thieving ways. They are only fit for muck, they are; and they smell badenough for it already. " Job, it will be perceived, was no admirer of the manners and customs ofour dark-skinned brothers. Accordingly we hauled up the boat by the tow-rope till it was rightunder the stern of the dhow, and Job bundled into her with all the graceof a falling sack of potatoes. Then we returned and sat down on the deckagain, and smoked and talked in little gusts and jerks. The night was solovely, and our brains were so full of suppressed excitement of one sortand another, that we did not feel inclined to turn in. For nearly anhour we sat thus, and then, I think, we both dozed off. At least I havea faint recollection of Leo sleepily explaining that the head was not abad place to hit a buffalo, if you could catch him exactly between thehorns, or send your bullet down his throat, or some nonsense of thesort. Then I remember no more; till suddenly--a frightful roar of wind, ashriek of terror from the awakening crew, and a whip-like sting of waterin our faces. Some of the men ran to let go the haulyards and lower thesail, but the parrel jammed and the yard would not come down. I sprangto my feet and hung on to a rope. The sky aft was dark as pitch, but themoon still shone brightly ahead of us and lit up the blackness. Beneathits sheen a huge white-topped breaker, twenty feet high or more, wasrushing on to us. It was on the break--the moon shone on its crest andtipped its foam with light. On it rushed beneath the inky sky, driven bythe awful squall behind it. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, I sawthe black shape of the whale-boat cast high into the air on the crest ofthe breaking wave. Then--a shock of water, a wild rush of boiling foam, and I was clinging for my life to the shroud, ay, swept straight outfrom it like a flag in a gale. We were pooped. The wave passed. It seemed to me that I was under water forminutes--really it was seconds. I looked forward. The blast had torn outthe great sail, and high in the air it was fluttering away to leewardlike a huge wounded bird. Then for a moment there was comparative calm, and in it I heard Job's voice yelling wildly, "Come here to the boat. " Bewildered and half-drowned as I was, I had the sense to rush aft. Ifelt the dhow sinking under me--she was full of water. Under her counterthe whale-boat was tossing furiously, and I saw the Arab Mahomed, whohad been steering, leap into her. I gave one desperate pull at thetow-rope to bring the boat alongside. Wildly I sprang also, Job caughtme by the arm and I rolled into the bottom of the boat. Down went thedhow bodily, and as she did so Mahomed drew his curved knife and severedthe fibre-rope by which we were fast to her, and in another second wewere driving before the storm over the place where the dhow had been. "Great God!" I shrieked, "where is Leo? _Leo! Leo!_" "He's gone, sir, God help him!" roared Job into my ear; and such was thefury of the squall that his voice sounded like a whisper. I wrung my hands in agony. Leo was drowned, and I was left alive tomourn him. "Look out, " yelled Job; "here comes another. " I turned; a second huge wave was overtaking us. I half hoped that itwould drown me. With a curious fascination I watched its awful advent. The moon was nearly hidden now by the wreaths of the rushing storm, buta little light still caught the crest of the devouring breaker. Therewas something dark on it--a piece of wreckage. It was on us now, andthe boat was nearly full of water. But she was built in air-tightcompartments--Heaven bless the man who invented them!--and lifted upthrough it like a swan. Through the foam and turmoil I saw the blackthing on the wave hurrying right at me. I put out my right arm to wardit from me, and my hand closed on another arm, the wrist of which myfingers gripped like a vice. I am a very strong man, and had somethingto hold to, but my arm was nearly torn from its socket by the strain andweight of the floating body. Had the rush lasted another two seconds Imight either have let go or gone with it. But it passed, leaving us upto our knees in water. "Bail out! bail out!" shouted Job, suiting the action to the word. But I could not bail just then, for as the moon went out and left us intotal darkness, one faint, flying ray of light lit upon the face of theman I had gripped, who was now half lying, half floating in the bottomof the boat. It was Leo. Leo brought back by the wave--back, dead or alive, from thevery jaws of Death. "Bail out! bail out!" yelled Job, "or we shall founder. " I seized a large tin bowl with a handle to it, which was fixed under oneof the seats, and the three of us bailed away for dear life. The furioustempest drove over and round us, flinging the boat this way and that, the wind and the storm wreaths and the sheets of stinging spray blindedand bewildered us, but through it all we worked like demons with thewild exhilaration of despair, for even despair can exhilarate. Oneminute! three minutes! six minutes! The boat began to lighten, and nofresh wave swamped us. Five minutes more, and she was fairly clear. Then, suddenly, above the awful shriekings of the hurricane came aduller, deeper roar. Great Heavens! It was the voice of breakers! At that moment the moon began to shine forth again--this time behind thepath of the squall. Out far across the torn bosom of the ocean shot theragged arrows of her light, and there, half a mile ahead of us, was awhite line of foam, then a little space of open-mouthed blackness, andthen another line of white. It was the breakers, and their roar grewclearer and yet more clear as we sped down upon them like a swallow. There they were, boiling up in snowy spouts of spray, smiting andgnashing together like the gleaming teeth of hell. "Take the tiller, Mahomed!" I roared in Arabic. "We must try and shootthem. " At the same moment I seized an oar, and got it out, motioning toJob to do likewise. Mahomed clambered aft, and got hold of the tiller, and with somedifficulty Job, who had sometimes pulled a tub upon the homely Cam, gotout his oar. In another minute the boat's head was straight on to theever-nearing foam, towards which she plunged and tore with the speedof a racehorse. Just in front of us the first line of breakers seemeda little thinner than to the right or left--there was a cap of ratherdeeper water. I turned and pointed to it. "Steer for your life, Mahomed!" I yelled. He was a skilful steersman, and well acquainted with the dangers of this most perilous coast, and Isaw him grip the tiller, bend his heavy frame forward, and stare at thefoaming terror till his big round eyes looked as though they would startout of his head. The send of the sea was driving the boat's head roundto starboard. If we struck the line of breakers fifty yards to starboardof the gap we must sink. It was a great field of twisting, spoutingwaves. Mahomed planted his foot against the seat before him, and, glancing at him, I saw his brown toes spread out like a hand with theweight he put upon them as he took the strain of the tiller. She cameround a bit, but not enough. I roared to Job to back water, whilst Idragged and laboured at my oar. She answered now, and none too soon. Heavens, we were in them! And then followed a couple of minutes ofheart-breaking excitement such as I cannot hope to describe. All that Iremember is a shrieking sea of foam, out of which the billows rose here, there, and everywhere like avenging ghosts from their ocean grave. Oncewe were turned right round, but either by chance, or through Mahomed'sskilful steering, the boat's head came straight again before a breakerfilled us. One more--a monster. We were through it or over it--morethrough than over--and then, with a wild yell of exultation from theArab, we shot out into the comparative smooth water of the mouth of seabetween the teeth-like lines of gnashing waves. But we were nearly full of water again, and not more than half a mileahead was the second line of breakers. Again we set to and bailedfuriously. Fortunately the storm had now quite gone by, and the moonshone brightly, revealing a rocky headland running half a mile or moreout into the sea, of which this second line of breakers appeared to bea continuation. At any rate, they boiled around its foot. Probably theridge that formed the headland ran out into the ocean, only at a lowerlevel, and made the reef also. This headland was terminated by a curiouspeak that seemed not to be more than a mile away from us. Just as we gotthe boat pretty clear for the second time, Leo, to my immense relief, opened his eyes and remarked that the clothes had tumbled off the bed, and that he supposed it was time to get up for chapel. I told him toshut his eyes and keep quiet, which he did without in the slightestdegree realizing the position. As for myself, his reference to chapelmade me reflect, with a sort of sick longing, on my comfortable roomsat Cambridge. Why had I been such a fool as to leave them? This is areflection that has several times recurred to me since, and with anever-increasing force. But now again we were drifting down on the breakers, though withlessened speed, for the wind had fallen, and only the current or thetide (it afterwards turned out to be the tide) was driving us. Another minute, and with a sort of howl to Allah from the Arab, a piousejaculation from myself, and something that was not pious from Job, we were in them. And then the whole scene, down to our final escape, repeated itself, only not quite so violently. Mahomed's skilful steeringand the air-tight compartments saved our lives. In five minutes we werethrough, and drifting--for we were too exhausted to do anything tohelp ourselves except keep her head straight--with the most startlingrapidity round the headland which I have described. Round we went with the tide, until we got well under the lee of thepoint, and then suddenly the speed slackened, we ceased to make way, and finally appeared to be in dead water. The storm had entirely passed, leaving a clean-washed sky behind it; the headland intercepted the heavysea that had been occasioned by the squall, and the tide, which hadbeen running so fiercely up the river (for we were now in the mouth of ariver), was sluggish before it turned, so we floated quietly, and beforethe moon went down managed to bail out the boat thoroughly and get hera little ship-shape. Leo was sleeping profoundly, and on the whole Ithought it wise not to wake him. It was true he was sleeping in wetclothes, but the night was now so warm that I thought (and so did Job)that they were not likely to injure a man of his unusually vigorousconstitution. Besides, we had no dry ones at hand. Presently the moon went down, and left us floating on the waters, nowonly heaving like some troubled woman's breast, with leisure to reflectupon all that we had gone through and all that we had escaped. Jobstationed himself at the bow, Mahomed kept his post at the tiller, and Isat on a seat in the middle of the boat close to where Leo was lying. The moon went slowly down in chastened loveliness; she departed likesome sweet bride into her chamber, and long veil-like shadows crept upthe sky through which the stars peeped shyly out. Soon, however, theytoo began to pale before a splendour in the east, and then the quiveringfootsteps of the dawn came rushing across the new-born blue, and shookthe high stars from their places. Quieter and yet more quiet grew thesea, quiet as the soft mist that brooded on her bosom, and covered upher troubling, as the illusive wreaths of sleep brood upon a pain-rackedmind, causing it to forget its sorrow. From the east to the westsped the angels of the Dawn, from sea to sea, from mountain-top tomountain-top, scattering light with both their hands. On they sped outof the darkness, perfect, glorious, like spirits of the just breakingfrom the tomb; on, over the quiet sea, over the low coastline, and theswamps beyond, and the mountains above them; over those who slept inpeace and those who woke in sorrow; over the evil and the good; over theliving and the dead; over the wide world and all that breathes or hasbreathed thereon. It was a wonderfully beautiful sight, and yet sad, perhaps, from thevery excess of its beauty. The arising sun; the setting sun! There wehave the symbol and the type of humanity, and all things with whichhumanity has to do. The symbol and the type, yes, and the earthlybeginning, and the end also. And on that morning this came home to mewith a peculiar force. The sun that rose to-day for us had set lastnight for eighteen of our fellow-voyagers!--had set everlastingly foreighteen whom we knew! The dhow had gone down with them, they were tossing about among therocks and seaweed, so much human drift on the great ocean of Death! Andwe four were saved. But one day a sunrise will come when we shall beamong those who are lost, and then others will watch those gloriousrays, and grow sad in the midst of beauty, and dream of Death in thefull glow of arising Life! For this is the lot of man. V THE HEAD OF THE ETHIOPIAN At length the heralds and forerunners of the royal sun had done theirwork, and, searching out the shadows, had caused them to flee away. Then up he came in glory from his ocean-bed, and flooded the earthwith warmth and light. I sat there in the boat listening to the gentlelapping of the water and watched him rise, till presently the slightdrift of the boat brought the odd-shaped rock, or peak, at the end ofthe promontory which we had weathered with so much peril, between meand the majestic sight, and blotted it from my view. I still continued, however, to stare at the rock, absently enough, till presently it becameedged with the fire of the growing light behind it, and then I started, as well I might, for I perceived that the top of the peak, which wasabout eighty feet high by one hundred and fifty feet thick at its base, was shaped like a negro's head and face, whereon was stamped a mostfiendish and terrifying expression. There was no doubt about it; therewere the thick lips, the fat cheeks, and the squat nose standing outwith startling clearness against the flaming background. There, too, wasthe round skull, washed into shape perhaps by thousands of years ofwind and weather, and, to complete the resemblance, there was a scrubbygrowth of weeds or lichen upon it, which against the sun looked for allthe world like the wool on a colossal negro's head. It certainly wasvery odd; so odd that now I believe it is not a mere freak of nature buta gigantic monument fashioned, like the well-known Egyptian Sphinx, by aforgotten people out of a pile of rock that lent itself to theirdesign, perhaps as an emblem of warning and defiance to any enemies whoapproached the harbour. Unfortunately we were never able to ascertainwhether or not this was the case, inasmuch as the rock was difficult ofaccess both from the land and the waterside, and we had other thingsto attend to. Myself, considering the matter by the light of what weafterwards saw, I believe that it was fashioned by man, but whether ornot this is so, there it stands, and sullenly stares from age to age outacross the changing sea--there it stood two thousand years and moreago, when Amenartas, the Egyptian princess, and the wife of Leo's remoteancestor Kallikrates, gazed upon its devilish face--and there I have nodoubt it will still stand when as many centuries as are numbered betweenher day and our own are added to the year that bore us to oblivion. "What do you think of that, Job?" I asked of our retainer, who wassitting on the edge of the boat, trying to get as much sunshine aspossible, and generally looking uncommonly wretched, and I pointed tothe fiery and demonical head. "Oh Lord, sir, " answered Job, who now perceived the object for the firsttime, "I think that the old geneleman must have been sitting for hisportrait on them rocks. " I laughed, and the laugh woke up Leo. "Hullo, " he said, "what's the matter with me? I am all stiff--where isthe dhow? Give me some brandy, please. " "You may be thankful that you are not stiffer, my boy, " I answered. "Thedhow is sunk, everybody on board her is drowned with the exception ofus four, and your own life was only saved by a miracle"; and whilst Job, now that it was light enough, searched about in a locker for the brandyfor which Leo asked, I told him the history of our night's adventure. "Great Heavens!" he said faintly; "and to think that we should have beenchosen to live through it!" By this time the brandy was forthcoming, and we all had a good pull atit, and thankful enough we were for it. Also the sun was beginning toget strength, and warm our chilled bones, for we had been wet throughfor five hours or more. "Why, " said Leo, with a gasp as he put down the brandy bottle, "thereis the head the writing talks of, the 'rock carven like the head of anEthiopian. '" "Yes, " I said, "there it is. " "Well, then, " he answered, "the whole thing is true. " "I don't see at all that that follows, " I answered. "We knew this headwas here: your father saw it. Very likely it is not the same head thatthe writing talks of; or if it is, it proves nothing. " Leo smiled at me in a superior way. "You are an unbelieving Jew, UncleHorace, " he said. "Those who live will see. " "Exactly so, " I answered, "and now perhaps you will observe that we aredrifting across a sandbank into the mouth of the river. Get hold of youroar, Job, and we will row in and see if we can find a place to land. " The river mouth which we were entering did not appear to be a very wideone, though as yet the long banks of steaming mist that clung aboutits shores had not lifted sufficiently to enable us to see its exactmeasure. There was, as is the case with nearly every East African river, a considerable bar at the mouth, which, no doubt, when the wind was onshore and the tide running out, was absolutely impassable even for aboat drawing only a few inches. But as things were it was manageableenough, and we did not ship a cupful of water. In twenty minutes we werewell across it, with but slight assistance from ourselves, and beingcarried by a strong though somewhat variable breeze well up the harbour. By this time the mist was being sucked up by the sun, which was gettinguncomfortably hot, and we saw that the mouth of the little estuary washere about half a mile across, and that the banks were very marshy, andcrowded with crocodiles lying about on the mud like logs. About a mileahead of us, however, was what appeared to be a strip of firm land, andfor this we steered. In another quarter of an hour we were there, andmaking the boat fast to a beautiful tree with broad shining leaves, andflowers of the magnolia species, only they were rose-coloured andnot white, [*] which hung over the water, we disembarked. This done weundressed, washed ourselves, and spread our clothes, together with thecontents of the boat, in the sun to dry, which they very quickly did. Then, taking shelter from the sun under some trees, we made a heartybreakfast off a "Paysandu" potted tongue, of which we had brought a goodquantity with us, congratulating ourselves loudly on our good fortunein having loaded and provisioned the boat on the previous day before thehurricane destroyed the dhow. By the time that we had finished our mealour clothes were quite dry, and we hastened to get into them, feelingnot a little refreshed. Indeed, with the exception of weariness anda few bruises, none of us were the worse for the terrifying adventurewhich had been fatal to all our companions. Leo, it is true, had beenhalf-drowned, but that is no great matter to a vigorous young athlete offive-and-twenty. [*] There is a known species of magnolia with pink flowers. It is indigenous in Sikkim, and known as _Magnolia Campbellii_. --Editor. After breakfast we started to look about us. We were on a strip of dryland about two hundred yards broad by five hundred long, bordered on oneside by the river, and on the other three by endless desolate swamps, that stretched as far as the eye could reach. This strip of land wasraised about twenty-five feet above the plain of the surrounding swampsand the river level: indeed it had every appearance of having been madeby the hand of man. "This place has been a wharf, " said Leo, dogmatically. "Nonsense, " I answered. "Who would be stupid enough to build a wharfin the middle of these dreadful marshes in a country inhabited bysavages--that is, if it is inhabited at all?" "Perhaps it was not always marsh, and perhaps the people were notalways savage, " he said drily, looking down the steep bank, for we werestanding by the river. "Look there, " he went on, pointing to a spotwhere the hurricane of the previous night had torn up one of themagnolia trees by the roots, which had grown on the extreme edge of thebank just where it sloped down to the water, and lifted a large cake ofearth with them. "Is not that stonework? If not, it is very like it. " "Nonsense, " I said again, but we clambered down to the spot, and gotbetween the upturned roots and the bank. "Well?" he said. But I did not answer this time. I only whistled. For there, laid bare bythe removal of the earth, was an undoubted facing of solid stone laid inlarge blocks and bound together with brown cement, so hard that I couldmake no impression on it with the file in my shooting-knife. Nor wasthis all; seeing something projecting through the soil at the bottom ofthe bared patch of walling, I removed the loose earth with my hands, andrevealed a huge stone ring, a foot or more in diameter, and about threeinches thick. This fairly staggered me. "Looks rather like a wharf where good-sized vessels have been moored, does it not, Uncle Horace?" said Leo, with an excited grin. I tried to say "Nonsense" again, but the word stuck in my throat--thering spoke for itself. In some past age vessels _had_ been moored there, and this stone wall was undoubtedly the remnant of a solidly constructedwharf. Probably the city to which it had belonged lay buried beneath theswamp behind it. "Begins to look as though there were something in the story after all, Uncle Horace, " said the exultant Leo; and reflecting on the mysteriousnegro's head and the equally mysterious stonework, I made no directreply. "A country like Africa, " I said, "is sure to be full of the relicsof long dead and forgotten civilisations. Nobody knows the age of theEgyptian civilisation, and very likely it had offshoots. Then there werethe Babylonians and the Phœnicians, and the Persians, and all mannerof people, all more or less civilised, to say nothing of the Jews whomeverybody 'wants' nowadays. It is possible that they, or any one ofthem, may have had colonies or trading stations about here. Rememberthose buried Persian cities that the consul showed us at Kilwa. "[*] [*] Near Kilwa, on the East Coast of Africa, about 400 miles south ofZanzibar, is a cliff which has been recently washed by the waves. On thetop of this cliff are Persian tombs known to be at least seven centuriesold by the dates still legible upon them. Beneath these tombs is a layerof _débris_ representing a city. Farther down the cliff is a secondlayer representing an older city, and farther down still a third layer, the remains of yet another city of vast and unknown antiquity. Beneath the bottom city were recently found some specimens of glazedearthenware, such as are occasionally to be met with on that coast tothis day. I believe that they are now in the possession of Sir JohnKirk. --Editor. "Quite so, " said Leo, "but that is not what you said before. " "Well, what is to be done now?" I asked, turning the conversation. As no answer was forthcoming we walked to the edge of the swamp, andlooked over it. It was apparently boundless, and vast flocks ofevery sort of waterfowl flew from its recesses, till it was sometimesdifficult to see the sky. Now that the sun was getting high it drew thinsickly looking clouds of poisonous vapour from the surface of the marshand from the scummy pools of stagnant water. "Two things are clear to me, " I said, addressing my three companions, who stared at this spectacle in dismay: "first, that we can't go acrossthere" (I pointed to the swamp), "and, secondly, that if we stop here weshall certainly die of fever. " "That's as clear as a haystack, sir, " said Job. "Very well, then; there are two alternatives before us. One is to 'boutship, and try and run for some port in the whale-boat, which would bea sufficiently risky proceeding, and the other to sail or row on up theriver, and see where we come to. " "I don't know what you are going to do, " said Leo, setting his mouth, "but I am going up that river. " Job turned up the whites of his eyes and groaned, and the Arab murmured"Allah, " and groaned also. As for me, I remarked sweetly that as weseemed to be between the devil and the deep sea, it did not much matterwhere we went. But in reality I was as anxious to proceed as Leo. Thecolossal negro's head and the stone wharf had excited my curiosity to anextent of which I was secretly ashamed, and I was prepared to gratify itat any cost. Accordingly, having carefully fitted the mast, restowedthe boat, and got out our rifles, we embarked. Fortunately the windwas blowing on shore from the ocean, so we were able to hoist the sail. Indeed, we afterwards found out that as a general rule the wind set onshore from daybreak for some hours, and off shore again at sunset, andthe explanation that I offer of this is, that when the earth is cooledby the dew and the night the hot air rises, and the draught rushes infrom the sea till the sun has once more heated it through. At least thatappeared to be the rule here. Taking advantage of this favouring wind, we sailed merrily up the riverfor three or four hours. Once we came across a school of hippopotami, which rose, and bellowed dreadfully at us within ten or a dozen fathomsof the boat, much to Job's alarm, and, I will confess, to my own. Thesewere the first hippopotami that we had ever seen, and, to judge by theirinsatiable curiosity, I should judge that we were the first white menthat they had ever seen. Upon my word, I once or twice thought that theywere coming into the boat to gratify it. Leo wanted to fire at them, but I dissuaded him, fearing the consequences. Also, we saw hundreds ofcrocodiles basking on the muddy banks, and thousands upon thousandsof water-fowl. Some of these we shot, and among them was a wild goose, which, in addition to the sharp-curved spurs on its wings, had a spurabout three-quarters of an inch long growing from the skull just betweenthe eyes. We never shot another like it, so I do not know if it wasa "sport" or a distinct species. In the latter case this incident mayinterest naturalists. Job named it the Unicorn Goose. About midday the sun grew intensely hot, and the stench drawn up by itfrom the marshes which the river drains was something too awful, andcaused us instantly to swallow precautionary doses of quinine. Shortlyafterwards the breeze died away altogether, and as rowing our heavy boatagainst stream in the heat was out of the question, we were thankfulenough to get under the shade of a group of trees--a species ofwillow--that grew by the edge of the river, and lie there and gasp tillat length the approach of sunset put a period to our miseries. Seeingwhat appeared to be an open space of water straight ahead of us, wedetermined to row there before settling what to do for the night. Justas we were about to loosen the boat, however, a beautiful waterbuck, with great horns curving forward, and a white stripe across the rump, came down to the river to drink, without perceiving us hidden awaywithin fifty yards under the willows. Leo was the first to catch sightof it, and, being an ardent sportsman, thirsting for the blood ofbig game, about which he had been dreaming for months, he instantlystiffened all over, and pointed like a setter dog. Seeing what was thematter, I handed him his express rifle, at the same time taking my own. "Now then, " I whispered, "mind you don't miss. " "Miss!" he whispered back contemptuously; "I could not miss it if Itried. " He lifted the rifle, and the roan-coloured buck, having drunk his fill, raised his head and looked out across the river. He was standing rightagainst the sunset sky on a little eminence, or ridge of ground, whichran across the swamp, evidently a favourite path for game, and therewas something very beautiful about him. Indeed, I do not think that ifI live to a hundred I shall ever forget that desolate and yet mostfascinating scene; it is stamped upon my memory. To the right andleft were wide stretches of lonely death-breeding swamp, unbroken andunrelieved so far as the eye could reach, except here and there by pondsof black and peaty water that, mirror-like, flashed up the red raysof the setting sun. Behind us and before stretched the vista of thesluggish river, ending in glimpses of a reed-fringed lagoon, on thesurface of which the long lights of the evening played as the faintbreeze stirred the shadows. To the west loomed the huge red ball of thesinking sun, now vanishing down the vapoury horizon, and filling thegreat heaven, high across whose arch the cranes and wildfowl streamedin line, square, and triangle, with flashes of flying gold and the luridstain of blood. And then ourselves--three modern Englishmen in amodern English boat--seeming to jar upon and look out of tone with thatmeasureless desolation; and in front of us the noble buck limned outupon a background of ruddy sky. _Bang!_ Away he goes with a mighty bound. Leo has missed him. _Bang!_right under him again. Now for a shot. I must have one, though he isgoing like an arrow, and a hundred yards away and more. By Jove! overand over and over! "Well, I think I've wiped your eye there, MasterLeo, " I say, struggling against the ungenerous exultation that in sucha supreme moment of one's existence will rise in the best-manneredsportsman's breast. "Confound you, yes, " growled Leo; and then, with that quick smile thatis one of his charms lighting up his handsome face like a ray of light, "I beg your pardon, old fellow. I congratulate you; it was a lovelyshot, and mine were vile. " We got out of the boat and ran to the buck, which was shot through thespine and stone dead. It took us a quarter of an hour or more to cleanit and cut off as much of the best meat as we could carry, and, having packed this away, we had barely light enough to row up into thelagoon-like space, into which, there being a hollow in the swamp, theriver here expanded. Just as the light vanished we cast anchor aboutthirty fathoms from the edge of the lake. We did not dare to go ashore, not knowing if we should find dry ground to camp on, and greatly fearingthe poisonous exhalations from the marsh, from which we thought weshould be freer on the water. So we lighted a lantern, and made ourevening meal off another potted tongue in the best fashion that wecould, and then prepared to go to sleep, only, however, to find thatsleep was impossible. For, whether they were attracted by the lantern, or by the unaccustomed smell of a white man for which they had beenwaiting for the last thousand years or so, I know not; but certainly wewere presently attacked by tens of thousands of the most blood-thirsty, pertinacious, and huge mosquitoes that I ever saw or read of. In cloudsthey came, and pinged and buzzed and bit till we were nearly mad. Tobacco smoke only seemed to stir them into a merrier and more activelife, till at length we were driven to covering ourselves with blankets, head and all, and sitting to slowly stew and continually scratch andswear beneath them. And as we sat, suddenly rolling out like thunderthrough the silence came the deep roar of a lion, and then of a secondlion, moving among the reeds within sixty yards of us. "I say, " said Leo, sticking his head out from under his blanket, "luckywe ain't on the bank, eh, Avuncular?" (Leo sometimes addressed me inthis disrespectful way. ) "Curse it! a mosquito has bitten me on thenose, " and the head vanished again. Shortly after this the moon came up, and notwithstanding every varietyof roar that echoed over the water to us from the lions on the banks, webegan, thinking ourselves perfectly secure, to gradually doze off. I do not quite know what it was that made me poke my head out of thefriendly shelter of the blanket, perhaps because I found that themosquitoes were biting right through it. Anyhow, as I did so I heard Jobwhisper, in a frightened voice-- "Oh, my stars, look there!" Instantly we all of us looked, and this was what we saw in themoonlight. Near the shore were two wide and ever-widening circles ofconcentric rings rippling away across the surface of the water, and inthe heart and centre of the circles were two dark moving objects. "What is it?" asked I. "It is those damned lions, sir, " answered Job, in a tone which wasan odd mixture of a sense of personal injury, habitual respect, andacknowledged fear, "and they are swimming here to _heat_ us, " he added, nervously picking up an "h" in his agitation. I looked again: there was no doubt about it; I could catch the glare oftheir ferocious eyes. Attracted either by the smell of the newly killedwaterbuck meat or of ourselves, the hungry beasts were actually stormingour position. Leo already had his rifle in his hand. I called to him to wait till theywere nearer, and meanwhile grabbed my own. Some fifteen feet from usthe water shallowed on a bank to the depth of about fifteen inches, andpresently the first of them--it was the lioness--got on to it, shookherself, and roared. At that moment Leo fired, the bullet went rightdown her open mouth and out at the back of her neck, and down shedropped, with a splash, dead. The other lion--a full-grown male--wassome two paces behind her. At this second he got his forepaws on to thebank, when a strange thing happened. There was a rush and disturbanceof the water, such as one sees in a pond in England when a pike takes alittle fish, only a thousand times fiercer and larger, and suddenly thelion gave a most terrific snarling roar and sprang forward on to thebank, dragging something black with him. "Allah!" shouted Mahomed, "a crocodile has got him by the leg!" and sureenough he had. We could see the long snout with its gleaming lines ofteeth and the reptile body behind it. And then followed an extraordinary scene indeed. The lion managed toget well on to the bank, the crocodile half standing and half swimming, still nipping his hind leg. He roared till the air quivered with thesound, and then, with a savage, shrieking snarl, turned round and clawedhold of the crocodile's head. The crocodile shifted his grip, having, as we afterwards discovered, had one of his eyes torn out, and slightlyturned over; instantly the lion got him by the throat and held on, andthen over and over they rolled upon the bank struggling hideously. Itwas impossible to follow their movements, but when next we got a clearview the tables had turned, for the crocodile, whose head seemed to bea mass of gore, had got the lion's body in his iron jaws just above thehips, and was squeezing him and shaking him to and fro. For his part, the tortured brute, roaring in agony, was clawing and biting madlyat his enemy's scaly head, and fixing his great hind claws in thecrocodile's, comparatively speaking, soft throat, ripping it open as onewould rip a glove. Then, all of a sudden, the end came. The lion's head fell forward on thecrocodile's back, and with an awful groan he died, and the crocodile, after standing for a minute motionless, slowly rolled over on to hisside, his jaws still fixed across the carcase of the lion, which, weafterwards found, he had bitten almost in halves. This duel to the death was a wonderful and a shocking sight, and onethat I suppose few men have seen--and thus it ended. When it was all over, leaving Mahomed to keep a look out, we managed tospend the rest of the night as quietly as the mosquitoes would allow. VI AN EARLY CHRISTIAN CEREMONY Next morning, at the earliest light of dawn, we rose, performed suchablutions as circumstances would allow, and generally made ready tostart. I am bound to say that when there was sufficient light to enableus to see each other's faces I, for one, burst out into a roar oflaughter. Job's fat and comfortable countenance was swollen out tonearly twice its natural size from mosquito bites, and Leo's conditionwas not much better. Indeed, of the three I had come off much the best, probably owing to the toughness of my dark skin, and to the fact thata good deal of it was covered by hair, for since we had started fromEngland I had allowed my naturally luxuriant beard to grow at itsown sweet will. But the other two were, comparatively speaking, cleanshaved, which of course gave the enemy a larger extent of open countryto operate on, though in Mahomed's case the mosquitoes, recognising thetaste of a true believer, would not touch him at any price. How often, I wonder, during the next week or so did we wish that we were flavouredlike an Arab! By the time that we had done laughing as heartily as our swollen lipswould allow, it was daylight, and the morning breeze was coming up fromthe sea, cutting lanes through the dense marsh mists, and here and thererolling them before it in great balls of fleecy vapour. So we setour sail, and having first taken a look at the two dead lions and thealligator, which we were of course unable to skin, being destitute ofmeans of curing the pelts, we started, and, sailing through the lagoon, followed the course of the river on the farther side. At midday, whenthe breeze dropped, we were fortunate enough to find a convenient pieceof dry land on which to camp and light a fire, and here we cooked twowild-ducks and some of the waterbuck's flesh--not in a very appetisingway, it is true, but still sufficiently. The rest of the buck's fleshwe cut into strips and hung in the sun to dry into "biltong, " as, Ibelieve, the South African Dutch call flesh thus prepared. On thiswelcome patch of dry land we stopped till the following dawn, and, asbefore, spent the night in warfare with the mosquitoes, but withoutother troubles. The next day or two passed in similar fashion, andwithout noticeable adventures, except that we shot a specimen of apeculiarly graceful hornless buck, and saw many varieties of water-lilyin full bloom, some of them blue and of exquisite beauty, though fewof the flowers were perfect, owing to the prevalence of a whitewater-maggot with a green head that fed upon them. It was on the fifth day of our journey, when we had travelled, so faras we could reckon, about one hundred and thirty-five to a hundred andforty miles westwards from the coast, that the first event of any realimportance occurred. On that morning the usual wind failed us abouteleven o'clock, and after pulling a little way we were forced to halt, more or less exhausted, at what appeared to be the junction of ourstream with another of a uniform width of about fifty feet. Some treesgrew near at hand--the only trees in all this country were along thebanks of the river, and under these we rested, and then, the land beingfairly dry just here, walked a little way along the edge of the river toprospect, and shoot a few waterfowl for food. Before we had gone fiftyyards we perceived that all hopes of getting further up the stream inthe whale-boat were at an end, for not two hundred yards above wherewe had stopped were a succession of shallows and mudbanks, with not sixinches of water over them. It was a watery _cul de sac_. Turning back, we walked some way along the banks of the other river, andsoon came to the conclusion, from various indications, that it was nota river at all, but an ancient canal, like the one which is to be seenabove Mombasa, on the Zanzibar coast, connecting the Tana River withthe Ozy, in such a way as to enable the shipping coming down the Tanato cross to the Ozy, and reach the sea by it, and thus avoid the verydangerous bar that blocks the mouth of the Tana. The canal before ushad evidently been dug out by man at some remote period of the world'shistory, and the results of his digging still remained in the shape ofthe raised banks that had no doubt once formed towing-paths. Except hereand there, where they had been hollowed out by the water or fallen in, these banks of stiff binding clay were at a uniform distance from eachother, and the depth of the stream also appeared to be uniform. Currentthere was little or none, and, as a consequence, the surface of thecanal was choked with vegetable growth, intersected by little pathsof clear water, made, I suppose, by the constant passage of waterfowl, iguanas, and other vermin. Now, as it was evident that we could notproceed up the river, it became equally evident that we must either trythe canal or else return to the sea. We could not stop where we were, to be baked by the sun and eaten up by the mosquitoes, till we died offever in that dreary marsh. "Well, I suppose that we must try it, " I said; and the others assentedin their various ways--Leo, as though it were the best joke in theworld; Job, in respectful disgust; and Mahomed, with an invocation tothe Prophet, and a comprehensive curse upon all unbelievers and theirways of thought and travel. Accordingly, as soon as the sun got low, having little or nothing moreto hope for from our friendly wind, we started. For the first hour or sowe managed to row the boat, though with great labour; but after that theweeds got too thick to allow of it, and we were obliged to resort to theprimitive and most exhausting resource of towing her. For two hours welaboured, Mahomed, Job, and I, who was supposed to be strong enough topull against the two of them, on the bank, while Leo sat in the bow ofthe boat, and brushed away the weeds which collected round the cutwaterwith Mahomed's sword. At dark we halted for some hours to rest and enjoythe mosquitoes, but about midnight we went on again, taking advantageof the comparative cool of the night. At dawn we rested for three hours, and then started once more, and laboured on till about ten o'clock, whena thunderstorm, accompanied by a deluge of rain, overtook us, and wespent the next six hours practically under water. I do not know that there is any necessity for me to describe the nextfour days of our voyage in detail, further than to say that they were, on the whole, the most miserable that I ever spent in my life, formingone monotonous record of heavy labour, heat, misery, and mosquitoes. Allthat dreary way we passed through a region of almost endless swamp, andI can only attribute our escape from fever and death to the constantdoses of quinine and purgatives which we took, and the unceasing toilwhich we were forced to undergo. On the third day of our journey up thecanal we had sighted a round hill that loomed dimly through the vapoursof the marsh, and on the evening of the fourth night, when we camped, this hill seemed to be within five-and-twenty or thirty miles of us. Wewere by now utterly exhausted, and felt as though our blistered handscould not pull the boat a yard farther, and that the best thing thatwe could do would be to lie down and die in that dreadful wilderness ofswamp. It was an awful position, and one in which I trust no other whiteman will ever be placed; and as I threw myself down in the boat to sleepthe sleep of utter exhaustion, I bitterly cursed my folly in ever havingbeen a party to such a mad undertaking, which could, I saw, only end inour death in this ghastly land. I thought, I remember, as I slowly sankinto a doze, of what the appearance of the boat and her unhappy crewwould be in two or three months' time from that night. There she wouldlie, with gaping seams and half filled with fœtid water, which, whenthe mist-laden wind stirred her, would wash backwards and forwardsthrough our mouldering bones, and that would be the end of her, and ofthose in her who would follow after myths and seek out the secrets ofNature. Already I seemed to hear the water rippling against the desiccated bonesand rattling them together, rolling my skull against Mahomed's, andhis against mine, till at last Mahomed's stood straight up upon itsvertebræ, and glared at me through its empty eyeholes, and cursed mewith its grinning jaws, because I, a dog of a Christian, disturbed thelast sleep of a true believer. I opened my eyes, and shuddered at thehorrid dream, and then shuddered again at something that was not adream, for two great eyes were gleaming down at me through the mistydarkness. I struggled up, and in my terror and confusion shrieked, andshrieked again, so that the others sprang up too, reeling, and drunkenwith sleep and fear. And then all of a sudden there was a flash of coldsteel, and a great spear was held against my throat, and behind it otherspears gleamed cruelly. "Peace, " said a voice, speaking in Arabic, or rather in some dialectinto which Arabic entered very largely; "who are ye who come hitherswimming on the water? Speak or ye die, " and the steel pressed sharplyagainst my throat, sending a cold chill through me. "We are travellers, and have come hither by chance, " I answered in mybest Arabic, which appeared to be understood, for the man turned hishead, and, addressing a tall form that towered up in the background, said, "Father, shall we slay?" "What is the colour of the men?" said a deep voice in answer. "White is their colour. " "Slay not, " was the reply. "Four suns since was the word brought to mefrom '_She-who-must-be-obeyed_, ' 'White men come; if white mencome, slay them not. ' Let them be brought to the house of'_She-who-must-be-obeyed_. ' Bring forth the men, and let that which theyhave with them be brought forth also. " "Come, " said the man, half leading and half dragging me from the boat, and as he did so I perceived other men doing the same kind office to mycompanions. On the bank were gathered a company of some fifty men. In that light allI could make out was that they were armed with huge spears, were verytall, and strongly built, comparatively light in colour, and nude, savefor a leopard skin tied round the middle. Presently Leo and Job were bundled out and placed beside me. "What on earth is up?" said Leo, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, Lord! sir, here's a rum go, " ejaculated Job; and just at thatmoment a disturbance ensued, and Mahomed came tumbling between us, followed by a shadowy form with an uplifted spear. "Allah! Allah!" howled Mahomed, feeling that he had little to hope fromman, "protect me! protect me!" "Father, it is a black one, " said a voice. "What said'_She-who-must-be-obeyed_' about the black one?" "She said naught; but slay him not. Come hither, my son. " The man advanced, and the tall shadowy form bent forward and whisperedsomething. "Yes, yes, " said the other, and chuckled in a rather blood-curdlingtone. "Are the three white men there?" asked the form. "Yes, they are there. " "Then bring up that which is made ready for them, and let the men takeall that can be brought from the thing which floats. " Hardly had he spoken when men came running up, carrying on theirshoulders neither more nor less than palanquins--four bearers and twospare men to a palanquin--and in these it was promptly indicated we wereexpected to stow ourselves. "Well!" said Leo, "it is a blessing to find anybody to carry us afterhaving to carry ourselves so long. " Leo always takes a cheerful view of things. There being no help for it, after seeing the others into theirs Itumbled into my own litter, and very comfortable I found it. It appearedto be manufactured of cloth woven from grass-fibre, which stretched andyielded to every motion of the body, and, being bound top and bottom tothe bearing pole, gave a grateful support to the head and neck. Scarcely had I settled myself when, accompanying their steps with amonotonous song, the bearers started at a swinging trot. For half anhour or so I lay still, reflecting on the very remarkable experiencesthat we were going through, and wondering if any of my eminentlyrespectable fossil friends down at Cambridge would believe me if I wereto be miraculously set at the familiar dinner-table for the purposeof relating them. I do not want to convey any disrespectful notion orslight when I call those good and learned men fossils, but my experienceis that people are apt to fossilise even at a University if they followthe same paths too persistently. I was getting fossilised myself, butof late my stock of ideas has been very much enlarged. Well, I lay andreflected, and wondered what on earth would be the end of it all, tillat last I ceased to wonder, and went to sleep. I suppose I must have slept for seven or eight hours, getting the firstreal rest that I had had since the night before the loss of thedhow, for when I woke the sun was high in the heavens. We were stilljourneying on at a pace of about four miles an hour. Peeping out throughthe mist-like curtains of the litter, which were ingeniously fixed tothe bearing pole, I perceived to my infinite relief that we had passedout of the region of eternal swamp, and were now travelling overswelling grassy plains towards a cup-shaped hill. Whether or not it wasthe same hill that we had seen from the canal I do not know, and havenever since been able to discover, for, as we afterwards found out, these people will give little information upon such points. Next Iglanced at the men who were bearing me. They were of a magnificentbuild, few of them being under six feet in height, and yellowish incolour. Generally their appearance had a good deal in common with thatof the East African Somali, only their hair was not frizzed up, but hungin thick black locks upon their shoulders. Their features were aquiline, and in many cases exceedingly handsome, the teeth being especiallyregular and beautiful. But notwithstanding their beauty, it struck methat, on the whole, I had never seen a more evil-looking set of faces. There was an aspect of cold and sullen cruelty stamped upon themthat revolted me, and which in some cases was almost uncanny in itsintensity. Another thing that struck me about them was that they never seemed tosmile. Sometimes they sang the monotonous song of which I have spoken, but when they were not singing they remained almost perfectly silent, and the light of a laugh never came to brighten their sombre and evilcountenances. Of what race could these people be? Their language was abastard Arabic, and yet they were not Arabs; I was quite sure of that. For one thing they were too dark, or rather yellow. I could not say why, but I know that their appearance filled me with a sick fear of whichI felt ashamed. While I was still wondering another litter came upalongside of mine. In it--for the curtains were drawn--sat an old man, clothed in a whitish robe, made apparently from coarse linen, that hungloosely about him, who, I at once jumped to the conclusion, wasthe shadowy figure that had stood on the bank and been addressed as"Father. " He was a wonderful-looking old man, with a snowy beard, solong that the ends of it hung over the sides of the litter, and he hada hooked nose, above which flashed out a pair of eyes as keen as asnake's, while his whole countenance was instinct with a look of wiseand sardonic humour impossible to describe on paper. "Art thou awake, stranger?" he said in a deep and low voice. "Surely, my father, " I answered courteously, feeling certain that Ishould do well to conciliate this ancient Mammon of Unrighteousness. He stroked his beautiful white beard, and smiled faintly. "From whatever country thou camest, " he said, "and by the way it mustbe from one where somewhat of our language is known, they teach theirchildren courtesy there, my stranger son. And now wherefore comest thouunto this land, which scarce an alien foot has pressed from the timethat man knoweth? Art thou and those with thee weary of life?" "We came to find new things, " I answered boldly. "We are tired ofthe old things; we have come up out of the sea to know that whichis unknown. We are of a brave race who fear not death, my very muchrespected father--that is, if we can get a little information before wedie. " "Humph!" said the old gentleman, "that may be true; it is rash tocontradict, otherwise I should say that thou wast lying, my son. However, I dare to say that '_She-who-must-be-obeyed_' will meet thywishes in the matter. " "Who is '_She-who-must-be-obeyed_'?" I asked, curiously. The old man glanced at the bearers, and then answered, with a littlesmile that somehow sent my blood to my heart-- "Surely, my stranger son, thou wilt learn soon enough, if it be herpleasure to see thee at all in the flesh. " "In the flesh?" I answered. "What may my father wish to convey?" But the old man only laughed a dreadful laugh, and made no reply. "What is the name of my father's people?" I asked. "The name of my people is Amahagger" (the People of the Rocks). "And if a son might ask, what is the name of my father?" "My name is Billali. " "And whither go we, my father?" "That shalt thou see, " and at a sign from him his bearers startedforward at a run till they reached the litter in which Job was reposing(with one leg hanging over the side). Apparently, however, he could notmake much out of Job, for presently I saw his bearers trot forward toLeo's litter. And after that, as nothing fresh occurred, I yielded to the pleasantswaying motion of the litter, and went to sleep again. I was dreadfullytired. When I woke I found that we were passing through a rocky defileof a lava formation with precipitous sides, in which grew many beautifultrees and flowering shrubs. Presently this defile took a turn, and a lovely sight unfolded itselfto my eyes. Before us was a vast cup of green from four to six miles inextent, in the shape of a Roman amphitheatre. The sides of this greatcup were rocky, and clothed with bush, but the centre was of the richestmeadow land, studded with single trees of magnificent growth, andwatered by meandering brooks. On this rich plain grazed herds of goatsand cattle, but I saw no sheep. At first I could not imagine what thisstrange spot could be, but presently it flashed upon me that it mustrepresent the crater of some long-extinct volcano which had afterwardsbeen a lake, and was ultimately drained in some unexplained way. Andhere I may state that from my subsequent experience of this and a muchlarger, but otherwise similar spot, which I shall have occasion todescribe by-and-by, I have every reason to believe that this conclusionwas correct. What puzzled me, however, was, that although there werepeople moving about herding the goats and cattle, I saw no signs of anyhuman habitation. Where did they all live? I wondered. My curiosity wassoon destined to be gratified. Turning to the left the string of littersfollowed the cliffy sides of the crater for a distance of about halfa mile, or perhaps a little less, and then halted. Seeing the oldgentleman, my adopted "father, " Billali, emerge from his litter, I didthe same, and so did Leo and Job. The first thing I saw was our wretchedArab companion, Mahomed, lying exhausted on the ground. It appeared thathe had not been provided with a litter, but had been forced to run theentire distance, and, as he was already quite worn out when we started, his condition now was one of great prostration. On looking round we discovered that the place where we had halted wasa platform in front of the mouth of a great cave, and piled upon thisplatform were the entire contents of the whale-boat, even down to theoars and sail. Round the cave stood groups of the men who had escortedus, and other men of a similar stamp. They were all tall and allhandsome, though they varied in their degree of darkness of skin, somebeing as dark as Mahomed, and some as yellow as a Chinese. They werenaked, except for the leopard-skin round the waist, and each of themcarried a huge spear. There were also some women among them, who, instead of the leopard-skin, wore a tanned hide of a small red buck, something like that of theoribé, only rather darker in colour. These women were, as a class, exceedingly good-looking, with large, dark eyes, well-cut features, anda thick bush of curling hair--not crisped like a negro's--ranging fromblack to chestnut in hue, with all shades of intermediate colour. Some, but very few of them, wore a yellowish linen garment, such as I havedescribed as worn by Billali, but this, as we afterwards discovered, wasa mark of rank, rather than an attempt at clothing. For the rest, theirappearance was not quite so terrifying as that of the men, and theysometimes, though rarely, smiled. As soon as we had alighted theygathered round us and examined us with curiosity, but withoutexcitement. Leo's tall, athletic form and clear-cut Grecian face, however, evidently excited their attention, and when he politely liftedhis hat to them, and showed his curling yellow hair, there was a slightmurmur of admiration. Nor did it stop there; for, after regarding himcritically from head to foot, the handsomest of the young women--onewearing a robe, and with hair of a shade between brown andchestnut--deliberately advanced to him, and, in a way that would havebeen winning had it not been so determined, quietly put her arm roundhis neck, bent forward, and kissed him on the lips. I gave a gasp, expecting to see Leo instantly speared; and Jobejaculated, "The hussy--well, I never!" As for Leo, he looked slightlyastonished; and then, remarking that we had clearly got into a countrywhere they followed the customs of the early Christians, deliberatelyreturned the embrace. Again I gasped, thinking that something would happen; but, to mysurprise, though some of the young women showed traces of vexation, theolder ones and the men only smiled slightly. When we came to understandthe customs of this extraordinary people the mystery was explained. Itthen appeared that, in direct opposition to the habits of almost everyother savage race in the world, women among the Amahagger are not onlyupon terms of perfect equality with the men, but are not held to them byany binding ties. Descent is traced only through the line of themother, and while individuals are as proud of a long and superior femaleancestry as we are of our families in Europe, they never pay attentionto, or even acknowledge, any man as their father, even when their maleparentage is perfectly well known. There is but one titular male parentof each tribe, or, as they call it, "Household, " and he is its electedand immediate ruler, with the title of "Father. " For instance, the manBillali was the father of this "household, " which consisted of aboutseven thousand individuals all told, and no other man was ever calledby that name. When a woman took a fancy to a man she signified herpreference by advancing and embracing him publicly, in the same way thatthis handsome and exceedingly prompt young lady, who was called Ustane, had embraced Leo. If he kissed her back it was a token that he acceptedher, and the arrangement continued until one of them wearied of it. Iam bound, however, to say that the change of husbands was not nearly sofrequently as might have been expected. Nor did quarrels arise outof it, at least among the men, who, when their wives deserted themin favour of a rival, accepted the whole thing much as we accept theincome-tax or our marriage laws, as something not to be disputed, and astending to the good of the community, however disagreeable they may inparticular instances prove to the individual. It is very curious to observe how the customs of mankind on this mattervary in different countries, making morality an affair of latitude, andwhat is right and proper in one place wrong and improper in another. Itmust, however, be understood that, since all civilised nations appear toaccept it as an axiom that ceremony is the touchstone of morality, thereis, even according to our canons, nothing immoral about this Amahaggercustom, seeing that the interchange of the embrace answers to ourceremony of marriage, which, as we know, justifies most things. VII USTANE SINGS When the kissing operation was finished--by the way, none of the youngladies offered to pet me in this fashion, though I saw one hoveringround Job, to that respectable individual's evident alarm--the old manBillali advanced, and graciously waved us into the cave, whither wewent, followed by Ustane, who did not seem inclined to take the hints Igave her that we liked privacy. Before we had gone five paces it struck me that the cave that we wereentering was none of Nature's handiwork, but, on the contrary, had beenhollowed by the hand of man. So far as we could judge it appeared tobe about one hundred feet in length by fifty wide, and very lofty, resembling a cathedral aisle more than anything else. From this mainaisle opened passages at a distance of every twelve or fifteen feet, leading, I supposed, to smaller chambers. About fifty feet from theentrance of the cave, just where the light began to get dim, a fire wasburning, which threw huge shadows upon the gloomy walls around. HereBillali halted, and asked us to be seated, saying that the people wouldbring us food, and accordingly we squatted ourselves down upon therugs of skins which were spread for us, and waited. Presently the food, consisting of goat's flesh boiled, fresh milk in an earthenware pot, andboiled cobs of Indian corn, was brought by young girls. We were almoststarving, and I do not think that I ever in my life before ate withsuch satisfaction. Indeed, before we had finished we literally ate upeverything that was set before us. When we had done, our somewhat saturnine host, Billali, who had beenwatching us in perfect silence, rose and addressed us. He said that itwas a wonderful thing that had happened. No man had ever known or heardof white strangers arriving in the country of the People of the Rocks. Sometimes, though rarely, black men had come here, and from them theyhad heard of the existence of men much whiter than themselves, whosailed on the sea in ships, but for the arrival of such there was noprecedent. We had, however, been seen dragging the boat up the canal, and he told us frankly that he had at once given orders for ourdestruction, seeing that it was unlawful for any stranger to enter here, when a message had come from "_She-who-must-be-obeyed_, " saying that ourlives were to be spared, and that we were to be brought hither. "Pardon me, my father, " I interrupted at this point; "but if, as Iunderstand, '_She-who-must-be-obeyed_' lives yet farther off, how couldshe have known of our approach?" Billali turned, and seeing that we were alone--for the young lady, Ustane, had withdrawn when he had begun to speak--said, with a curiouslittle laugh-- "Are there none in your land who can see without eyes and hear withoutears? Ask no questions; _She_ knew. " I shrugged my shoulders at this, and he proceeded to say that no furtherinstructions had been received on the subject of our disposal, and thisbeing so he was about to start to interview "_She-who-must-be-obeyed_, "generally spoken of, for the sake of brevity, as "Hiya" or _She_ simply, who he gave us to understand was the Queen of the Amahagger, and learnher wishes. I asked him how long he proposed to be away, and he said that bytravelling hard he might be back on the fifth day, but there were manymiles of marsh to cross before he came to where _She_ was. He then saidthat every arrangement would be made for our comfort during his absence, and that, as he personally had taken a fancy to us, he sincerely trustedthat the answer he should bring from _She_ would be one favourable tothe continuation of our existence, but at the same time he did not wishto conceal from us that he thought this doubtful, as every strangerwho had ever come into the country during his grandmother's life, hismother's life, and his own life, had been put to death without mercy, and in a way he would not harrow our feelings by describing; and thishad been done by the order of _She_ herself, at least he supposed thatit was by her order. At any rate, she never interfered to save them. "Why, " I said, "but how can that be? You are an old man, and the timeyou talk of must reach back three men's lives. How therefore could _She_have ordered the death of anybody at the beginning of the life of yourgrandmother, seeing that herself she would not have been born?" Again he smiled--that same faint, peculiar smile, and with a deep bowdeparted, without making any answer; nor did we see him again for fivedays. When we had gone we discussed the situation, which filled me withalarm. I did not at all like the accounts of this mysterious Queen, "_She-who-must-be-obeyed_, " or more shortly _She_, who apparentlyordered the execution of any unfortunate stranger in a fashion sounmerciful. Leo, too, was depressed about it, but consoled himself bytriumphantly pointing out that this _She_ was undoubtedly the personreferred to in the writing on the potsherd and in his father's letter, in proof of which he advanced Billali's allusions to her age and power. I was by this time too overwhelmed with the whole course of events thatI had not even the heart left to dispute a proposition so absurd, so Isuggested that we should try to go out and get a bath, of which we allstood sadly in need. Accordingly, having indicated our wish to a middle-aged individual ofan unusually saturnine cast of countenance, even among this saturninepeople, who appeared to be deputed to look after us now that the Fatherof the hamlet had departed, we started in a body--having first litour pipes. Outside the cave we found quite a crowd of people evidentlywatching for our appearance, but when they saw us come out smoking theyvanished this way and that, calling out that we were great magicians. Indeed, nothing about us created so great a sensation as our tobaccosmoke--not even our firearms. [*] After this we succeeded in reachinga stream that had its source in a strong ground spring, and taking ourbath in peace, though some of the women, not excepting Ustane, showed adecided inclination to follow us even there. [*] We found tobacco growing in this country as it does in every other part of Africa, and, although they were so absolutely ignorant of its other blessed qualities, the Amahagger use it habitually in the form of snuff and also for medicinal purposes. --L. H. H. By the time that we had finished this most refreshing bath the sun wassetting; indeed, when we got back to the big cave it had already set. The cave itself was full of people gathered round fires--for severalmore had now been lighted--and eating their evening meal by their luridlight, and by that of various lamps which were set about or hung uponthe walls. These lamps were of a rude manufacture of baked earthenware, and of all shapes, some of them graceful enough. The larger ones wereformed of big red earthenware pots, filled with clarified melted fat, and having a reed wick stuck through a wooden disk which filled the topof the pot. This sort of lamp required the most constant attention toprevent its going out whenever the wick burnt down, as there were nomeans of turning it up. The smaller hand lamps, however, which were alsomade of baked clay, were fitted with wicks manufactured from the pithof a palm-tree, or sometimes from the stem of a very handsome varietyof fern. This kind of wick was passed through a round hole at the end ofthe lamp, to which a sharp piece of hard wood was attached wherewith topierce and draw it up whenever it showed signs of burning low. For a while we sat down and watched this grim people eating theirevening meal in silence as grim as themselves, till at length, gettingtired of contemplating them and the huge moving shadows on the rockywalls, I suggested to our new keeper that we should like to go to bed. Without a word he rose, and, taking me politely by the hand, advancedwith a lamp to one of the small passages that I had noticed openingout of the central cave. This we followed for about five paces, when itsuddenly widened out into a small chamber, about eight feet square, andhewn out of the living rock. On one side of this chamber was a stoneslab, about three feet from the ground, and running its entire lengthlike a bunk in a cabin, and on this slab he intimated that I was tosleep. There was no window or air-hole to the chamber, and no furniture;and, on looking at it more closely, I came to the disturbing conclusion(in which, as I afterwards discovered, I was quite right) that ithad originally served for a sepulchre for the dead rather than asleeping-place for the living, the slab being designed to receive thecorpse of the departed. The thought made me shudder in spite of myself;but, seeing that I must sleep somewhere, I got over the feeling as bestI might, and returned to the cavern to get my blanket, which had beenbrought up from the boat with the other things. There I met Job, who, having been inducted to a similar apartment, had flatly declined to stopin it, saying that the look of the place gave him the horrors, and thathe might as well be dead and buried in his grandfather's brick graveat once, and expressed his determination of sleeping with me if I wouldallow him. This, of course, I was only too glad to do. The night passed very comfortably on the whole. I say on the whole, for personally I went through a most horrible nightmare of being buriedalive, induced, no doubt, by the sepulchral nature of my surroundings. At dawn we were aroused by a loud trumpeting sound, produced, as weafterwards discovered, by a young Amahagger blowing through a holebored in its side into a hollowed elephant tusk, which was kept for thepurpose. Taking the hint, we got up and went down to the stream to wash, afterwhich the morning meal was served. At breakfast one of the women, nolonger quite young, advanced and publicly kissed Job. I think it was inits way the most delightful thing (putting its impropriety aside fora moment) that I ever saw. Never shall I forget the respectable Job'sabject terror and disgust. Job, like myself, is a bit of a misogynist--Ifancy chiefly owing to the fact of his having been one of a familyof seventeen--and the feelings expressed upon his countenance whenhe realised that he was not only being embraced publicly, and withoutauthorisation on his own part, but also in the presence of his masters, were too mixed and painful to admit of accurate description. He sprangto his feet, and pushed the woman, a buxom person of about thirty, fromhim. "Well, I never!" he gasped, whereupon probably thinking that he was onlycoy, she embraced him again. "Be off with you! Get away, you minx!" he shouted, waving the woodenspoon, with which he was eating his breakfast, up and down before thelady's face. "Beg your pardon, gentlemen, I am sure I haven't encouragedher. Oh, Lord! she's coming for me again. Hold her, Mr. Holly! pleasehold her! I can't stand it; I can't, indeed. This has never happened tome before, gentlemen, never. There's nothing against my character, " andhere he broke off, and ran as hard as he could go down the cave, and foronce I saw the Amahagger laugh. As for the woman, however, she didnot laugh. On the contrary, she seemed to bristle with fury, which themockery of the other women about only served to intensify. She stoodthere literally snarling and shaking with indignation, and, seeing her, I wished Job's scruples had been at Jericho, forming a shrewd guess thathis admirable behaviour had endangered our throats. Nor, as the sequelshows, was I wrong. The lady having retreated, Job returned in a great state of nervousness, and keeping his weather eye fixed upon every woman who came near him. Itook an opportunity to explain to our hosts that Job was a married man, and had had very unhappy experiences in his domestic relations, whichaccounted for his presence here and his terror at the sight of women, but my remarks were received in grim silence, it being evident that ourretainer's behaviour was considered as a slight to the "household"at large, although the women, after the manner of some of their mostcivilised sisters, made merry at the rebuff of their companion. After breakfast we took a walk and inspected the Amahagger herds, andalso their cultivated lands. They have two breeds of cattle, one largeand angular, with no horns, but yielding beautiful milk; and the other, a red breed, very small and fat, excellent for meat, but of no value formilking purposes. This last breed closely resembles the Norfolk red-polestrain, only it has horns which generally curve forward over the head, sometimes to such an extent that they have to be cut to prevent themfrom growing into the bones of the skull. The goats are long-haired, andare used for eating only, at least I never saw them milked. As for theAmahagger cultivation, it is primitive in the extreme, being all doneby means of a spade made of iron, for these people smelt and work iron. This spade is shaped more like a big spear-head than anything else, andhas no shoulder to it on which the foot can be set. As a consequence, the labour of digging is very great. It is, however, all done by themen, the women, contrary to the habits of most savage races, beingentirely exempt from manual toil. But then, as I think I have saidelsewhere, among the Amahagger the weaker sex has established itsrights. At first we were much puzzled as to the origin and constitution ofthis extraordinary race, points upon which they were singularlyuncommunicative. As the time went on--for the next four days passedwithout any striking event--we learnt something from Leo's lady friendUstane, who, by the way, stuck to that young gentleman like his ownshadow. As to origin, they had none, at least, so far as she wasaware. There were, however, she informed us, mounds of masonry and manypillars, near the place where _She_ lived, which was called Kôr, andwhich the wise said had once been houses wherein men lived, and it wassuggested that they were descended from these men. No one, however, dared go near these great ruins, because they were haunted: they onlylooked on them from a distance. Other similar ruins were to be seen, shehad heard, in various parts of the country, that is, wherever one ofthe mountains rose above the level of the swamp. Also the caves in whichthey lived had been hollowed out of the rocks by men, perhaps the samewho built the cities. They themselves had no written laws, only custom, which was, however, quite as binding as law. If any man offendedagainst the custom, he was put to death by order of the Father of the"Household. " I asked how he was put to death, and she only smiled andsaid that I might see one day soon. They had a Queen, however. _She_ was their Queen, but she was veryrarely seen, perhaps once in two or three years, when she came forth topass sentence on some offenders, and when seen was muffled up in a bigcloak, so that nobody could look upon her face. Those who waited uponher were deaf and dumb, and therefore could tell no tales, but it wasreported that she was lovely as no other woman was lovely, or ever hadbeen. It was rumoured also that she was immortal, and had power overall things, but she, Ustane, could say nothing of all that. What shebelieved was that the Queen chose a husband from time to time, and assoon as a female child was born, this husband, who was never again seen, was put to death. Then the female child grew up and took the place ofthe Queen when its mother died, and had been buried in the great caves. But of these matters none could speak with certainty. Only _She_ wasobeyed throughout the length and breadth of the land, and to questionher command was instant death. She kept a guard, but had no regulararmy, and to disobey her was to die. I asked what size the land was, and how many people lived in it. Sheanswered that there were ten "Households, " like this that she knewof, including the big "Household, " where the Queen was, that all the"Households" lived in caves, in places resembling this stretch of raisedcountry, dotted about in a vast extent of swamp, which was only to bethreaded by secret paths. Often the "Households" made war on each otheruntil _She_ sent word that it was to stop, and then they instantlyceased. That and the fever which they caught in crossing the swampsprevented their numbers from increasing too much. They had no connectionwith any other race, indeed none lived near them, or were able to threadthe vast swamps. Once an army from the direction of the great river(presumably the Zambesi) had attempted to attack them, but they got lostin the marshes, and at night, seeing the great balls of fire that moveabout there, tried to come to them, thinking that they marked the enemycamp, and half of them were drowned. As for the rest, they soon died offever and starvation, not a blow being struck at them. The marshes, shetold us, were absolutely impassable except to those who knew the paths, adding, what I could well believe, that we should never have reachedthis place where we then were had we not been brought thither. These and many other things we learnt from Ustane during the four days'pause before our real adventures began, and, as may be imagined, theygave us considerable cause for thought. The whole thing was exceedinglyremarkable, almost incredibly so, indeed, and the oddest part of it wasthat so far it did more or less correspond to the ancient writing on thesherd. And now it appeared that there was a mysterious Queen clothed byrumour with dread and wonderful attributes, and commonly known by theimpersonal, but, to my mind, rather awesome title of _She_. Altogether, I could not make it out, nor could Leo, though of course he wasexceedingly triumphant over me because I had persistently mocked at thewhole thing. As for Job, he had long since abandoned any attempt to callhis reason his own, and left it to drift upon the sea of circumstance. Mahomed, the Arab, who was, by the way, treated civilly indeed, butwith chilling contempt, by the Amahagger, was, I discovered, in a greatfright, though I could not quite make out what he was frightened about. He would sit crouched up in a corner of the cave all day long, callingupon Allah and the Prophet to protect him. When I pressed him about it, he said that he was afraid because these people were not men or women atall, but devils, and that this was an enchanted land; and, upon my word, once or twice since then I have been inclined to agree with him. Andso the time went on, till the night of the fourth day after Billali hadleft, when something happened. We three and Ustane were sitting round a fire in the cave just beforebedtime, when suddenly the woman, who had been brooding in silence, rose, and laid her hand upon Leo's golden curls, and addressed him. Evennow, when I shut my eyes, I can see her proud, imperial form, clothedalternately in dense shadow and the red flickering of the fire, as shestood, the wild centre of as weird a scene as I ever witnessed, anddelivered herself of the burden of her thoughts and forebodings in akind of rhythmical speech that ran something as follows:-- Thou art my chosen--I have waited for thee from the beginning! Thou art very beautiful. Who hath hair like unto thee, or skin so white? Who hath so strong an arm, who is so much a man? Thine eyes are the sky, and the light in them is the stars. Thou art perfect and of a happy face, and my heart turned itself towards thee. Ay, when mine eyes fell upon thee I did desire thee, -- Then did I take thee to me--oh, thou Beloved, And hold thee fast, lest harm should come unto thee. Ay, I did cover thine head with mine hair, lest the sun should strike it; And altogether was I thine, and thou wast altogether mine. And so it went for a little space, till Time was in labour with an evil Day; And then what befell on that day? Alas! my Beloved, I know not! But I, I saw thee no more--I, I was lost in the blackness. And she who is stronger did take thee; ay, she who is fairer than Ustane. Yet didst thou turn and call upon me, and let thine eyes wander in the darkness. But, nevertheless, she prevailed by Beauty, and led thee down horrible places, And then, ah! then my Beloved---- Here this extraordinary woman broke off her speech, or chant, which wasso much musical gibberish to us, for all that we understood of what shewas talking about, and seemed to fix her flashing eyes upon the deepshadow before her. Then in a moment they acquired a vacant, terrifiedstare, as though they were striving to realise some half-seen horror. She lifted her hand from Leo's head, and pointed into the darkness. Weall looked, and could see nothing; but she saw something, or thought shedid, and something evidently that affected even her iron nerves, for, without another sound, down she fell senseless between us. Leo, who was growing really attached to this remarkable young person, was in a great state of alarm and distress, and I, to be perfectlycandid, was in a condition not far removed from superstitious fear. Thewhole scene was an uncanny one. Presently, however, she recovered, and sat up with an extraordinaryconvulsive shudder. "What didst thou mean, Ustane?" asked Leo, who, thanks to years oftuition, spoke Arabic very prettily. "Nay, my chosen, " she answered, with a little forced laugh. "I did butsing unto thee after the fashion of my people. Surely, I meant nothing. Now could I speak of that which is not yet?" "And what didst thou see, Ustane?" I asked, looking her sharply in theface. "Nay, " she answered again, "I saw naught. Ask me not what I saw. Whyshould I fright ye?" And then, turning to Leo with a look of the mostutter tenderness that I ever saw upon the face of a woman, civilisedor savage, she took his head between her hands, and kissed him on theforehead as a mother might. "When I am gone from thee, my chosen, " she said; "when at night thoustretchest out thine hand and canst not find me, then shouldst thouthink at times of me, for of a truth I love thee well, though I be notfit to wash thy feet. And now let us love and take that which is givenus, and be happy; for in the grave there is no love and no warmth, norany touching of the lips. Nothing perchance, or perchance but bittermemories of what might have been. To-night the hours are our own, howknow we to whom they shall belong to-morrow?" VIII THE FEAST, AND AFTER! On the day following this remarkable scene--a scene calculated to makea deep impression upon anybody who beheld it, more because of what itsuggested and seemed to foreshadow than of what it revealed--it wasannounced to us that a feast would be held that evening in our honour. I did my best to get out of it, saying that we were modest people, andcared little for feasts, but my remarks being received with the silenceof displeasure, I thought it wisest to hold my tongue. Accordingly, just before sundown, I was informed that everything wasready, and, accompanied by Job, went into the cave, where I met Leo, who was, as usual, followed by Ustane. These two had been out walkingsomewhere, and knew nothing of the projected festivity till that moment. When Ustane heard of it I saw an expression of horror spring up upon herhandsome features. Turning she caught a man who was passing up the caveby the arm, and asked him something in an imperious tone. His answerseemed to reassure her a little, for she looked relieved, though farfrom satisfied. Next she appeared to attempt some remonstrance with theman, who was a person in authority, but he spoke angrily to her, andshook her off, and then, changing his mind, led her by the arm, and sather down between himself and another man in the circle round the fire, and I perceived that for some reason of her own she thought it best tosubmit. The fire in the cave was an unusually big one that night, and in alarge circle round it were gathered about thirty-five men and two women, Ustane and the woman to avoid whom Job had played the _rôle_ of anotherScriptural character. The men were sitting in perfect silence, as wastheir custom, each with his great spear stuck upright behind him, ina socket cut in the rock for that purpose. Only one or two wore theyellowish linen garment of which I have spoken, the rest had nothing onexcept the leopard's skin about the middle. "What's up now, sir, " said Job, doubtfully. "Bless us and save us, there's that woman again. Now, surely, she can't be after me, seeingthat I have given her no encouragement. They give me the creeps, thewhole lot of them, and that's a fact. Why look, they have asked Mahomedto dine, too. There, that lady of mine is talking to him in as nice andcivil a way as possible. Well, I'm glad it isn't me, that's all. " We looked up, and sure enough the woman in question had risen, and wasescorting the wretched Mahomed from his corner, where, overcome by someacute prescience of horror, he had been seated, shivering, and callingon Allah. He appeared unwilling enough to come, if for no other reasonperhaps because it was an unaccustomed honour, for hitherto his food hadbeen given to him apart. Anyway I could see that he was in a state ofgreat terror, for his tottering legs would scarcely support hisstout, bulky form, and I think it was rather owing to the resourcesof barbarism behind him, in the shape of a huge Amahagger with aproportionately huge spear, than to the seductions of the lady who ledhim by the hand, that he consented to come at all. "Well, " I said to the others, "I don't at all like the look of things, but I suppose we must face it out. Have you fellows got your revolverson? because, if so, you had better see that they are loaded. " "I have, sir, " said Job, tapping his Colt, "but Mr. Leo has only got hishunting knife, though that is big enough, surely. " Feeling that it would not do to wait while the missing weapon wasfetched, we advanced boldly, and seated ourselves in a line, with ourbacks against the side of the cave. As soon as we were seated, an earthenware jar was passed roundcontaining a fermented fluid, of by no means unpleasant taste, thoughapt to turn upon the stomach, made from crushed grain--not Indian corn, but a small brown grain that grows upon its stem in clusters, not unlikethat which in the southern part of Africa is known by the name of Kafircorn. The vase which contained this liquor was very curious, and asit more or less resembled many hundreds of others in use among theAmahagger I may as well describe it. These vases are of a very ancientmanufacture, and of all sizes. None such can have been made in thecountry for hundreds, or rather thousands, of years. They are foundin the rock tombs, of which I shall give a description in their properplace, and my own belief is that, after the fashion of the Egyptians, with whom the former inhabitants of this country may have had someconnection, they were used to receive the viscera of the dead. Leo, however, is of opinion that, as in the case of Etruscan amphoræ, theywere placed there for the spiritual use of the deceased. They are mostlytwo-handled, and of all sizes, some being nearly three feet in height, and running from that down to as many inches. In shape they vary, butall are exceedingly beautiful and graceful, being made of a very fineblack ware, not lustrous, but slightly rough. On this groundwork areinlaid figures much more graceful and lifelike than any others thatI have seen on antique vases. Some of these inlaid pictures representlove-scenes with a childlike simplicity and freedom of manner whichwould not commend itself to the taste of the present day. Others againgive pictures of maidens dancing, and yet others of hunting-scenes. Forinstance, the very vase from which we were then drinking had on one sidea most spirited drawing of men, apparently white in colour, attacking abull-elephant with spears, while on the reverse was a picture, not quiteso well done, of a hunter shooting an arrow at a running antelope, Ishould say from the look of it either an eland or a koodoo. This is a digression at a critical moment, but it is not too long forthe occasion, for the occasion itself was very long. With the exceptionof the periodical passing of the vase, and the movement necessary tothrow fuel on to the fire, nothing happened for the best part of a wholehour. Nobody spoke a word. There we all sat in perfect silence, staringat the glare and glow of the large fire, and at the shadows thrown bythe flickering earthenware lamps (which, by the way, were not ancient). On the open space between us and the fire lay a large wooden tray, with four short handles to it, exactly like a butcher's tray, only nothollowed out. By the side of the tray was a great pair of long-handlediron pincers, and on the other side of the fire was a similar pair. Somehow I did not at all like the appearance of this tray and theaccompanying pincers. There I sat and stared at them and at the silentcircle of the fierce moody faces of the men, and reflected that itwas all very awful, and that we were absolutely in the power of thisalarming people, who, to me at any rate, were all the more formidablebecause their true character was still very much of a mystery to us. They might be better than I thought them, or they might be worse. Ifeared that they were worse, and I was not wrong. It was a curious sortof a feast, I reflected, in appearance indeed, an entertainment of theBarmecide stamp, for there was absolutely nothing to eat. At last, just as I was beginning to feel as though I were beingmesmerised, a move was made. Without the slightest warning, a man fromthe other side of the circle called out in a loud voice-- "Where is the flesh that we shall eat?" Thereon everybody in the circle answered in a deep measured tone, andstretching out the right arm towards the fire as he spoke-- "_The flesh will come. _" "Is it a goat?" said the same man. "_It is a goat without horns, and more than a goat, and we shall slayit, _" they answered with one voice, and turning half round they one andall grasped the handles of their spears with the right hand, and thensimultaneously let them go. "Is it an ox?" said the man again. "_It is an ox without horns, and more than an ox, and we shall slayit, _" was the answer, and again the spears were grasped, and again letgo. Then came a pause, and I noticed, with horror and a rising of the hair, that the woman next to Mahomed began to fondle him, patting his cheeksand calling him by names of endearment while her fierce eyes played upand down his trembling form. I do not know why the sight frightened meso, but it did frighten us all dreadfully, especially Leo. The caressingwas so snake-like, and so evidently a part of some ghastly formula thathad to be gone through. [*] I saw Mahomed turn white under his brownskin, sickly white with fear. [*] We afterwards learnt that its object was to pretend to the victim that he was the object of love and admiration, and so to sooth his injured feelings, and cause him to expire in a happy and contented frame of mind. --L. H. H. "Is the meat ready to be cooked?" asked the voice, more rapidly. "_It is ready; it is ready. _" "Is the pot hot to cook it?" it continued, in a sort of scream thatechoed painfully down the great recesses of the cave. "_It is hot; it is hot. _" "Great heavens!" roared Leo, "remember the writing, '_The people whoplace pots upon the heads of strangers. _'" As he said the words, before we could stir, or even take the matter in, two great ruffians jumped up, and, seizing the long pincers, thrust theminto the heart of the fire, and the woman who had been caressing Mahomedsuddenly produced a fibre noose from under her girdle or moocha, and, slipping it over his shoulders, ran it tight, while the men next to himseized him by the legs. The two men with the pincers gave a heave, and, scattering the fire this way and that upon the rocky floor, liftedfrom it a large earthenware pot, heated to a white heat. In an instant, almost with a single movement, they had reached the spot where Mahomedwas struggling. He fought like a fiend, shrieking in the abandonment ofhis despair, and notwithstanding the noose round him, and the effortsof the men who held his legs, the advancing wretches were for the momentunable to accomplish their purpose, which, horrible and incredible as itseems, was _to put the red-hot pot upon his head_. I sprang to my feet with a yell of horror, and drawing my revolver firedit by a sort of instinct straight at the diabolical woman who had beencaressing Mahomed, and was now gripping him in her arms. The bulletstruck her in the back and killed her, and to this day I am glad thatit did, for, as it afterwards transpired, she had availed herself of theanthropophagous customs of the Amahagger to organise the whole thing inrevenge of the slight put upon her by Job. She sank down dead, and asshe did so, to my terror and dismay, Mahomed, by a superhuman effort, burst from his tormenters, and, springing high into the air, fell dyingupon her corpse. The heavy bullet from my pistol had driven throughthe bodies of both, at once striking down the murderess, and saving hervictim from a death a hundred times more horrible. It was an awful andyet a most merciful accident. For a moment there was a silence of astonishment. The Amahagger hadnever heard the report of a firearm before, and its effects dismayedthem. But the next a man close to us recovered himself, and seized hisspear preparatory to making a lunge with it at Leo, who was the nearestto him. "Run for it!" I shouted, setting the example by starting up the cave ashard as my legs would carry me. I would have made for the open air ifit had been possible, but there were men in the way, and, besides, Ihad caught sight of the forms of a crowd of people standing out clearagainst the skyline beyond the entrance to the cave. Up the cave I went, and after me came the others, and after them thundered the whole crowdof cannibals, mad with fury at the death of the woman. With a bound Icleared the prostrate form of Mahomed. As I flew over him I felt theheat from the red-hot pot, which was lying close by, strike upon mylegs, and by its glow saw his hands--for he was not quite dead--stillfeebly moving. At the top of the cave was a little platform of rockthree feet or so high by about eight deep, on which two large lamps wereplaced at night. Whether this platform had been left as a seat, or as araised point afterwards to be cut away when it had served its purposeas a standing place from which to carry on the excavations, I do notknow--at least, I did not then. At any rate, we all three reached it, and, jumping on it, prepared to sell our lives as dearly as we could. For a few seconds the crowd that was pressing on our heels hung backwhen they saw us face round upon them. Job was on one side of the rockto the left, Leo in the centre, and I to the right. Behind us werethe lamps. Leo bent forward, and looked down the long lane of shadows, terminating in the fire and lighted lamps, through which the quietforms of our would-be murderers flitted to and fro with the faint lightglinting on their spears, for even their fury was silent as a bulldog's. The only other thing visible was the red-hot pot still glowing angrilyin the gloom. There was a curious light in Leo's eyes, and hishandsome face was set like a stone. In his right hand was his heavyhunting-knife. He shifted its thong a little up his wrist and then puthis arm round me and gave me a good hug. "Good-bye, old fellow, " he said, "my dear friend--my more than father. We have no chance against those scoundrels; they will finish us in afew minutes, and eat us afterwards, I suppose. Good-bye. I led you intothis. I hope you will forgive me. Good-bye, Job. " "God's will be done, " I said, setting my teeth, as I prepared for theend. At that moment, with an exclamation, Job lifted his revolver andfired, and hit a man--not the man he had aimed at, by the way: anythingthat Job shot _at_ was perfectly safe. On they came with a rush, and I fired too as fast as I could, andchecked them--between us, Job and I, besides the woman, killed ormortally wounded five men with our pistols before they were emptied. But we had no time to reload, and they still came on in a way that wasalmost splendid in its recklessness, seeing that they did not know butthat we could go on firing for ever. A great fellow bounded up upon the platform, and Leo struck him deadwith one blow of his powerful arm, sending the knife right through him. I did the same by another, but Job missed his stroke, and I saw a brawnyAmahagger grip him by the middle and whirl him off the rock. The knifenot being secured by a thong fell from Job's hand as he did so, and, bya most happy accident for him, lit upon its handle on the rock, just asthe body of the Amahagger, who was undermost, struck upon its point andwas transfixed upon it. What happened to Job after that I am sure I donot know, but my own impression is that he lay still upon the corpse ofhis deceased assailant, "playing 'possum" as the Americans say. As formyself, I was soon involved in a desperate encounter with two ruffians, who, luckily for me, had left their spears behind them; and for thefirst time in my life the great physical power with which Nature hasendowed me stood me in good stead. I had hacked at the head of one manwith my hunting-knife, which was almost as big and heavy as a shortsword, with such vigour, that the sharp steel had split his skulldown to the eyes, and was held so fast by it that as he suddenly fellsideways the knife was twisted right out of my hand. Then it was that the two others sprang upon me. I saw them coming, andgot an arm round the waist of each, and down we all fell upon the floorof the cave together, rolling over and over. They were strong men, butI was mad with rage, and that awful lust for slaughter which will creepinto the hearts of the most civilised of us when blows are flying, andlife and death tremble on the turn. My arms were round the two swarthydemons, and I hugged them till I heard their ribs crack and crunch upbeneath my grip. They twisted and writhed like snakes, and clawed andbattered at me with their fists, but I held on. Lying on my back there, so that their bodies might protect me from spear thrusts from above, Islowly crushed the life out of them, and as I did so, strange as it mayseem, I thought of what the amiable Head of my College at Cambridge (whois a member of the Peace Society) and my brother Fellows would say if byclairvoyance they could see me, of all men, playing such a bloody game. Soon my assailants grew faint, and almost ceased to struggle, theirbreath had failed them, and they were dying, but still I dared not leavethem, for they died very slowly. I knew that if I relaxed my grip theywould revive. The other ruffians probably thought--for we were all threelying in the shadow of the ledge--that we were all dead together, at anyrate they did not interfere with our little tragedy. I turned my head, and as I lay gasping in the throes of that awfulstruggle I could see that Leo was off the rock now, for the lamplightfell full upon him. He was still on his feet, but in the centre of asurging mass of struggling men, who were striving to pull him down aswolves pull down a stag. Up above them towered his beautiful pale facecrowned with its bright curls (for Leo is six feet two high), and I sawthat he was fighting with a desperate abandonment and energy that wasat once splendid and hideous to behold. He drove his knife through oneman--they were so close to and mixed up with him that they could notget at him to kill him with their big spears, and they had no knives orsticks. The man fell, and then somehow the knife was wrenched from hishand, leaving him defenceless, and I thought the end had come. But no;with a desperate effort he broke loose from them, seized the body of theman he had just slain, and lifting it high in the air hurled it right atthe mob of his assailants, so that the shock and weight of it sweptsome five or six of them to the earth. But in a minute they were all upagain, except one, whose skull was smashed, and had once more fastenedupon him. And then slowly, and with infinite labour and struggling, the wolves bore the lion down. Once even then he recovered himself, andfelled an Amahagger with his fist, but it was more than man could do tohold his own for long against so many, and at last he came crashing downupon the rock floor, falling as an oak falls, and bearing with him tothe earth all those who clung about him. They gripped him by his armsand legs, and then cleared off his body. "A spear, " cried a voice--"a spear to cut his throat, and a vessel tocatch his blood. " I shut my eyes, for I saw the man coming with a spear, and myself, Icould not stir to Leo's help, for I was growing weak, and the two men onme were not yet dead, and a deadly sickness overcame me. Then suddenly there was a disturbance, and involuntarily I opened myeyes again, and looked towards the scene of murder. The girl Ustane hadthrown herself on Leo's prostrate form, covering his body with her body, and fastening her arms about his neck. They tried to drag her fromhim, but she twisted her legs round his, and hung on like a bulldog, orrather like a creeper to a tree, and they could not. Then they tried tostab him in the side without hurting her, but somehow she shielded him, and he was only wounded. At last they lost patience. "Drive the spear through the man and the woman together, " said a voice, the same voice that had asked the questions at that ghastly feast, "soof a verity shall they be wed. " Then I saw the man with the weapon straighten himself for the effort. Isaw the cold steel gleam on high, and once more I shut my eyes. As I did so I heard the voice of a man thunder out in tones that rangand echoed down the rocky ways-- "_Cease!_" Then I fainted, and as I did so it flashed through my darkening mindthat I was passing down into the last oblivion of death. IX A LITTLE FOOT When I opened my eyes again I found myself lying on a skin mat not farfrom the fire round which we had been gathered for that dreadful feast. Near me lay Leo, still apparently in a swoon, and over him was bendingthe tall form of the girl Ustane, who was washing a deep spear woundin his side with cold water preparatory to binding it up with linen. Leaning against the wall of the cave behind her was Job, apparentlyuninjured, but bruised and trembling. On the other side of the fire, tossed about this way and that, as though they had thrown themselvesdown to sleep in some moment of absolute exhaustion, were the bodies ofthose whom we had killed in our frightful struggle for life. I countedthem: there were twelve besides the woman, and the corpse of poorMahomed, who had died by my hand, which, the fire-stained pot at itsside, was placed at the end of the irregular line. To the left a body ofmen were engaged in binding the arms of the survivors of the cannibalsbehind them, and then fastening them two and two. The villains weresubmitting with a look of sulky indifference upon their faces whichaccorded ill with the baffled fury that gleamed in their sombre eyes. In front of these men, directing the operations, stood no other than ourfriend Billali, looking rather tired, but particularly patriarchalwith his flowing beard, and as cool and unconcerned as though he weresuperintending the cutting up of an ox. Presently he turned, and perceiving that I was sitting up advancedto me, and with the utmost courtesy said that he trusted that I feltbetter. I answered that at present I scarcely knew how I felt, exceptthat I ached all over. Then he bent down and examined Leo's wound. "It is an evil cut, " he said, "but the spear has not pierced theentrails. He will recover. " "Thanks to thy arrival, my father, " I answered. "In another minute weshould all have been beyond the reach of recovery, for those devils ofthine would have slain us as they would have slain our servant, " and Ipointed towards Mahomed. The old man ground his teeth, and I saw an extraordinary expression ofmalignity light up his eyes. "Fear not, my son, " he answered. "Vengeance shall be taken on them suchas would make the flesh twist upon the bones merely to hear of it. To_She_ shall they go, and her vengeance shall be worthy of her greatness. That man, " pointing to Mahomed, "I tell thee that man would have died amerciful death to the death these hyæna-men shall die. Tell me, I prayof thee, how it came about. " In a few words I sketched what had happened. "Ah, so, " he answered. "Thou seest, my son, here there is a custom thatif a stranger comes into this country he may be slain by 'the pot, ' andeaten. " "It is hospitality turned upside down, " I answered feebly. "In ourcountry we entertain a stranger, and give him food to eat. Here ye eathim, and are entertained. " "It is a custom, " he answered, with a shrug. "Myself I think it an evilone; but then, " he added by an afterthought, "I do not like the tasteof strangers, especially after they have wandered through the swamps andlived on wild-fowl. When _She-who-must-be-obeyed_ sent orders that yewere to be saved alive she said naught of the black man, therefore, being hyænas, these men lusted after his flesh, and the woman it was, whom thou didst rightly slay, who put it into their evil hearts tohot-pot him. Well, they will have their reward. Better for them would itbe if they had never seen the light than that they should stand before_She_ in her terrible anger. Happy are those of them who died by yourhands. " "Ah, " he went on, "it was a gallant fight that ye fought. Knowest thouthat, long-armed old baboon that thou art, thou hast crushed in the ribsof those two who are laid out there as though they were but as the shellon an egg? And the young one, the lion, it was a beautiful stand thathe made--one against so many--three did he slay outright, and that onethere"--and he pointed to a body that was still moving a little--"willdie anon, for his head is cracked across, and others of those who arebound are hurt. It was a gallant fight, and thou and he have made afriend of me by it, for I love to see a well-fought fray. But tell me, my son, the baboon--and now I think of it thy face, too, is hairy, andaltogether like a baboon's--how was it that ye slew those with a hole inthem?--Ye made a noise, they say, and slew them--they fell down on thefaces at the noise?" I explained to him as well as I could, but very shortly--for I wasterribly wearied, and only persuaded to talk at all through fearof offending one so powerful if I refused to do so--what were theproperties of gunpowder, and he instantly suggested that I shouldillustrate what I said by operating on the person of one of theprisoners. One, he said, never would be counted, and it would not onlybe very interesting to him, but would give me the opportunity of aninstalment of revenge. He was greatly astounded when I told him that itwas not our custom to avenge ourselves in cold blood, and that we leftvengeance to the law and a higher power, of which he knew nothing. Iadded, however, that when I recovered I would take him out shootingwith us, and he should kill an animal for himself, and at this he was aspleased as a child at the promise of a new toy. Just then Leo opened his eyes beneath the stimulus of some brandy (ofwhich we still had a little) that Job had poured down his throat, andour conversation came to an end. After this we managed to get Leo, who was in a very poor way indeed, andonly half conscious, safely off to bed, supported by Job and that bravegirl Ustane, to whom, had I not been afraid that she might resent it, Iwould certainly have given a kiss for her splendid behaviour in savingmy boy's life at the risk of her own. But Ustane was not the sort ofyoung person with whom one would care to take liberties unless one wereperfectly certain that they would not be misunderstood, so I repressedmy inclinations. Then, bruised and battered, but with a sense of safetyin my breast to which I had for some days been a stranger, I crept offto my own little sepulchre, not forgetting before I laid down in it tothank Providence from the bottom of my heart that it was not a sepulchreindeed, as, save for a merciful combination of events that I can onlyattribute to its protection, it would certainly have been for me thatnight. Few men have been nearer their end and yet escaped it than wewere on that dreadful day. I am a bad sleeper at the best of times, and my dreams that night whenat last I got to rest were not of the pleasantest. The awful vision ofpoor Mahomed struggling to escape the red-hot pot would haunt them, andthen in the background, as it were, a veiled form was always hovering, which, from time to time, seemed to draw the coverings from its body, revealing now the perfect shape of a lovely blooming woman, and nowagain the white bones of a grinning skeleton, and which, as it veiledand unveiled, uttered the mysterious and apparently meaninglesssentence:-- "That which is alive and hath known death, and that which is dead yetcan never die, for in the Circle of the Spirit life is naught and deathis naught. Yea, all things live for ever, though at times they sleep andare forgotten. " The morning came at last, but when it came I found that I was too stiffand sore to rise. About seven Job arrived, limping terribly, and withhis face the colour of a rotten apple, and told me that Leo had sleptfairly, but was very weak. Two hours afterwards Billali (Job calledhim "Billy-goat, " to which, indeed, his white beard gave him someresemblance, or more familiarly, "Billy") came too, bearing a lamp inhis hand, his towering form reaching nearly to the roof of the littlechamber. I pretended to be asleep, and through the cracks of my eyelidswatched his sardonic but handsome old face. He fixed his hawk-like eyesupon me, and stroked his glorious white beard, which, by the way, would have been worthy a hundred a year to any London barber as anadvertisement. "Ah!" I heard him mutter (Billali had a habit of muttering to himself), "he is ugly--ugly as the other is beautiful--a very Baboon, it was agood name. But I like the man. Strange now, at my age, that I shouldlike a man. What says the proverb--'Mistrust all men, and slay him whomthou mistrustest overmuch; and as for women, flee from them, for theyare evil, and in the end will destroy thee. ' It is a good proverb, especially the last part of it: I think that it must have come down fromthe ancients. Nevertheless I like this Baboon, and I wonder where theytaught him his tricks, and I trust that _She_ will not bewitch him. PoorBaboon! he must be wearied after that fight. I will go lest I shouldawake him. " I waited till he had turned and was nearly through the entrance, walkingsoftly on tiptoe, and then I called after him. "My father, " I said, "is it thou?" "Yes, my son, it is I; but let me not disturb thee. I did but come tosee how thou didst fare, and to tell thee that those who would haveslain thee, my Baboon, are by now far on their road to _She_. _She_ saidthat ye also were to come at once, but I fear ye cannot yet. " "Nay, " I said, "not till we have recovered a little; but have me borneout into the daylight, I pray thee, my father. I love not this place. " "Ah, no, " he answered, "it hath a sad air. I remember when I was a boy Ifound the body of a fair woman lying where thou liest now, yes, on thatvery bench. She was so beautiful that I was wont to creep in hither witha lamp and gaze upon her. Had it not been for her cold hands, almostcould I think that she slept and would one day awake, so fair andpeaceful was she in her robes of white. White was she, too, and herhair was yellow and lay down her almost to the feet. There are many suchstill in the tombs at the place where _She_ is, for those who set themthere had a way I know naught of, whereby to keep their beloved out ofthe crumbling hand of Decay, even when Death had slain them. Ay, dayby day I came hither, and gazed on her till at last--laugh not at me, stranger, for I was but a silly lad--I learned to love that dead form, that shell which once had held a life that no more is. I would creepup to her and kiss her cold face, and wonder how many men had lived anddied since she was, and who had loved her and embraced her in the daysthat long had passed away. And, my Baboon, I think I learned wisdom fromthat dead one, for of a truth it taught me of the littleness of life, and the length of Death, and how all things that are under the sun godown one path, and are for ever forgotten. And so I mused, and it seemedto me that wisdom flowed into me from the dead, till one day my mother, a watchful woman, but hasty-minded, seeing I was changed, followed me, and saw the beautiful white one, and feared that I was bewitched, as, indeed, I was. So half in dread, and half in anger, she took up thelamp, and standing the dead woman up against the wall even there, setfire to her hair, and she burnt fiercely, even down to the feet, forthose who are thus kept burn excellently well. "See, my son, there on the roof is yet the smoke of her burning. " I looked up doubtfully, and there, sure enough, on the roof of thesepulchre, was a peculiarly unctuous and sooty mark, three feet or moreacross. Doubtless it had in the course of years been rubbed off thesides of the little cave, but on the roof it remained, and there was nomistaking its appearance. "She burnt, " he went on in a meditative way, "even to the feet, but thefeet I came back and saved, cutting the burnt bone from them, andhid them under the stone bench there, wrapped up in a piece of linen. Surely, I remember it as though it were but yesterday. Perchance theyare there, if none have found them, even to this hour. Of a truth I havenot entered this chamber from that time to this very day. Stay, I willlook, " and, kneeling down, he groped about with his long arm in therecess under the stone bench. Presently his face brightened, and with anexclamation he pulled something forth which was caked in dust; which heshook on to the floor. It was covered with the remains of a rotting rag, which he undid, and revealed to my astonished gaze a beautifully shapedand almost white woman's foot, looking as fresh and firm as though ithad but now been placed there. "Thou seest, my son, the Baboon, " he said, in a sad voice, "I spake thetruth to thee, for here is yet one foot remaining. Take it, my son, andgaze upon it. " I took this cold fragment of mortality in my hand and looked at it inthe light of the lamp with feelings which I cannot describe, so mixedup were they between astonishment, fear, and fascination. It was light, much lighter I should say than it had been in the living state, and theflesh to all appearance was still flesh, though about it there clung afaintly aromatic odour. For the rest it was not shrunk or shrivelled, oreven black and unsightly, like the flesh of Egyptian mummies, but plumpand fair, and, except where it had been slightly burnt, perfect as onthe day of death--a very triumph of embalming. Poor little foot! I set it down upon the stone bench where it had lainfor so many thousand years, and wondered whose was the beauty thatit had upborne through the pomp and pageantry of a forgottencivilisation--first as a merry child's, then as a blushing maid's, andlastly as a perfect woman's. Through what halls of Life had its softstep echoed, and in the end, with what courage had it trodden down thedusty ways of Death! To whose side had it stolen in the hush of nightwhen the black slave slept upon the marble floor, and who had listenedfor its stealing? Shapely little foot! Well might it have been set uponthe proud neck of a conqueror bent at last to woman's beauty, andwell might the lips of nobles and of kings have been pressed upon itsjewelled whiteness. I wrapped up this relic of the past in the remnants of the old linen ragwhich had evidently formed a portion of its owner's grave-clothes, forit was partially burnt, and put it away in my Gladstone bag--a strangecombination, I thought. Then with Billali's help I staggered off to seeLeo. I found him dreadfully bruised, worse even than myself, perhapsowing to the excessive whiteness of his skin, and faint and weak withthe loss of blood from the flesh wound in his side, but for all thatcheerful as a cricket, and asking for some breakfast. Job and Ustanegot him on to the bottom, or rather the sacking of a litter, which wasremoved from its pole for that purpose, and with the aid of old Billalicarried him out into the shade at the mouth of the cave, from which, bythe way, every trace of the slaughter of the previous night had now beenremoved, and there we all breakfasted, and indeed spent that day, andmost of the two following ones. On the third morning Job and myself were practically recovered. Leo alsowas so much better that I yielded to Billali's often expressed entreaty, and agreed to start at once upon our journey to Kôr, which we were toldwas the name of the place where the mysterious _She_ lived, though Istill feared for its effect upon Leo, and especially lest the motionshould cause his wound, which was scarcely skinned over, to break openagain. Indeed, had it not been for Billali's evident anxiety to get off, which led us to suspect that some difficulty or danger might threaten usif we did not comply with it, I would not have consented to go. X SPECULATIONS Within an hour of our finally deciding to start five litters werebrought up to the door of the cave, each accompanied by four regularbearers and two spare hands, also a band of about fifty armed Amahagger, who were to form the escort and carry the baggage. Three of theselitters, of course, were for us, and one for Billali, who, I wasimmensely relieved to hear, was to be our companion, while the fifth Ipresumed was for the use of Ustane. "Does the lady go with us, my father?" I asked of Billali, as he stoodsuperintending things in general. He shrugged his shoulders as he answered-- "If she wills. In this country the women do what they please. We worshipthem, and give them their way, because without them the world could notgo on; they are the source of life. " "Ah, " I said, the matter never having struck me quite in that lightbefore. "We worship them, " he went on, "up to a point, till at last they getunbearable, which, " he added, "they do about every second generation. " "And then what do you do?" I asked, with curiosity. "Then, " he answered, with a faint smile, "we rise, and kill the oldones as an example to the young ones, and to show them that we are thestrongest. My poor wife was killed in that way three years ago. It wasvery sad, but to tell thee the truth, my son, life has been happiersince, for my age protects me from the young ones. " "In short, " I replied, quoting the saying of a great man whose wisdomhas not yet lightened the darkness of the Amahagger, "thou hast foundthy position one of greater freedom and less responsibility. " This phrase puzzled him a little at first from its vagueness, though Ithink my translation hit off its sense very well, but at last he saw it, and appreciated it. "Yes, yes, my Baboon, " he said, "I see it now, but all the'responsibilities' are killed, at least some of them are, and that iswhy there are so few old women about just now. Well, they brought it onthemselves. As for this girl, " he went on, in a graver tone, "I knownot what to say. She is a brave girl, and she loves the Lion (Leo); thousawest how she clung to him, and saved his life. Also, she is, accordingto our custom, wed to him, and has a right to go where he goes, unless, "he added significantly, "_She_ would say her no, for her word overridesall rights. " "And if _She_ bade her leave him, and the girl refused? What then?" "If, " he said, with a shrug, "the hurricane bids the tree to bend, andit will not; what happens?" And then, without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked to hislitter, and in ten minutes from that time we were all well under way. It took us an hour and more to cross the cup of the volcanic plain, and another half-hour or so to climb the edge on the farther side. Oncethere, however, the view was a very fine one. Before us was a long steepslope of grassy plain, broken here and there by clumps of trees mostlyof the thorn tribe. At the bottom of this gentle slope, some nine or tenmiles away, we could make out a dim sea of marsh, over which the foulvapours hung like smoke about a city. It was easy going for the bearersdown the slopes, and by midday we had reached the borders of the dismalswamp. Here we halted to eat our midday meal, and then, following awinding and devious path, plunged into the morass. Presently the path, at any rate to our unaccustomed eyes, grew so faint as to be almostindistinguishable from those made by the aquatic beasts and birds, andit is to this day a mystery to me how our bearers found their way acrossthe marshes. Ahead of the cavalcade marched two men with long poles, which they now and again plunged into the ground before them, the reasonof this being that the nature of the soil frequently changed from causeswith which I am not acquainted, so that places which might be safeenough to cross one month would certainly swallow the wayfarer the next. Never did I see a more dreary and depressing scene. Miles on miles ofquagmire, varied only by bright green strips of comparatively solidground, and by deep and sullen pools fringed with tall rushes, in whichthe bitterns boomed and the frogs croaked incessantly: miles on miles ofit without a break, unless the fever fog can be called a break. The onlylife in this great morass was that of the aquatic birds, and the animalsthat fed on them, of both of which there were vast numbers. Geese, cranes, ducks, teal, coot, snipe, and plover swarmed all around us, manybeing of varieties that were quite new to me, and all so tame that onecould almost have knocked them over with a stick. Among these birds Iespecially noticed a very beautiful variety of painted snipe, almost thesize of a woodcock, and with a flight more resembling that bird's thanan English snipe's. In the pools, too, was a species of small alligatoror enormous iguana, I do not know which, that fed, Billali told me, uponthe waterfowl, also large quantities of a hideous black water-snake, ofwhich the bite is very dangerous, though not, I gathered, so deadly as acobra's or a puff adder's. The bull-frogs were also very large, andwith voices proportionate to their size; and as for the mosquitoes--the"musqueteers, " as Job called them--they were, if possible, even worsethan they had been on the river, and tormented us greatly. Undoubtedly, however, the worst feature of the swamp was the awful smell ofrotting vegetation that hung about it, which was at times positivelyoverpowering, and the malarious exhalations that accompanied it, whichwe were of course obliged to breathe. On we went through it all, till at last the sun sank in sullen splendourjust as we reached a spot of rising ground about two acres in extent--alittle oasis of dry in the midst of the miry wilderness--where Billaliannounced that we were to camp. The camping, however, turned out to bea very simple process, and consisted, in fact, in sitting down on theground round a scanty fire made of dry reeds and some wood that had beenbrought with us. However, we made the best we could of it, and smokedand ate with such appetite as the smell of damp, stifling heat wouldallow, for it was very hot on this low land, and yet, oddly enough, chilly at times. But, however hot it was, we were glad enough to keepnear the fire, because we found that the mosquitoes did not like thesmoke. Presently we rolled ourselves up in our blankets and tried togo to sleep, but so far as I was concerned the bull-frogs, and theextraordinary roaring and alarming sound produced by hundreds of snipehovering high in the air, made sleep an impossibility, to say nothing ofour other discomforts. I turned and looked at Leo, who was next me; hewas dozing, but his face had a flushed appearance that I did not like, and by the flickering fire-light I saw Ustane, who was lying on theother side of him, raise herself from time to time upon her elbow, andlook at him anxiously enough. However, I could do nothing for him, for we had all already taken agood dose of quinine, which was the only preventive we had; so I lay andwatched the stars come out by thousands, till all the immense arch ofheaven was strewn with glittering points, and every point a world!Here was a glorious sight by which man might well measure his owninsignificance! Soon I gave up thinking about it, for the mind wearieseasily when it strives to grapple with the Infinite, and to trace thefootsteps of the Almighty as he strides from sphere to sphere, ordeduce His purpose from His works. Such things are not for us to know. Knowledge is to the strong, and we are weak. Too much wisdom wouldperchance blind our imperfect sight, and too much strength would makeus drunk, and over-weight our feeble reason till it fell and we weredrowned in the depths of our own vanity. For what is the first resultof man's increased knowledge interpreted from Nature's book by thepersistent effort of his purblind observation? It is not but too oftento make him question the existence of his Maker, or indeed of anyintelligent purpose beyond his own? The truth is veiled, because wecould no more look upon her glory than we can upon the sun. It woulddestroy us. Full knowledge is not for man as man is here, for hiscapacities, which he is apt to think so great, are indeed but small. Thevessel is soon filled, and, were one-thousandth part of the unutterableand silent wisdom that directs the rolling of those shining spheres, andthe Force which makes them roll, pressed into it, it would be shatteredinto fragments. Perhaps in some other place and time it may beotherwise, who can tell? Here the lot of man born of the flesh is butto endure midst toil and tribulation, to catch at the bubbles blown byFate, which he calls pleasure, thankful if before they burst they resta moment in his hand, and when the tragedy is played out, and his hourcomes to perish, to pass humbly whither he knows not. Above me, as I lay, shone the eternal stars, and there at my feet theimpish marsh-born balls of fire rolled this way and that, vapour-tossedand earth-desiring, and methought that in the two I saw a type and imageof what man is, and what perchance man may one day be, if the livingForce who ordained him and them should so ordain this also. Oh, that itmight be ours to rest year by year upon that high level of the heart towhich at times we momentarily attain! Oh, that we could shake loose theprisoned pinions of the soul and soar to that superior point, whence, like to some traveller looking out through space from Darien's giddiestpeak, we might gaze with spiritual eyes deep into Infinity! What would it be to cast off this earthy robe, to have done for everwith these earthy thoughts and miserable desires; no longer, like thosecorpse candles, to be tossed this way and that, by forces beyond ourcontrol; or which, if we can theoretically control them, we are at timesdriven by the exigencies of our nature to obey! Yes, to cast them off, to have done with the foul and thorny places of the world; and, like tothose glittering points above me, to rest on high wrapped for ever inthe brightness of our better selves, that even now shines in us as firefaintly shines within those lurid balls, and lay down our littleness inthat wide glory of our dreams, that invisible but surrounding Good, fromwhich all truth and beauty comes! These and many such thoughts passed through my mind that night. Theycome to torment us all at times. I say to torment, for, alas! thinkingcan only serve to measure out the helplessness of thought. What is thepurpose of our feeble crying in the awful silences of space? Can our dimintelligence read the secrets of that star-strewn sky? Does any answercome out of it? Never any at all, nothing but echoes and fantasticvisions! And yet we believe that there is an answer, and that upon atime a new Dawn will come blushing down the ways of our enduring night. We believe it, for its reflected beauty even now shines up continuallyin our hearts from beneath the horizon of the grave, and we call itHope. Without Hope we should suffer moral death, and by the help of Hopewe yet may climb to Heaven, or at the worst, if she also prove but akindly mockery given to hold us from despair, be gently lowered into theabysses of eternal sleep. Then I fell to reflecting upon the undertaking on which we were bent, and what a wild one it was, and yet how strangely the story seemed tofit in with what had been written centuries ago upon the sherd. Whowas this extraordinary woman, Queen over a people apparently asextraordinary as herself, and reigning amidst the vestiges of a lostcivilisation? And what was the meaning of this story of the Fire thatgave unending life? Could it be possible that any fluid or essenceshould exist which might so fortify these fleshy walls that theyshould from age to age resist the mines and batterings of decay? It waspossible, though not probable. The infinite continuation of life wouldnot, as poor Vincey said, be so marvellous a thing as the production oflife and its temporary endurance. And if it were true, what then? Theperson who found it could no doubt rule the world. He could accumulateall the wealth in the world, and all the power, and all the wisdom thatis power. He might give a lifetime to the study of each art or science. Well, if that were so, and this _She_ were practically immortal, whichI did not for one moment believe, how was it that, with all these thingsat her feet, she preferred to remain in a cave amongst a societyof cannibals? This surely settled the question. The whole story wasmonstrous, and only worthy of the superstitious days in which it waswritten. At any rate I was very sure that _I_ would not attempt toattain unending life. I had had far too many worries and disappointmentsand secret bitternesses during my forty odd years of existence to wishthat this state of affairs should be continued indefinitely. And yet Isuppose that my life has been, comparatively speaking, a happy one. And then, reflecting that at the present moment there was far morelikelihood of our earthly careers being cut exceedingly short than oftheir being unduly prolonged, I at last managed to get to sleep, a factfor which anybody who reads this narrative, if anybody ever does, mayvery probably be thankful. When I woke again it was just dawning, and the guard and bearers weremoving about like ghosts through the dense morning mists, getting readyfor our start. The fire had died quite down, and I rose and stretchedmyself, shivering in every limb from the damp cold of the dawn. Then Ilooked at Leo. He was sitting up, holding his hands to his head, and Isaw that his face was flushed and his eye bright, and yet yellow roundthe pupil. "Well, Leo, " I said, "how do you feel?" "I feel as though I were going to die, " he answered hoarsely. "My headis splitting, my body is trembling, and I am as sick as a cat. " I whistled, or if I did not whistle I felt inclined to--Leo had got asharp attack of fever. I went to Job, and asked him for the quinine, of which fortunately we had still a good supply, only to find that Jobhimself was not much better. He complained of pains across the back, anddizziness, and was almost incapable of helping himself. Then I did theonly thing it was possible to do under the circumstances--gave them bothabout ten grains of quinine, and took a slightly smaller dose myself asa matter of precaution. After that I found Billali, and explained to himhow matters stood, asking at the same time what he thought had best bedone. He came with me, and looked at Leo and Job (whom, by the way, he had named the Pig on account of his fatness, round face, and smalleyes). "Ah, " he said, when we were out of earshot, "the fever! I thought so. The Lion has it badly, but he is young, and he may live. As for the Pig, his attack is not so bad; it is the 'little fever' which he has; thatalways begins with pains across the back, it will spend itself upon hisfat. " "Can they go on, my father?" I asked. "Nay, my son, they must go on. If they stop here they will certainlydie; also, they will be better in the litters than on the ground. Byto-night, if all goes well, we shall be across the marsh and in goodair. Come, let us lift them into the litters and start, for it is verybad to stand still in this morning fog. We can eat our meal as we go. " This we accordingly did, and with a heavy heart I once more set out uponour strange journey. For the first three hours all went as well ascould be expected, and then an accident happened that nearly lost us thepleasure of the company of our venerable friend Billali, whose litterwas leading the cavalcade. We were going through a particularlydangerous stretch of quagmire, in which the bearers sometimes sank up totheir knees. Indeed, it was a mystery to me how they contrived tocarry the heavy litters at all over such ground as that which we weretraversing, though the two spare hands, as well as the four regularones, had of course to put their shoulders to the pole. Presently, as we blundered and floundered along, there was a sharpcry, then a storm of exclamations, and, last of all, a most tremendoussplash, and the whole caravan halted. I jumped out of my litter and ran forward. About twenty yards ahead wasthe edge of one of those sullen peaty pools of which I have spoken, thepath we were following running along the top of its bank, that, as ithappened, was a steep one. Looking towards this pool, to my horror I sawthat Billali's litter was floating on it, and as for Billali himself, hewas nowhere to be seen. To make matters clear I may as well explainat once what had happened. One of Billali's bearers had unfortunatelytrodden on a basking snake, which had bitten him in the leg, whereon hehad, not unnaturally, let go of the pole, and then, finding that hewas tumbling down the bank, grasped at the litter to save himself. Theresult of this was what might have been expected. The litter was pulledover the edge of the bank, the bearers let go, and the whole thing, including Billali and the man who had been bitten, rolled into the slimypool. When I got to the edge of the water neither of them were to beseen; indeed, the unfortunate bearer never was seen again. Either hestruck his head against something, or get wedged in the mud, or possiblythe snake-bite paralyzed him. At any rate he vanished. But thoughBillali was not to be seen, his whereabouts was clear enough from theagitation of the floating litter, in the bearing cloth and curtains ofwhich he was entangled. "He is there! Our father is there!" said one of the men, but he did notstir a finger to help him, nor did any of the others. They simply stoodand stared at the water. "Out of the way, you brutes!" I shouted in English, and throwing off myhat I took a run and sprang well out into the horrid slimy-looking pool. A couple of strokes took me to where Billali was struggling beneath thecloth. Somehow, I do not quite know how, I managed to push it free of him, and his venerable head all covered with green slime, like that of ayellowish Bacchus with ivy leaves, emerged upon the surface of thewater. The rest was easy, for Billali was an eminently practicalindividual, and had the common sense not to grasp hold of me as drowningpeople often do, so I got him by the arm, and towed him to the bank, through the mud of which we were with difficulty dragged. Such a filthyspectacle as we presented I have never seen before or since, and it willperhaps give some idea of the almost superhuman dignity of Billali'sappearance when I say that, coughing, half-drowned, and covered with mudand green slime as he was, with his beautiful beard coming to a drippingpoint, like a Chinaman's freshly-oiled pig-tail, he still lookedvenerable and imposing. "Ye dogs, " he said, addressing the bearers, as soon as he hadsufficiently recovered to speak, "ye left me, your father, to drown. Had it not been for this stranger, my son the Baboon, assuredly I shouldhave drowned. Well, I will remember it, " and he fixed them with hisgleaming though slightly watery eye, in a way I saw that they did notlike, though they tried to appear sulkily indifferent. "As for thee, my son, " the old man went on, turning towards me andgrasping my hand, "rest assured that I am thy friend through good andevil. Thou hast saved my life: perchance a day may come when I shallsave thine. " After that we cleaned ourselves as best we could, fished out the litter, and went on, _minus_ the man who had been drowned. I do not know ifit was owing to his being an unpopular character, or from nativeindifference and selfishness of temperament, but I am bound to say thatnobody seemed to grieve much over his sudden and final disappearance, unless, perhaps, it was the men who had to do his share of the work. XI THE PLAIN OF KÔR About an hour before sundown we at last, to my unbounded gratitude, emerged from the great belt of marsh on to land that swelled upwards ina succession of rolling waves. Just on the hither side of the crestof the first wave we halted for the night. My first act was to examineLeo's condition. It was, if anything, worse than in the morning, and anew and very distressing feature, vomiting, set in, and continued tilldawn. Not one wink of sleep did I get that night, for I passed it inassisting Ustane, who was one of the most gentle and indefatigablenurses I ever saw, to wait upon Leo and Job. However, the air here waswarm and genial without being too hot, and there were no mosquitoesto speak of. Also we were above the level of the marsh mist, which laystretched beneath us like the dim smoke-pall over a city, lit up hereand there by the wandering globes of fen fire. Thus it will be seen thatwe were, speaking comparatively, in clover. By dawn on the following morning Leo was quite light-headed, and fanciedthat he was divided into halves. I was dreadfully distressed, and beganto wonder with a sort of sick fear what the end of the attack would be. Alas! I had heard but too much of how these attacks generally terminate. As I was wondering Billali came up and said that we must be getting on, more especially as, in his opinion, if Leo did not reach some spotwhere he could be quiet, and have proper nursing, within the next twelvehours, his life would only be a matter of a day or two. I could not butagree with him, so we got Leo into the litter, and started on, Ustanewalking by his side to keep the flies off him, and see that he did notthrow himself out on to the ground. Within half an hour of sunrise we had reached the top of the rise ofwhich I have spoken, and a most beautiful view broke upon our gaze. Beneath us was a rich stretch of country, verdant with grass and lovelywith foliage and flowers. In the background, at a distance, so far as Icould judge, of some eighteen miles from where we then stood, a huge andextraordinary mountain rose abruptly from the plain. The base of thisgreat mountain appeared to consist of a grassy slope, but rising fromthis, I should say, from subsequent observation, at a height of aboutfive hundred feet above the level of the plain, was a most tremendousand absolutely precipitous wall of bare rock, quite twelve or fifteenhundred feet in height. The shape of the mountain, which was undoubtedlyof volcanic origin, was round, and of course, as only a segment of itscircle was visible, it was difficult to estimate its exact size, whichwas enormous. I afterwards discovered that it could cover less thanfifty square miles of ground. Anything more grand and imposing thanthe sight presented by this great natural castle, starting in solitarygrandeur from the level of the plain, I never saw, and I suppose I nevershall. Its very solitude added to its majesty, and its towering cliffsseemed to kiss the sky. Indeed, generally speaking, they were clothed inclouds that lay in fleecy masses upon their broad and level battlements. I sat up in my hammock and gazed out across the plain at this thrillingand majestic sight, and I suppose that Billali noticed it, for hebrought his litter alongside. "Behold the house of '_She-who-must-be-obeyed_!'" he said. "Had ever aqueen such a throne before?" "It is wonderful, my father, " I answered. "But how do we enter. Thosecliffs look hard to climb. " "Thou shalt see, my Baboon. Look now at the path below us. What thinkestthou that it is? Thou art a wise man. Come, tell me. " I looked, and saw what appeared to be the line of roadway runningstraight towards the base of the mountain, though it was covered withturf. There were high banks on each side of it, broken here and there, but fairly continuous on the whole, the meaning of which I did notunderstand. It seemed so very odd that anybody should embank a roadway. "Well, my father, " I answered, "I suppose that it is a road, otherwiseI should have been inclined to say that it was the bed of a river, orrather, " I added, observing the extraordinary directness of the cutting, "of a canal. " Billali--who, by the way, was none the worse for his immersion of theday before--nodded his head sagely as he replied-- "Thou art right, my son. It is a channel cut out by those who werebefore us in this place to carry away water. Of this I am sure: withinthe rocky circle of the mountain whither we journey was once a greatlake. But those who were before us, by wonderful arts of which Iknow naught, hewed a path for the water through the solid rock of themountain, piercing even to the bed of the lake. But first they cut thechannel that thou seest across the plain. Then, when at last the waterburst out, it rushed down the channel that had been made to receive it, and crossed this plain till it reached the low land behind the rise, and there, perchance, it made the swamp through which we have come. Thenwhen the lake was drained dry, the people whereof I speak built a mightycity on its bed, whereof naught but ruins and the name of Kôr yetremaineth, and from age to age hewed the caves and passages that thouwilt see. " "It may be, " I answered; "but if so, how is it that the lake does notfill up again with the rains and the water of the springs?" "Nay, my son, the people were a wise people, and they left a drain tokeep it clear. Seest thou the river to the right?" and he pointed to afair-sized stream that wound away across the plain, some four miles fromus. "That is the drain, and it comes out through the mountain wall wherethis cutting goes in. At first, perhaps, the water ran down this canal, but afterwards the people turned it, and used the cutting for a road. " "And is there then no other place where one may enter into the greatmountain, " I asked, "except through that drain?" "There is a place, " he answered, "where cattle and men on foot may crosswith much labour, but it is secret. A year mightest thou search andshouldst never find it. It is only used once a year, when the herds ofcattle that have been fatting on the slopes of the mountain, and on thisplain, are driven into the space within. " "And does _She_ live there always?" I asked, "or does she come at timeswithout the mountain?" "Nay, my son, where she is, there she is. " By now we were well on to the great plain, and I was examining withdelight the varied beauty of its semi-tropical flowers and trees, thelatter of which grew singly, or at most in clumps of three or four, muchof the timber being of large size, and belonging apparently to a varietyof evergreen oak. There were also many palms, some of them more than onehundred feet high, and the largest and most beautiful tree ferns thatI ever saw, about which hung clouds of jewelled honeysuckers andgreat-winged butterflies. Wandering about among the trees or crouchingin the long and feathered grass were all varieties of game, fromrhinocerotes down. I saw a rhinoceros, buffalo (a large herd), eland, quagga, and sable antelope, the most beautiful of all the bucks, notto mention many smaller varieties of game, and three ostriches whichscudded away at our approach like white drift before a gale. Soplentiful was the game that at last I could stand it no longer. I hada single barrel sporting Martini with me in the litter, the "Express"being too cumbersome, and espying a beautiful fat eland rubbing himselfunder one of the oak-like trees, I jumped out of the litter, andproceeded to creep as near to him as I could. He let me come withineighty yards, and then turned his head, and stared at me, preparatory torunning away. I lifted the rifle, and taking him about midway down theshoulder, for he was side on to me, fired. I never made a cleaner shotor a better kill in all my small experience, for the great buck sprangright up into the air and fell dead. The bearers, who had all halted tosee the performance, gave a murmur of surprise, an unwonted complimentfrom these sullen people, who never appear to be surprised at anything, and a party of the guard at once ran off to cut the animal up. As formyself, though I was longing to have a look at him, I sauntered backto my litter as though I had been in the habit of killing eland all mylife, feeling that I had gone up several degrees in the estimationof the Amahagger, who looked on the whole thing as a very high-classmanifestation of witchcraft. As a matter of fact, however, I hadnever seen an eland in a wild state before. Billali received me withenthusiasm. "It is wonderful, my son the Baboon, " he cried; "wonderful! Thou arta very great man, though so ugly. Had I not seen, surely I would neverhave believed. And thou sayest that thou wilt teach me to slay in thisfashion?" "Certainly, my father, " I said airily; "it is nothing. " But all the same I firmly made up my mind that when "my father" Billalibegan to fire I would without fail lie down or take refuge behind atree. After this little incident nothing happened of any note till about anhour and a half before sundown, when we arrived beneath the shadow ofthe towering volcanic mass that I have already described. It is quiteimpossible for me to describe its grim grandeur as it appeared to mewhile my patient bearers toiled along the bed of the ancient watercoursetowards the spot where the rich brown-hued cliff shot up from precipiceto precipice till its crown lost itself in a cloud. All I can say isthat it almost awed me by the intensity of its lonesome and most solemngreatness. On we went up the bright and sunny slope, till at last thecreeping shadows from above swallowed up its brightness, and presentlywe began to pass through a cutting hewn in the living rock. Deeperand deeper grew this marvellous work, which must, I should say, haveemployed thousands of men for many years. Indeed, how it was everexecuted at all without the aid of blasting-powder or dynamite I cannotto this day imagine. It is and must remain one of the mysteries of thatwild land. I can only suppose that these cuttings and the vast cavesthat had been hollowed out of the rocks they pierced were the Stateundertakings of the people of Kôr, who lived here in the dim lostages of the world, and, as in the case of the Egyptian monuments, wereexecuted by the forced labour of tens of thousands of captives, carriedon through an indefinite number of centuries. But who were the people? At last we reached the face of the precipice itself, and found ourselveslooking into the mouth of a dark tunnel that forcibly reminded me ofthose undertaken by our nineteenth-century engineers in the constructionof railway lines. Out of this tunnel flowed a considerable stream ofwater. Indeed, though I do not think that I have mentioned it, we hadfollowed this stream, which ultimately developed into the river I havealready described as winding away to the right, from the spot wherethe cutting in the solid rock commenced. Half of this cutting formed achannel for the stream, and half, which was placed on a slightly higherlevel--eight feet perhaps--was devoted to the purposes of a roadway. Atthe termination of the cutting, however, the stream turned off acrossthe plain and followed a channel of its own. At the mouth of the cavethe cavalcade was halted, and, while the men employed themselves inlighting some earthenware lamps they had brought with them, Billali, descending from his litter, informed me politely but firmly that theorders of _She_ were that we were now to be blindfolded, so that weshould not learn the secret of the paths through the bowels of themountains. To this I, of course, assented cheerfully enough, but Job, who was now very much better, notwithstanding the journey, did not likeit at all, fancying, I believe, that it was but a preliminary step tobeing hot-potted. He was, however, a little consoled when I pointed outto him that there were no hot pots at hand, and, so far as I knew, nofire to heat them in. As for poor Leo, after turning restlessly forhours, he had, to my deep thankfulness, at last dropped off into a sleepor stupor, I do not know which, so there was no need to blindfold him. The blindfolding was performed by binding a piece of the yellowish linenwhereof those of the Amahagger who condescended to wear anything inparticular made their dresses, tightly round the eyes. This linen Iafterwards discovered was taken from the tombs, and was not, as I had atfirst supposed, of native manufacture. The bandage was then knotted atthe back of the head, and finally brought down again and the ends boundunder the chin to prevent its slipping. Ustane was, by the way, alsoblindfolded, I do not know why, unless it was from fear that she shouldimpart the secrets of the route to us. This operation performed we started on once more, and soon, by theechoing sound of the footsteps of the bearers and the increased noiseof the water caused by reverberation in a confined space, I knew thatwe were entering into the bowels of the great mountain. It was an eeriesensation, being borne along into the dead heart of the rock we knew notwhither, but I was getting used to eerie sensations by this time, and bynow was pretty well prepared for anything. So I lay still, and listenedto the tramp, tramp of the bearers and the rushing of the water, andtried to believe that I was enjoying myself. Presently the men set upthe melancholy little chant that I had heard on the first night when wewere captured in the whaleboat, and the effect produced by their voiceswas very curious, and quite indescribable. After a while the air beganto get exceedingly thick and heavy, so much so, indeed, that I felt asthough I were going to choke, till at length the litter took a sharpturn, then another and another, and the sound of the running waterceased. After this the air was fresher again, but the turns werecontinuous, and to me, blindfolded as I was, most bewildering. I triedto keep a map of them in my mind in case it might ever be necessaryfor us to try and escape by this route, but, needless to say, failedutterly. Another half-hour or so passed, and then suddenly I becameaware that we were once more in the open air. I could see the lightthrough my bandage and feel its freshness on my face. A few more minutesand the caravan halted, and I heard Billali order Ustane to remove herbandage and undo ours. Without waiting for her attentions I got the knotof mine loose, and looked out. As I anticipated, we had passed right through the precipice, and werenow on the farther side, and immediately beneath its beetling face. Thefirst thing I noticed was that the cliff is not nearly so high here, notso high I should say by five hundred feet, which proved that the bed ofthe lake, or rather of the vast ancient crater in which we stood, wasmuch above the level of the surrounding plain. For the rest, we foundourselves in a huge rock-surrounded cup, not unlike that of the firstplace where we had sojourned, only ten times the size. Indeed, I couldonly just make out the frowning line of the opposite cliffs. A greatportion of the plain thus enclosed by nature was cultivated, and fencedin with walls of stone placed there to keep the cattle and goats, ofwhich there were large herds about, from breaking into the gardens. Here and there rose great grass mounds, and some miles away towards thecentre I thought that I could see the outline of colossal ruins. I hadno time to observe anything more at the moment, for we were instantlysurrounded by crowds of Amahagger, similar in every particular to thosewith whom we were already familiar, who, though they spoke little, pressed round us so closely as to obscure the view to a person lyingin a hammock. Then all of a sudden a number of armed men arranged incompanies, and marshalled by officers who held ivory wands in theirhands, came running swiftly towards us, having, so far as I couldmake out, emerged from the face of the precipice like ants from theirburrows. These men as well as their officers were all robed in additionto the usual leopard skin, and, as I gathered, formed the bodyguard of_She_ herself. Their leader advanced to Billali, saluted him by placing his ivory wandtransversely across his forehead, and then asked some question whichI could not catch, and Billali having answered him the whole regimentturned and marched along the side of the cliff, our cavalcade of littersfollowing in their track. After going thus for about half a mile wehalted once more in front of the mouth of a tremendous cave, measuringabout sixty feet in height by eighty wide, and here Billali descendedfinally, and requested Job and myself to do the same. Leo, of course, was far too ill to do anything of the sort. I did so, and we entered thegreat cave, into which the light of the setting sun penetrated forsome distance, while beyond the reach of the daylight it was faintlyilluminated with lamps which seemed to me to stretch away for an almostimmeasurable distance, like the gas lights of an empty London street. The first thing I noticed was that the walls were covered withsculptures in bas-relief, of a sort, pictorially speaking, similar tothose that I have described upon the vases;--love-scenes principally, then hunting pictures, pictures of executions, and the torture ofcriminals by the placing of a, presumably, red-hot pot upon the head, showing whence our hosts had derived this pleasant practice. Therewere very few battle-pieces, though many of duels, and men running andwrestling, and from this fact I am led to believe that this people werenot much subject to attack by exterior foes, either on account of theisolation of their position or because of their great strength. Betweenthe pictures were columns of stone characters of a formation absolutelynew to me; at any rate, they were neither Greek nor Egyptian, norHebrew, nor Assyrian--that I am sure of. They looked more like Chinesewritings than any other that I am acquainted with. Near to the entranceof the cave both pictures and writings were worn away, but further inthey were in many cases absolutely fresh and perfect as the day on whichthe sculptor had ceased work on them. The regiment of guards did not come further than the entrance to thecave, where they formed up to let us pass through. On entering the placeitself we were, however, met by a man robed in white, who bowed humbly, but said nothing, which, as it afterwards appeared that he was a deafmute, was not very wonderful. Running at right angles to the great cave, at a distance of some twentyfeet from the entrance, was a smaller cave or wide gallery, that waspierced into the rock both to the right and to the left of the maincavern. In front of the gallery to our left stood two guards, from whichcircumstance I argued that it was the entrance to the apartments of_She_ herself. The mouth of the right-hand gallery was unguarded, andalong it the mute indicated that we were to go. Walking a few yards downthis passage, which was lighted with lamps, we came to the entrance ofa chamber having a curtain made of some grass material, not unlike aZanzibar mat in appearance, hung over the doorway. This the mute drewback with another profound obeisance, and led the way into a good-sizedapartment, hewn, of course, out of the solid rock, but to my greatrelief lighted by means of a shaft pierced in the face of the precipice. In this room was a stone bedstead, pots full of water for washing, andbeautifully tanned leopard skins to serve as blankets. Here we left Leo, who was still sleeping heavily, and with him stoppedUstane. I noticed that the mute gave her a very sharp look, as muchas to say, "Who are you, and by whose order do you come here?" Then heconducted us to another similar room which Job took, and then to twomore that were respectively occupied by Billali and myself. XII "SHE" The first care of Job and myself, after seeing to Leo, was to washourselves and put on clean clothing, for what we were wearing had notbeen changed since the loss of the dhow. Fortunately, as I think thatI have said, by far the greater part of our personal baggage had beenpacked into the whaleboat, and was therefore saved--and brought hitherby the bearers--although all the stores laid in by us for barter andpresents to the natives was lost. Nearly all our clothing was made of awell-shrunk and very strong grey flannel, and excellent I found it fortravelling in these places, because though a Norfolk jacket, shirt, and pair of trousers of it only weighed about four pounds, a greatconsideration in a tropical country, where every extra ounce tells onthe wearer, it was warm, and offered a good resistance to the rays ofthe sun, and best of all to chills, which are so apt to result fromsudden changes of temperature. Never shall I forget the comfort of the "wash and brush-up, " and ofthose clean flannels. The only thing that was wanting to complete my joywas a cake of soap, of which we had none. Afterwards I discovered that the Amahagger, who do not reckon dirt amongtheir many disagreeable qualities, use a kind of burnt earth for washingpurposes, which, though unpleasant to the touch till one gets accustomedto it, forms a very fair substitute for soap. By the time that I was dressed, and had combed and trimmed my blackbeard, the previous condition of which was certainly sufficientlyunkempt to give weight to Billali's appellation for me of "Baboon, " Ibegan to feel most uncommonly hungry. Therefore I was by no means sorrywhen, without the slightest preparatory sound or warning, the curtainover the entrance to my cave was flung aside, and another mute, ayoung girl this time, announced to me by signs that I could notmisunderstand--that is, by opening her mouth and pointing down it--thatthere was something ready to eat. Accordingly I followed her into thenext chamber, which we had not yet entered, where I found Job, who hadalso, to his great embarrassment, been conducted thither by a fair mute. Job never got over the advances the former lady had made towards him, and suspected every girl who came near to him of similar designs. "These young parties have a way of looking at one, sir, " he would sayapologetically, "which I don't call respectable. " This chamber was twice the size of the sleeping caves, and I saw at oncethat it had originally served as a refectory, and also probably as anembalming room for the Priests of the Dead; for I may as well say atonce that these hollowed-out caves were nothing more nor less than vastcatacombs, in which for tens of ages the mortal remains of the greatextinct race whose monuments surrounded us had been first preserved, with an art and a completeness that has never since been equalled, and then hidden away for all time. On each side of this particularrock-chamber was a long and solid stone table, about three feet wide bythree feet six in height, hewn out of the living rock, of which it hadformed part, and was still attached to at the base. These tables wereslightly hollowed out or curved inward, to give room for the knees ofany one sitting on the stone ledge that had been cut for a bench alongthe side of the cave at a distance of about two feet from them. Each ofthem, also, was so arranged that it ended right under a shaft piercedin the rock for the admission of light and air. On examining themcarefully, however, I saw that there was a difference between them thathad at first escaped my attention, viz. That one of the tables, thatto the left as we entered the cave, had evidently been used, not toeat upon, but for the purposes of embalming. That this was beyond allquestion the case was clear from five shallow depressions in the stoneof the table, all shaped like a human form, with a separate placefor the head to lie in, and a little bridge to support the neck, eachdepression being of a different size, so as to fit bodies varying instature from a full-grown man's to a small child's, and with littleholes bored at intervals to carry off fluid. And, indeed, if any furtherconfirmation was required, we had but to look at the wall of the caveabove to find it. For there, sculptured all round the apartment, andlooking nearly as fresh as the day it was done, was the pictorialrepresentation of the death, embalming, and burial of an old man with along beard, probably an ancient king or grandee of this country. The first picture represented his death. He was lying upon a couch whichhad four short curved posts at the corners coming to a knob at the end, in appearance something like written notes of music, and was evidentlyin the very act of expiring. Gathered round the couch were women andchildren weeping, the former with their hair hanging down their backs. The next scene represented the embalmment of the body, which lay starkupon a table with depressions in it, similar to the one before us;probably, indeed, it was a picture of the same table. Three men wereemployed at the work--one superintending, one holding a funnel shapedexactly like a port wine strainer, of which the narrow end was fixed inan incision in the breast, no doubt in the great pectoral artery; whilethe third, who was depicted as standing straddle-legged over the corpse, held a kind of large jug high in his hand, and poured from it somesteaming fluid which fell accurately into the funnel. The most curiouspart of this sculpture is that both the man with the funnel and theman who pours the fluid are drawn holding their noses, either I supposebecause of the stench arising from the body, or more probably to keepout the aromatic fumes of the hot fluid which was being forced into thedead man's veins. Another curious thing which I am unable to explain isthat all three men were represented as having a band of linen tied roundthe face with holes in it for the eyes. The third sculpture was a picture of the burial of the deceased. Therehe was, stiff and cold, clothed in a linen robe, and laid out on a stoneslab such as I had slept upon at our first sojourning-place. At hishead and feet burnt lamps, and by his side were placed several ofthe beautiful painted vases that I have described, which were perhapssupposed to be full of provisions. The little chamber was crowded withmourners, and with musicians playing on an instrument resembling a lyre, while near the foot of the corpse stood a man holding a sheet, withwhich he was preparing to cover it from view. These sculptures, looked at merely as works of art, were so remarkablethat I make no apology for describing them rather fully. They struckme also as being of surpassing interest as representing, probably withstudious accuracy, the last rites of the dead as practised amongan utterly lost people, and even then I thought how envious someantiquarian friends of my own at Cambridge would be if ever I found anopportunity of describing these wonderful remains to them. Probably theywould say that I was exaggerating, notwithstanding that every page ofthis history must bear so much internal evidence of its truth that itwould obviously have been quite impossible for me to have invented it. To return. As soon as I had hastily examined these sculptures, whichI think I omitted to mention were executed in relief, we sat down to avery excellent meal of boiled goat's-flesh, fresh milk, and cakes madeof meal, the whole being served upon clean wooden platters. When we had eaten we returned to see how Leo was getting on, Billalisaying that he must now wait upon _She_, and hear her commands. Onreaching Leo's room we found the poor boy in a very bad way. He had wokeup from his torpor, and was altogether off his head, babbling about someboat-race on the Cam, and was inclined to be violent. Indeed, when weentered the room Ustane was holding him down. I spoke to him, and myvoice seemed to soothe him; at any rate he grew much quieter, and waspersuaded to swallow a dose of quinine. I had been sitting with him for an hour, perhaps--at any rate I knowthat it was getting so dark that I could only just make out his headlying like a gleam of gold upon the pillow we had extemporised out of abag covered with a blanket--when suddenly Billali arrived with an airof great importance, and informed me that _She_ herself had deigned toexpress a wish to see me--an honour, he added, accorded to but veryfew. I think that he was a little horrified at my cool way of taking thehonour, but the fact was that I did not feel overwhelmed with gratitudeat the prospect of seeing some savage, dusky queen, however absoluteand mysterious she might be, more especially as my mind was full ofdear Leo, for whose life I began to have great fears. However, I rose tofollow him, and as I did so I caught sight of something bright lying onthe floor, which I picked up. Perhaps the reader will remember that withthe potsherd in the casket was a composition scarabæus marked with around O, a goose, and another curious hieroglyphic, the meaning of whichis "Suten se Ra, " or "Royal Son of the Sun. " The scarab, which is a verysmall one, Leo had insisted upon having set in a massive gold ring, suchas is generally used for signets, and it was this very ring that I nowpicked up. He had pulled it off in the paroxysm of his fever, at leastI suppose so, and flung it down upon the rock-floor. Thinking that if Ileft it about it might get lost, I slipped it on my own little finger, and then followed Billali, leaving Job and Ustane with Leo. We passed down the passage, crossed the great aisle-like cave, and cameto the corresponding passage on the other side, at the mouth of whichthe guards stood like two statues. As we came they bowed their heads insalutation, and then lifting their long spears placed them transverselyacross their foreheads, as the leaders of the troop that had met ushad done with their ivory wands. We stepped between them, and foundourselves in an exactly similar gallery to that which led to our ownapartments, only this passage was, comparatively speaking, brilliantlylighted. A few paces down it we were met by four mutes--two men and twowomen--who bowed low and then arranged themselves, the women in frontand the men behind of us, and in this order we continued our processionpast several doorways hung with curtains resembling those leading toour own quarters, and which I afterwards found opened out into chambersoccupied by the mutes who attended on _She_. A few paces more and wecame to another doorway facing us, and not to our left like the others, which seemed to mark the termination of the passage. Here two morewhite-, or rather yellow-robed guards were standing, and they toobowed, saluted, and let us pass through heavy curtains into a greatantechamber, quite forty feet long by as many wide, in which some eightor ten women, most of them young and handsome, with yellowish hair, saton cushions working with ivory needles at what had the appearance ofbeing embroidery frames. These women were also deaf and dumb. At thefarther end of this great lamp-lit apartment was another doorway closedin with heavy Oriental-looking curtains, quite unlike those that hungbefore the doors of our own rooms, and here stood two particularlyhandsome girl mutes, their heads bowed upon their bosoms and their handscrossed in an attitude of humble submission. As we advanced they eachstretched out an arm and drew back the curtains. Thereupon Billali dida curious thing. Down he went, that venerable-looking old gentleman--forBillali is a gentleman at the bottom--down on to his hands and knees, and in this undignified position, with his long white beard trailing onthe ground, he began to creep into the apartment beyond. I followed him, standing on my feet in the usual fashion. Looking over his shoulder heperceived it. "Down, my son; down, my Baboon; down on to thy hands and knees. We enterthe presence of _She_, and, if thou art not humble, of a surety she willblast thee where thou standest. " I halted, and felt scared. Indeed, my knees began to give way of theirown mere motion; but reflection came to my aid. I was an Englishman, and why, I asked myself, should I creep into the presence of some savagewoman as though I were a monkey in fact as well as in name? I would notand could not do it, that is, unless I was absolutely sure that my lifeor comfort depended upon it. If once I began to creep upon my knees Ishould always have to do so, and it would be a patent acknowledgment ofinferiority. So, fortified by an insular prejudice against "kootooing, "which has, like most of our so-called prejudices, a good deal of commonsense to recommend it, I marched in boldly after Billali. I found myselfin another apartment, considerably smaller than the anteroom, of whichthe walls were entirely hung with rich-looking curtains of the same makeas those over the door, the work, as I subsequently discovered, of themutes who sat in the antechamber and wove them in strips, which wereafterwards sewn together. Also, here and there about the room, weresettees of a beautiful black wood of the ebony tribe, inlaid with ivory, and all over the floor were other tapestries, or rather rugs. At the topend of this apartment was what appeared to be a recess, also draped withcurtains, through which shone rays of light. There was nobody in theplace except ourselves. Painfully and slowly old Billali crept up the length of the cave, andwith the most dignified stride that I could command I followed afterhim. But I felt that it was more or less of a failure. To begin with, itis not possible to look dignified when you are following in the wakeof an old man writhing along on his stomach like a snake, and then, in order to go sufficiently slowly, either I had to keep my leg someseconds in the air at every step, or else to advance with a full stopbetween each stride, like Mary Queen of Scots going to execution in aplay. Billali was not good at crawling, I suppose his years stood in theway, and our progress up that apartment was a very long affair. I wasimmediately behind him, and several times I was sorely tempted to helphim on with a good kick. It is so absurd to advance into the presence ofsavage royalty after the fashion of an Irishman driving a pig to market, for that is what we looked like, and the idea nearly made me burst outlaughing then and there. I had to work off my dangerous tendency tounseemly merriment by blowing my nose, a proceeding which filled oldBillali with horror, for he looked over his shoulder and made a ghastlyface at me, and I heard him murmur, "Oh, my poor Baboon!" At last we reached the curtains, and here Billali collapsed flat on tohis stomach, with his hands stretched out before him as though he weredead, and I, not knowing what to do, began to stare about the place. Butpresently I clearly felt that somebody was looking at me from behind thecurtains. I could not see the person, but I could distinctly feel hisor her gaze, and, what is more, it produced a very odd effect upon mynerves. I was frightened, I do not know why. The place was a strangeone, it is true, and looked lonely, notwithstanding its rich hangingsand the soft glow of the lamps--indeed, these accessories added to, rather than detracted from its loneliness, just as a lighted street atnight has always a more solitary appearance than a dark one. It wasso silent in the place, and there lay Billali like one dead before theheavy curtains, through which the odour of perfume seemed to float uptowards the gloom of the arched roof above. Minute grew into minute, andstill there was no sign of life, nor did the curtain move; but I feltthe gaze of the unknown being sinking through and through me, andfilling me with a nameless terror, till the perspiration stood in beadsupon my brow. At length the curtain began to move. Who could be behind it?--some nakedsavage queen, a languishing Oriental beauty, or a nineteenth-centuryyoung lady, drinking afternoon tea? I had not the slightest idea, and should not have been astonished at seeing any of the three. I wasgetting beyond astonishment. The curtain agitated itself a little, thensuddenly between its folds there appeared a most beautiful white hand(white as snow), and with long tapering fingers, ending in the pinkestnails. The hand grasped the curtain, and drew it aside, and as it did soI heard a voice, I think the softest and yet most silvery voice I everheard. It reminded me of the murmur of a brook. "Stranger, " said the voice in Arabic, but much purer and more classicalArabic than the Amahagger talk--"stranger, wherefore art thou so muchafraid?" Now I flattered myself that in spite of my inward terrors I had kepta very fair command of my countenance, and was, therefore, a littleastonished at this question. Before I had made up my mind how to answerit, however, the curtain was drawn, and a tall figure stood before us. Isay a figure, for not only the body, but also the face was wrapped up insoft white, gauzy material in such a way as at first sight to remind memost forcibly of a corpse in its grave-clothes. And yet I do not knowwhy it should have given me that idea, seeing that the wrappings were sothin that one could distinctly see the gleam of the pink flesh beneaththem. I suppose it was owing to the way in which they were arranged, either accidentally, or more probably by design. Anyhow, I felt morefrightened than ever at this ghost-like apparition, and my hair beganto rise upon my head as the feeling crept over me that I was in thepresence of something that was not canny. I could, however, clearlydistinguish that the swathed mummy-like form before me was that of atall and lovely woman, instinct with beauty in every part, and alsowith a certain snake-like grace which I had never seen anything toequal before. When she moved a hand or foot her entire frame seemed toundulate, and the neck did not bend, it curved. "Why art thou so frightened, stranger?" asked the sweet voice again--avoice which seemed to draw the heart out of me, like the strains ofsoftest music. "Is there that about me that should affright a man? Thensurely are men changed from what they used to be!" And with a littlecoquettish movement she turned herself, and held up one arm, so asto show all her loveliness and the rich hair of raven blackness thatstreamed in soft ripples down her snowy robes, almost to her sandalledfeet. "It is thy beauty that makes me fear, oh Queen, " I answered humbly, scarcely knowing what to say, and I thought that as I did so I heard oldBillali, who was still lying prostrate on the floor, mutter, "Good, myBaboon, good. " "I see that men still know how to beguile us women with false words. Ah, stranger, " she answered, with a laugh that sounded like distant silverbells, "thou wast afraid because mine eyes were searching out thineheart, therefore wast thou afraid. Yet being but a woman, I forgive theefor the lie, for it was courteously said. And now tell me how came yehither to this land of the dwellers among the caves--a land of swampsand evil things and dead old shadows of the dead? What came ye for tosee? How is it that ye hold your lives so cheap as to placethem in the hollow of the hand of _Hiya_, into the hand of'_She-who-must-be-obeyed_'? Tell me also how come ye to know the tongueI talk. It is an ancient tongue, that sweet child of the old Syriac. Liveth it yet in the world? Thou seest I dwell among the caves and thedead, and naught know I of the affairs of men, nor have I cared to know. I have lived, O stranger, with my memories, and my memories are in agrave that mine hands hollowed, for truly hath it been said thatthe child of man maketh his own path evil;" and her beautiful voicequivered, and broke in a note as soft as any wood-bird's. Suddenlyher eye fell upon the sprawling frame of Billali, and she seemed torecollect herself. "Ah! thou art there, old man. Tell me how it is that things have gonewrong in thine household. Forsooth, it seems that these my guests wereset upon. Ay, and one was nigh to being slain by the hot-pot to be eatenof those brutes, thy children, and had not the others fought gallantlythey too had been slain, and not even I could have called back the lifewhich had been loosed from the body. What means it, old man? What hastthou to say that I should not give thee over to those who execute myvengeance?" Her voice had risen in her anger, and it rang clear and cold against therocky walls. Also I thought I could see her eyes flash through the gauzethat hid them. I saw poor Billali, whom I had believed to be a veryfearless person, positively quiver with terror at her words. "Oh 'Hiya!' oh _She_!" he said, without lifting his white head from thefloor. "Oh _She_, as thou art great be merciful, for I am now as everthy servant to obey. It was no plan or fault of mine, oh _She_, it wasthose wicked ones who are called my children. Led on by a woman whom thyguest the Pig had scorned, they would have followed the ancient customof the land, and eaten the fat black stranger who came hither with thesethy guests the Baboon and the Lion who is sick, thinking that no wordhad come from thee about the Black one. But when the Baboon and the Lionsaw what they would do, they slew the woman, and slew also their servantto save him from the horror of the pot. Then those evil ones, ay, thosechildren of the Wicked One who lives in the Pit, they went mad with thelust of blood, and flew at the throats of the Lion and the Baboon andthe Pig. But gallantly they fought. Oh _Hiya_! they fought like verymen, and slew many, and held their own, and then I came and saved them, and the evildoers have I sent on hither to Kôr to be judged of thygreatness, oh _She_! and here they are. " "Ay, old man, I know it, and to-morrow will I sit in the great hall anddo justice upon them, fear not. And for thee, I forgive thee, thoughhardly. See that thou dost keep thine household better. Go. " Billali rose upon his knees with astonishing alacrity, bowed his headthrice, and his white beard sweeping the ground, crawled down theapartment as he had crawled up it, till he finally vanished through thecurtains, leaving me, not a little to my alarm, alone with this terriblebut most fascinating person. XIII AYESHA UNVEILS "There, " said _She_, "he has gone, the white-bearded old fool! Ah, howlittle knowledge does a man acquire in his life. He gathereth it up likewater, but like water it runneth through his fingers, and yet, if hishands be but wet as though with dew, behold a generation of fools callout, 'See, he is a wise man!' Is it not so? But how call they thee?'Baboon, ' he says, " and she laughed; "but that is the fashion of thesesavages who lack imagination, and fly to the beasts they resemble for aname. How do they call thee in thine own country, stranger?" "They call me Holly, oh Queen, " I answered. "Holly, " she answered, speaking the word with difficulty, and yet with amost charming accent; "and what is 'Holly'?" "'Holly' is a prickly tree, " I said. "So. Well, thou hast a prickly and yet a tree-like look. Strong artthou, and ugly, but if my wisdom be not at fault, honest at the core, and a staff to lean on. Also one who thinks. But stay, oh Holly, standnot there, enter with me and be seated by me. I would not see thee crawlbefore me like those slaves. I am aweary of their worship and theirterror; sometimes when they vex me I could blast them for very sport, and to see the rest turn white, even to the heart. " And she held thecurtain aside with her ivory hand to let me pass in. I entered, shuddering. This woman was very terrible. Within the curtainswas a recess, about twelve feet by ten, and in the recess was a couchand a table whereon stood fruit and sparkling water. By it, at its end, was a vessel like a font cut in carved stone, also full of pure water. The place was softly lit with lamps formed out of the beautiful vesselsof which I have spoken, and the air and curtains were laden with asubtle perfume. Perfume too seemed to emanate from the glorious hair andwhite-clinging vestments of _She_ herself. I entered the little room, and there stood uncertain. "Sit, " said _She_, pointing to the couch. "As yet thou hast no cause tofear me. If thou hast cause, thou shalt not fear for long, for I shallslay thee. Therefore let thy heart be light. " I sat down on the foot of the couch near to the font-like basin ofwater, and _She_ sank down softly on to the other end. "Now, Holly, " she said, "how comest thou to speak Arabic? It is my owndear tongue, for Arabian am I by my birth, even 'al Arab al Ariba' (anArab of the Arabs), and of the race of our father Yárab, the son ofKâhtan, for in that fair and ancient city Ozal was I born, in theprovince of Yaman the Happy. Yet dost thou not speak it as we used tospeak. Thy talk doth lack the music of the sweet tongue of the tribes ofHamyar which I was wont to hear. Some of the words too seemed changed, even as among these Amahagger, who have debased and defiled its purity, so that I must speak with them in what is to me another tongue. "[*] [*] Yárab the son of Kâhtan, who lived some centuries before the time of Abraham, was the father of the ancient Arabs, and gave its name Araba to the country. In speaking of herself as "al Arab al Ariba, " _She_ no doubt meant to convey that she was of the true Arab blood as distinguished from the naturalised Arabs, the descendants of Ismael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, who were known as "al Arab al mostáraba. " The dialect of the Koreish was usually called the clear or "perspicuous" Arabic, but the Hamaritic dialect approached nearer to the purity of the mother Syriac. --L. H. H. "I have studied it, " I answered, "for many years. Also the language isspoken in Egypt and elsewhere. " "So it is still spoken, and there is yet an Egypt? And what Pharaoh sitsupon the throne? Still one of the spawn of the Persian Ochús, or arethe Achæmenians gone, for far is it to the days of Ochús. " "The Persians have been gone for Egypt for nigh two thousand years, andsince then the Ptolemies, the Romans, and many others have flourishedand held sway upon the Nile, and fallen when their time was ripe, " Isaid, aghast. "What canst thou know of the Persian Artaxerxes?" She laughed, and made no answer, and again a cold chill went throughme. "And Greece, " she said; "is there still a Greece? Ah, I loved theGreeks. Beautiful were they as the day, and clever, but fierce at heartand fickle, notwithstanding. " "Yes, " I said, "there is a Greece; and, just now, it is once more apeople. Yet the Greeks of to-day are not what the Greeks of the old timewere, and Greece herself is but a mockery of the Greece that was. " "So! The Hebrews, are they yet at Jerusalem? And does the Temple thatthe wise king built stand, and if so what God do they worship therein?Is their Messiah come, of whom they preached so much and prophesied soloudly, and doth He rule the earth?" "The Jews are broken and gone, and the fragments of their people strewthe world, and Jerusalem is no more. As for the temple that Herodbuilt----" "Herod!" she said. "I know not Herod. But go on. " "The Romans burnt it, and the Roman eagles flew across its ruins, andnow Judæa is a desert. " "So, so! They were a great people, those Romans, and went straight totheir end--ay, they sped to it like Fate, or like their own eagles ontheir prey!--and left peace behind them. " "Solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant, " I suggested. "Ah, thou canst speak the Latin tongue, too!" she said, in surprise. "Ithath a strange ring in my ears after all these days, and it seems tome that thy accent does not fall as the Romans put it. Who was it wrotethat? I know not the saying, but it is a true one of that great people. It seems that I have found a learned man--one whose hands have held thewater of the world's knowledge. Knowest thou Greek also?" "Yes, oh Queen, and something of Hebrew, but not to speak them well. They are all dead languages now. " She clapped her hands in childish glee. "Of a truth, ugly tree that thouart, thou growest the fruits of wisdom, oh Holly, " she said; "but ofthose Jews whom I hated, for they called me 'heathen' when I would havetaught them my philosophy--did their Messiah come, and doth He rule theworld?" "Their Messiah came, " I answered with reverence; "but He came poor andlowly, and they would have none of Him. They scourged Him, and crucifiedHim upon a tree, but yet His words and His works live on, for He was theSon of God, and now of a truth He doth rule half the world, but not withan Empire of the World. " "Ah, the fierce-hearted wolves, " she said, "the followers of Sense andmany gods--greedy of gain and faction-torn. I can see their dark facesyet. So they crucified their Messiah? Well can I believe it. That He wasa Son of the Living Spirit would be naught to them, if indeed He was so, and of that we will talk afterwards. They would care naught for any Godif He came not with pomp and power. They, a chosen people, a vesselof Him they call Jehovah, ay, and a vessel of Baal, and a vessel ofAstoreth, and a vessel of the gods of the Egyptians--a high-stomachedpeople, greedy of aught that brought them wealth and power. So theycrucified their Messiah because He came in lowly guise--and now arethey scattered about the earth? Why, if I remember, so said one of theirprophets that it should be. Well, let them go--they broke my heart, those Jews, and made me look with evil eyes across the world, ay, anddrove me to this wilderness, this place of a people that was beforethem. When I would have taught them wisdom in Jerusalem they stoned me, ay, at the Gate of the Temple those white-bearded hypocrites and Rabbishounded the people on to stone me! See, here is the mark of it to thisday!" and with a sudden move she pulled up the gauzy wrapping on herrounded arm, and pointed to a little scar that showed red against itsmilky beauty. I shrank back, horrified. "Pardon me, oh Queen, " I said, "but I am bewildered. Nigh upon twothousand years have rolled across the earth since the Jewish Messiahhung upon His cross at Golgotha. How then canst thou have taught thyphilosophy to the Jews before He was? Thou art a woman and no spirit. How can a woman live two thousand years? Why dost thou befool me, ohQueen?" She leaned back upon the couch, and once more I felt the hidden eyesplaying upon me and searching out my heart. "Oh man!" she said at last, speaking very slowly and deliberately, "itseems that there are still things upon the earth of which thou knowestnaught. Dost thou still believe that all things die, even as those veryJews believed? I tell thee that naught dies. There is no such thing asDeath, though there be a thing called Change. See, " and she pointed tosome sculptures on the rocky wall. "Three times two thousand years havepassed since the last of the great race that hewed those pictures fellbefore the breath of the pestilence which destroyed them, yet are theynot dead. E'en now they live; perchance their spirits are drawn towardsus at this very hour, " and she glanced round. "Of a surety it sometimesseems to me that my eyes can see them. " "Yes, but to the world they are dead. " "Ay, for a time; but even to the world are they born again and again. I, yes I, Ayesha[*]--for that, stranger, is my name--I say to thee thatI wait now for one I loved to be born again, and here I tarry till hefinds me, knowing of a surety that hither he will come, and that here, and here only, shall he greet me. Why, dost thou believe that I, whoam all-powerful, I, whose loveliness is more than the loveliness of theGrecian Helen, of whom they used to sing, and whose wisdom is wider, ay, far more wide and deep than the wisdom of Solomon the Wise--I, who knowthe secrets of the earth and its riches, and can turn all things tomy uses--I, who have even for a while overcome Change, that ye callDeath--why, I say, oh stranger, dost thou think that I herd here withbarbarians lower than the beasts?" [*] Pronounced Assha. --L. H. H. "I know not, " I said humbly. "Because I wait for him I love. My life has perchance been evil, I knownot--for who can say what is evil and what good?--so I fear to die evenif I could die, which I cannot until mine hour comes, to go and seek himwhere he is; for between us there might rise a wall I could not climb, at least, I dread it. Surely easy would it be also to lose the way inseeking in those great spaces wherein the planets wander on for ever. But the day will come, it may be when five thousand more years havepassed, and are lost and melted into the vault of Time, even as thelittle clouds melt into the gloom of night, or it may be to-morrow, when he, my love, shall be born again, and then, following a law thatis stronger than any human plan, he shall find me _here_, where oncehe knew me, and of a surety his heart will soften towards me, though Isinned against him; ay, even though he knew me not again, yet will helove me, if only for my beauty's sake. " For a moment I was dumbfounded, and could not answer. The matter was toooverpowering for my intellect to grasp. "But even so, oh Queen, " I said at last, "even if we men be born againand again, that is not so with thee, if thou speakest truly. " Here shelooked up sharply, and once more I caught the flash of those hiddeneyes; "thou, " I went on hurriedly, "who hast never died?" "That is so, " she said; "and it is so because I have, half by chance andhalf by learning, solved one of the great secrets of the world. Tellme, stranger: life is--why therefore should not life be lengthened for awhile? What are ten or twenty or fifty thousand years in the history oflife? Why in ten thousand years scarce will the rain and storms lessena mountain top by a span in thickness? In two thousand years these caveshave not changed, nothing has changed but the beasts, and man, who is asthe beasts. There is naught that is wonderful about the matter, couldstthou but understand. Life is wonderful, ay, but that it should be alittle lengthened is not wonderful. Nature hath her animating spirit aswell as man, who is Nature's child, and he who can find that spirit, and let it breathe upon him, shall live with her life. He shall not liveeternally, for Nature is not eternal, and she herself must die, even asthe nature of the moon hath died. She herself must die, I say, or ratherchange and sleep till it be time for her to live again. But when shallshe die? Not yet, I ween, and while she lives, so shall he who hathall her secret live with her. All I have it not, yet have I some, moreperchance than any who were before me. Now, to thee I doubt not thatthis thing is a great mystery, therefore I will not overcome thee withit now. Another time I will tell thee more if the mood be on me, thoughperchance I shall never speak thereof again. Dost thou wonder how Iknew that ye were coming to this land, and so saved your heads from thehot-pot?" "Ay, oh Queen, " I answered feebly. "Then gaze upon that water, " and she pointed to the font-like vessel, and then, bending forward, held her hand over it. I rose and gazed, and instantly the water darkened. Then it cleared, andI saw as distinctly as I ever saw anything in my life--I saw, I say, ourboat upon that horrible canal. There was Leo lying at the bottom asleepin it, with a coat thrown over him to keep off the mosquitoes, in such afashion as to hide his face, and myself, Job, and Mahomed towing on thebank. I started back, aghast, and cried out that it was magic, for Irecognised the whole scene--it was one which had actually occurred. "Nay, nay; oh Holly, " she answered, "it is no magic, that is a fictionof ignorance. There is no such thing as magic, though there is such athing as a knowledge of the secrets of Nature. That water is my glass;in it I see what passes if I will to summon up the pictures, which isnot often. Therein I can show thee what thou wilt of the past, if it beanything that hath to do with this country and with what I have known, or anything that thou, the gazer, hast known. Think of a face if thouwilt, and it shall be reflected from thy mind upon the water. I know notall the secret yet--I can read nothing in the future. But it is an oldsecret; I did not find it. In Arabia and in Egypt the sorcerers knewit centuries gone. So one day I chanced to bethink me of that oldcanal--some twenty ages since I sailed upon it, and I was minded tolook thereon again. So I looked, and there I saw the boat and three menwalking, and one, whose face I could not see, but a youth of noble form, sleeping in the boat, and so I sent and saved ye. And now farewell. Butstay, tell me of this youth--the Lion, as the old man calls him. I wouldlook upon him, but he is sick, thou sayest--sick with the fever, andalso wounded in the fray. " "He is very sick, " I answered sadly; "canst thou do nothing for him, ohQueen! who knowest so much?" "Of a surety I can. I can cure him; but why speakest thou so sadly? Dostthou love the youth? Is he perchance thy son?" "He is my adopted son, oh Queen! Shall he be brought in before thee?" "Nay. How long hath the fever taken him?" "This is the third day. " "Good; then let him lie another day. Then will he perchance throw it offby his own strength, and that is better than that I should cure him, for my medicine is of a sort to shake the life in its very citadel. If, however, by to-morrow night, at that hour when the fever first took him, he doth not begin to mend, then will I come to him and cure him. Stay, who nurses him?" "Our white servant, him whom Billali names the Pig; also, " and hereI spoke with some little hesitation, "a woman named Ustane, a veryhandsome woman of this country, who came and embraced him when shefirst saw him, and hath stayed by him ever since, as I understand is thefashion of thy people, oh Queen. " "My people! speak not to me of my people, " she answered hastily; "theseslaves are no people of mine, they are but dogs to do my bidding tillthe day of my deliverance comes; and, as for their customs, naught haveI to do with them. Also, call me not Queen--I am weary of flattery andtitles--call me Ayesha, the name hath a sweet sound in mine ears, it isan echo from the past. As for this Ustane, I know not. I wonder if itbe she against whom I was warned, and whom I in turn did warn? Hathshe--stay, I will see;" and, bending forward, she passed her hand overthe font of water and gazed intently into it. "See, " she said quietly, "is that the woman?" I looked into the water, and there, mirrored upon its placid surface, was the silhouette of Ustane's stately face. She was bending forward, with a look of infinite tenderness upon her features, watching somethingbeneath her, and with her chestnut locks falling on to her rightshoulder. "It is she, " I said, in a low voice, for once more I felt much disturbedat this most uncommon sight. "She watches Leo asleep. " "Leo!" said Ayesha, in an absent voice; "why, that is 'lion' in theLatin tongue. The old man hath named happily for once. It is verystrange, " she went on, speaking to herself, "very. So like--but it isnot possible!" With an impatient gesture she passed her hand overthe water once more. It darkened, and the image vanished silently andmysteriously as it had risen, and once more the lamplight, and thelamplight only, shone on the placid surface of that limpid, livingmirror. "Hast thou aught to ask me before thou goest, oh Holly?" she said, aftera few moments' reflection. "It is but a rude life that thou must livehere, for these people are savages, and know not the ways of cultivatedman. Not that I am troubled thereby, for behold my food, " and shepointed to the fruit upon the little table. "Naught but fruit dothever pass my lips--fruit and cakes of flour, and a little water. I havebidden my girls to wait upon thee. They are mutes, thou knowest, deafare they and dumb, and therefore the safest of servants, save to thosewho can read their faces and their signs. I bred them so--it hath takenmany centuries and much trouble; but at last I have triumphed. Once Isucceeded before, but the race was too ugly, so I let it die away; butnow, as thou seest, they are otherwise. Once, too, I reared a race ofgiants, but after a while Nature would no more of it, and it died away. Hast thou aught to ask of me?" "Ay, one thing, oh Ayesha, " I said boldly; but feeling by no means asbold as I trust I looked. "I would gaze upon thy face. " She laughed out in her bell-like notes. "Bethink thee, Holly, " sheanswered; "bethink thee. It seems that thou knowest the old myths of thegods of Greece. Was there not one Actæon who perished miserably becausehe looked on too much beauty? If I show thee my face, perchance thouwouldst perish miserably also; perchance thou wouldst eat out thy heartin impotent desire; for know I am not for thee--I am for no man, saveone, who hath been, but is not yet. " "As thou wilt, Ayesha, " I said. "I fear not thy beauty. I have put myheart away from such vanity as woman's loveliness, that passeth like aflower. " "Nay, thou errest, " she said; "that does _not_ pass. My beauty endureseven as I endure; still, if thou wilt, oh rash man, have thy will; butblame not me if passion mount thy reason, as the Egyptian breakers usedto mount a colt, and guide it whither thou wilt not. Never may the manto whom my beauty has been unveiled put it from his mind, and thereforeeven with these savages do I go veiled, lest they vex me, and I shouldslay them. Say, wilt thou see?" "I will, " I answered, my curiosity overpowering me. She lifted her white and rounded arms--never had I seen such armsbefore--and slowly, very slowly, withdrew some fastening beneath herhair. Then all of a sudden the long, corpse-like wrappings fell from herto the ground, and my eyes travelled up her form, now only robed ina garb of clinging white that did but serve to show its perfect andimperial shape, instinct with a life that was more than life, and with acertain serpent-like grace that was more than human. On her little feetwere sandals, fastened with studs of gold. Then came ankles more perfectthan ever sculptor dreamed of. About the waist her white kirtle wasfastened by a double-headed snake of solid gold, above which hergracious form swelled up in lines as pure as they were lovely, till thekirtle ended on the snowy argent of her breast, whereon her arms werefolded. I gazed above them at her face, and--I do not exaggerate--shrankback blinded and amazed. I have heard of the beauty of celestial beings, now I saw it; only this beauty, with all its awful loveliness andpurity, was _evil_--at least, at the time, it struck me as evil. How amI to describe it? I cannot--simply I cannot! The man does not livewhose pen could convey a sense of what I saw. I might talk of the greatchanging eyes of deepest, softest black, of the tinted face, of thebroad and noble brow, on which the hair grew low, and delicate, straightfeatures. But, beautiful, surpassingly beautiful as they all were, herloveliness did not lie in them. It lay rather, if it can be said to havehad any fixed abiding place, in a visible majesty, in an imperial grace, in a godlike stamp of softened power, which shone upon that radiantcountenance like a living halo. Never before had I guessed what beautymade sublime could be--and yet, the sublimity was a dark one--the glorywas not all of heaven--though none the less was it glorious. Thoughthe face before me was that of a young woman of certainly not more thanthirty years, in perfect health, and the first flush of ripened beauty, yet it had stamped upon it a look of unutterable experience, and ofdeep acquaintance with grief and passion. Not even the lovely smile thatcrept about the dimples of her mouth could hide this shadow of sin andsorrow. It shone even in the light of the glorious eyes, it was presentin the air of majesty, and it seemed to say: "Behold me, lovely as nowoman was or is, undying and half-divine; memory haunts me from age toage, and passion leads me by the hand--evil have I done, and from age toage evil I shall do, and sorrow shall I know till my redemption comes. " Drawn by some magnetic force which I could not resist, I let my eyesrest upon her shining orbs, and felt a current pass from them to me thatbewildered and half-blinded me. She laughed--ah, how musically! and nodded her little head at me withan air of sublimated coquetry that would have done credit to a VenusVictrix. "Rash man!" she said; "like Actæon, thou hast had thy will; be carefullest, like Actæon, thou too dost perish miserably, torn to piecesby the ban-hounds of thine own passions. I too, oh Holly, am a virgingoddess, not to be moved of any man, save one, and it is not thou. Say, hast thou seen enough!" "I have looked on beauty, and I am blinded, " I said hoarsely, lifting myhand to cover up my eyes. "So! what did I tell thee? Beauty is like the lightning; it is lovely, but it destroys--especially trees, oh Holly!" and again she nodded andlaughed. Suddenly she paused, and through my fingers I saw an awful change comeover her countenance. Her great eyes suddenly fixed themselves into anexpression in which horror seemed to struggle with some tremendous hopearising through the depths of her dark soul. The lovely face grew rigid, and the gracious willowy form seemed to erect itself. "Man, " she half whispered, half hissed, throwing back her head like asnake about to strike--"Man, whence hadst thou that scarab on thy hand?Speak, or by the Spirit of Life I will blast thee where thou standest!"and she took one light step towards me, and from her eyes there shonesuch an awful light--to me it seemed almost like a flame--that I fell, then and there, on the ground before her, babbling confusedly in myterror. "Peace, " she said, with a sudden change of manner, and speaking in herformer soft voice. "I did affright thee! Forgive me! But at times, ohHolly, the almost infinite mind grows impatient of the slowness of thevery finite, and am I tempted to use my power out of vexation--verynearly wast thou dead, but I remembered----. But the scarab--about thescarabæus!" "I picked it up, " I gurgled feebly, as I got on to my feet again, andit is a solemn fact that my mind was so disturbed that at the moment Icould remember nothing else about the ring except that I had picked itup in Leo's cave. "It is very strange, " she said with a sudden access of womanliketrembling and agitation which seemed out of place in this awfulwoman--"but once I knew a scarab like to that. It--hung round theneck--of one I loved, " and she gave a little sob, and I saw that afterall she was only a woman, although she might be a very old one. "There, " she went on, "it must be one like to it, and yet never didI see one like to it, for thereto hung a history, and he who wore itprized it much. [*] But the scarab that I knew was not set thus in thebezel of a ring. Go now, Holly, go, and, if thou canst, try to forgetthat thou hast of thy folly looked upon Ayesha's beauty, " and, turningfrom me, she flung herself on her couch, and buried her face in thecushions. [*] I am informed by a renowned and learned Egyptologist, to whom I have submitted this very interesting and beautifully finished scarab, "Suten se Ra, " that he has never seen one resembling it. Although it bears a title frequently given to Egyptian royalty, he is of opinion that it is not necessarily the cartouche of a Pharaoh, on which either the throne or personal name of the monarch is generally inscribed. What the history of this particular scarab may have been we can now, unfortunately, never know, but I have little doubt but that it played some part in the tragic story of the Princess Amenartas and her lover Kallikrates, the forsworn priest of Isis. --Editor. As for me, I stumbled from her presence, and I do not remember how Ireached my own cave. XIV A SOUL IN HELL It was nearly ten o'clock at night when I cast myself down upon my bed, and began to gather my scattered wits, and reflect upon what I had seenand heard. But the more I reflected the less I could make of it. Was Imad, or drunk, or dreaming, or was I merely the victim of a giganticand most elaborate hoax? How was it possible that I, a rational man, not unacquainted with the leading scientific facts of our history, andhitherto an absolute and utter disbeliever in all the hocus-pocus whichin Europe goes by the name of the supernatural, could believe that I hadwithin the last few minutes been engaged in conversation with a womantwo thousand and odd years old? The thing was contrary to the experienceof human nature, and absolutely and utterly impossible. It must be ahoax, and yet, if it were a hoax, what was I to make of it? What, too, was to be said of the figures on the water, of the woman's extraordinaryacquaintance with the remote past, and her ignorance, or apparentignorance, of any subsequent history? What, too, of her wonderful andawful loveliness? This, at any rate, was a patent fact, and beyond theexperience of the world. No merely mortal woman could shine with sucha supernatural radiance. About that she had, at any rate, been in theright--it was not safe for any man to look upon such beauty. I wasa hardened vessel in such matters, having, with the exception of onepainful experience of my green and tender youth, put the softer sex(I sometimes think that this is a misnomer) almost entirely out of mythoughts. But now, to my intense horror, I _knew_ that I could never putaway the vision of those glorious eyes; and alas! the very _diablerie_of the woman, whilst it horrified and repelled, attracted in even agreater degree. A person with the experience of two thousand years ather back, with the command of such tremendous powers, and the knowledgeof a mystery that could hold off death, was certainly worth fallingin love with, if ever woman was. But, alas! it was not a question ofwhether or no she was worth it, for so far as I could judge, not beingversed in such matters, I, a fellow of my college, noted for what myacquaintances are pleased to call my misogyny, and a respectable mannow well on in middle life, had fallen absolutely and hopelessly in lovewith this white sorceress. Nonsense; it must be nonsense! She had warnedme fairly, and I had refused to take the warning. Curses on the fatalcuriosity that is ever prompting man to draw the veil from woman, and curses on the natural impulse that begets it! It is the cause ofhalf--ay, and more than half--of our misfortunes. Why cannot man becontent to live alone and be happy, and let the women live alone and behappy too? But perhaps they would not be happy, and I am not sure thatwe should either. Here is a nice state of affairs. I, at my age, to falla victim to this modern Circe! But then she was not modern, at least shesaid not. She was almost as ancient as the original Circe. I tore my hair, and jumped up from my couch, feeling that if I didnot do something I should go off my head. What did she mean about thescarabæus too? It was Leo's scarabæus, and had come out of the oldcoffer that Vincey had left in my rooms nearly one-and-twenty yearsbefore. Could it be, after all, that the whole story was true, andthe writing on the sherd was _not_ a forgery, or the invention of somecrack-brained, long-forgotten individual? And if so, could it be that_Leo_ was the man that _She_ was waiting for--the dead man who was to beborn again! Impossible! The whole thing was gibberish! Who ever heard ofa man being born again? But if it were possible that a woman could exist for two thousand years, this might be possible also--anything might be possible. I myself might, for aught I knew, be a reincarnation of some other forgotten self, orperhaps the last of a long line of ancestral selves. Well, _vive laguerre!_ why not? Only, unfortunately, I had no recollection of theseprevious conditions. The idea was so absurd to me that I burst outlaughing, and, addressing the sculptured picture of a grim-lookingwarrior on the cave wall, called out to him aloud, "Who knows, oldfellow?--perhaps I was your contemporary. By Jove! perhaps I was you andyou are I, " and then I laughed again at my own folly, and the sound ofmy laughter rang dismally along the vaulted roof, as though the ghost ofthe warrior had echoed the ghost of a laugh. Next I bethought me that I had not been to see how Leo was, so, takingup one of the lamps which was burning at my bedside, I slipped off myshoes and crept down the passage to the entrance of his sleeping cave. The draught of the night air was lifting his curtain to and fro gently, as though spirit hands were drawing and redrawing it. I slid into thevault-like apartment, and looked round. There was a light by which Icould see that Leo was lying on the couch, tossing restlessly in hisfever, but asleep. At his side, half-lying on the floor, half-leaningagainst the stone couch, was Ustane. She held his hand in one of hers, but she too was dozing, and the two made a pretty, or rather a pathetic, picture. Poor Leo! his cheek was burning red, there were dark shadowsbeneath his eyes, and his breath came heavily. He was very, very ill;and again the horrible fear seized me that he might die, and I be leftalone in the world. And yet if he lived he would perhaps be my rivalwith Ayesha; even if he were not the man, what chance should I, middle-aged and hideous, have against his bright youth and beauty? Well, thank Heaven! my sense of right was not dead. _She_ had not killed thatyet; and, as I stood there, I prayed to Heaven in my heart that my boy, my more than son, might live--ay, even if he proved to be the man. Then I went back as softly as I had come, but still I could not sleep;the sight and thought of dear Leo lying there so ill had but added fuelto the fire of my unrest. My wearied body and overstrained mind awakenedall my imagination into preternatural activity. Ideas, visions, almostinspirations, floated before it with startling vividness. Most of themwere grotesque enough, some were ghastly, some recalled thoughts andsensations that had for years been buried in the _débris_ of my pastlife. But, behind and above them all, hovered the shape of that awfulwoman, and through them gleamed the memory of her entrancing loveliness. Up and down the cave I strode--up and down. Suddenly I observed, what I had not noticed before, that there was anarrow aperture in the rocky wall. I took up the lamp and examined it;the aperture led to a passage. Now, I was still sufficiently sensibleto remember that it is not pleasant, in such a situation as ours was, tohave passages running into one's bed-chamber from no one knows where. Ifthere are passages, people can come up them; they can come up when oneis asleep. Partly to see where it went to, and partly from a restlessdesire to be doing something, I followed the passage. It led to a stonestair, which I descended; the stair ended in another passage, or rathertunnel, also hewn out of the bed-rock, and running, so far as I couldjudge, exactly beneath the gallery that led to the entrance of ourrooms, and across the great central cave. I went on down it: it was assilent as the grave, but still, drawn by some sensation or attractionthat I cannot define, I followed on, my stockinged feet falling withoutnoise on the smooth and rocky floor. When I had traversed some fiftyyards of space, I came to another passage running at right angles, andhere an awful thing happened to me: the sharp draught caught my lampand extinguished it, leaving me in utter darkness in the bowels of thatmysterious place. I took a couple of strides forward so as to clear thebisecting tunnel, being terribly afraid lest I should turn up it inthe dark if once I got confused as to the direction, and then paused tothink. What was I to do? I had no match; it seemed awful to attempt thatlong journey back through the utter gloom, and yet I could not standthere all night, and, if I did, probably it would not help me much, forin the bowels of the rock it would be as dark at midday as at midnight. I looked back over my shoulder--not a sight or a sound. I peered forwardinto the darkness: surely, far away, I saw something like the faint glowof fire. Perhaps it was a cave where I could get a light--at any rate, it was worth investigating. Slowly and painfully I crept along thetunnel, keeping my hand against its wall, and feeling at every step withmy foot before I put it down, fearing lest I should fall into somepit. Thirty paces--there was a light, a broad light that came and went, shining through curtains! Fifty paces--it was close at hand! Sixty--oh, great heaven! I was at the curtains, and they did not hang close, so I could seeclearly into the little cavern beyond them. It had all the appearance ofbeing a tomb, and was lit up by a fire that burnt in its centre with awhitish flame and without smoke. Indeed, there, to the left, was a stoneshelf with a little ledge to it three inches or so high, and on theshelf lay what I took to be a corpse; at any rate, it looked like one, with something white thrown over it. To the right was a similar shelf, on which lay some broidered coverings. Over the fire bent the figure ofa woman; she was sideways to me and facing the corpse, wrapped in a darkmantle that hid her like a nun's cloak. She seemed to be staring at theflickering flame. Suddenly, as I was trying to make up my mind whatto do, with a convulsive movement that somehow gave an impression ofdespairing energy, the woman rose to her feet and cast the dark cloakfrom her. It was _She_ herself! She was clothed, as I had seen her when she unveiled, in the kirtle ofclinging white, cut low upon her bosom, and bound in at the waist withthe barbaric double-headed snake, and, as before, her rippling blackhair fell in heavy masses down her back. But her face was what caught myeye, and held me as in a vice, not this time by the force of its beauty, but by the power of fascinated terror. The beauty was still there, indeed, but the agony, the blind passion, and the awful vindictivenessdisplayed upon those quivering features, and in the tortured look of theupturned eyes, were such as surpass my powers of description. For a moment she stood still, her hands raised high above her head, andas she did so the white robe slipped from her down to her golden girdle, baring the blinding loveliness of her form. She stood there, her fingersclenched, and the awful look of malevolence gathered and deepened on herface. Suddenly I thought of what would happen if she discovered me, and thereflection made me turn sick and faint. But, even if I had known that Imust die if I stopped, I do not believe that I could have moved, forI was absolutely fascinated. But still I knew my danger. Supposing sheshould hear me, or see me through the curtain, supposing I even sneezed, or that her magic told her that she was being watched--swift indeedwould be my doom. Down came the clenched hands to her sides, then up again above her head, and, as I am a living and honourable man, the white flame of the fireleapt up after them, almost to the roof, throwing a fierce and ghastlyglare upon _She_ herself, upon the white figure beneath the covering, and every scroll and detail of the rockwork. Down came the ivory arms again, and as they did so she spoke, or ratherhissed, in Arabic, in a note that curdled my blood, and for a secondstopped my heart. "Curse her, may she be everlastingly accursed. " The arms fell and the flame sank. Up they went again, and the broadtongue of fire shot up after them; and then again they fell. "Curse her memory--accursed be the memory of the Egyptian. " Up again, and again down. "Curse her, the daughter of the Nile, because of her beauty. "Curse her, because her magic hath prevailed against me. "Curse her, because she held my beloved from me. " And again the flame dwindled and shrank. She put her hands before her eyes, and abandoning the hissing tone, cried aloud:-- "What is the use of cursing?--she prevailed, and she is gone. " Then she recommenced with an even more frightful energy:-- "Curse her where she is. Let my curses reach her where she is anddisturb her rest. "Curse her through the starry spaces. Let her shadow be accursed. "Let my power find her even there. "Let her hear me even there. Let her hide herself in the blackness. "Let her go down into the pit of despair, because I shall one day findher. " Again the flame fell, and again she covered her eyes with her hands. "It is of no use--no use, " she wailed; "who can reach those who sleep?Not even I can reach them. " Then once more she began her unholy rites. "Curse her when she shall be born again. Let her be born accursed. "Let her be utterly accused from the hour of her birth until sleep findsher. "Yea, then, let her be accursed; for then shall I overtake her with myvengeance, and utterly destroy her. " And so on. The flame rose and fell, reflecting itself in her agonisedeyes; the hissing sound of her terrible maledictions, and no words ofmine can convey how terrible they were, ran round the walls and diedaway in little echoes, and the fierce light and deep gloom alternatedthemselves on the white and dreadful form stretched upon that bier ofstone. But at length she seemed to wear herself out and cease. She sat herselfdown upon the rocky floor, shook the dense cloud of her beautiful hairover her face and breast, and began to sob terribly in the torture of aheartrending despair. "Two thousand years, " she moaned--"two thousand years have I wanted andendured; but though century doth still creep on to century, and timegive place to time, the sting of memory hath not lessened, the light ofhope doth not shine more bright. Oh! to have lived two thousand years, with all my passion eating out my heart, and with my sin ever before me. Oh, that for me life cannot bring forgetfulness! Oh, for the weary yearsthat have been and are yet to come, and evermore to come, endless andwithout end! "My love! my love! my love! Why did that stranger bring thee back to meafter this sort? For five hundred years I have not suffered thus. Oh, if I sinned against thee, have I not wiped away the sin? When wilt thoucome back to me who have all, and yet without thee have naught? What isthere that I can do? What? What? What? And perchance she--perchance thatEgyptian doth abide with thee where thou art, and mock my memory. Oh, why could I not die with thee, I who slew thee? Alas, that I cannot die!Alas! Alas!" and she flung herself prone upon the ground, and sobbed andwept till I thought her heart must burst. Suddenly she ceased, raised herself to her feet, rearranged her robe, and, tossing back her long locks impatiently, swept across to where thefigure lay upon the stone. "Oh Kallikrates, " she cried, and I trembled at the name, "I must lookupon thy face again, though it be agony. It is a generation sinceI looked upon thee whom I slew--slew with mine own hand, " and withtrembling fingers she seized the corner of the sheet-like wrapping thatcovered the form upon the stone bier, and then paused. When she spokeagain, it was in a kind of awed whisper, as though her idea wereterrible even to herself. "Shall I raise thee, " she said, apparently addressing the corpse, "sothat thou standest there before me, as of old? I _can_ do it, " and sheheld out her hands over the sheeted dead, while her whole frame becamerigid and terrible to see, and her eyes grew fixed and dull. I shrank inhorror behind the curtain, my hair stood up upon my head, and, whetherit was my imagination or a fact I am unable to say, but I thought thatthe quiet form beneath the covering began to quiver, and the windingsheet to lift as though it lay on the breast of one who slept. Suddenlyshe withdrew her hands, and the motion of the corpse seemed to me tocease. "To what purpose?" she said gloomily. "Of what good is it to recall thesemblance of life when I cannot recall the spirit? Even if thou stoodestbefore me thou wouldst not know me, and couldst but do what I bid thee. The life in thee would be _my_ life, and not _thy_ life, Kallikrates. " For a moment she stood there brooding, and then cast herself down on herknees beside the form, and began to press her lips against the sheet, and weep. There was something so horrible about the sight of thisawe-inspiring woman letting loose her passion on the dead--so much morehorrible even than anything that had gone before--that I could no longerbear to look at it, and, turning, began to creep, shaking as I was inevery limb, slowly along the pitch-dark passage, feeling in my tremblingheart that I had seen a vision of a Soul in Hell. On I stumbled, I scarcely know how. Twice I fell, once I turned up thebisecting passage, but fortunately found out my mistake in time. Fortwenty minutes or more I crept along, till at last it occurred to methat I must have passed the little stair by which I had descended. So, utterly exhausted, and nearly frightened to death, I sank down at lengththere on the stone flooring, and sank into oblivion. When I came to I noticed a faint ray of light in the passage just behindme. I crept to it, and found it was the little stair down which the weakdawn was stealing. Passing up it, I gained my chamber in safety, and, flinging myself on the couch, was soon lost in slumber or rather stupor. XV AYESHA GIVES JUDGMENT The next thing that I remember was opening my eyes and perceiving theform of Job, who had now practically recovered from his attack of fever. He was standing in the ray of light that pierced into the cave fromthe outer air, shaking out my clothes as a makeshift for brushing them, which he could not do because there was no brush, and then folding themup neatly and laying them on the foot of the stone couch. This done, hegot my travelling dressing-case out of the Gladstone bag, and opened itready for my use. First he stood it on the foot of the couch also, then, being afraid, I suppose, that I should kick it off, he placed it on aleopard skin on the floor, and stood back a step or two to observe theeffect. It was not satisfactory, so he shut up the bag, turned it onend, and, having rested it against the foot of the couch, placed thedressing-case on it. Next he looked at the pots full of water, whichconstituted our washing apparatus. "Ah!" I heard him murmur, "no hotwater in this beastly place. I suppose these poor creatures only use itto boil each other in, " and he sighed deeply. "What is the matter, Job?" I said. "Beg pardon, sir, " he said, touching his hair. "I thought you wereasleep, sir; and I am sure you seem as though you want it. One mightthink from the look of you that you had been having a night of it. " I only groaned by way of answer. I had, indeed, been having a night ofit, such as I hope never to have again. "How is Mr. Leo, Job?" "Much the same, sir. If he don't soon mend, he'll end, sir; and that'sall about it; though I must say that that there savage, Ustane, dodo her best for him, almost like a baptised Christian. She is alwayshanging round and looking after him, and if I ventures to interfere it'sawful to see her; her hair seems to stand on end, and she curses andswears away in her heathen talk--at least I fancy she must be cursing, from the look of her. " "And what do you do then?" "I make her a perlite bow, and I say, 'Young woman, your position is onethat I don't quite understand, and can't recognise. Let me tell you thatI has a duty to perform to my master as is incapacitated by illness, and that I am going to perform it until I am incapacitated too, ' butshe don't take no heed, not she--only curses and swears away worse thanever. Last night she put her hand under that sort of night-shirt shewears and whips out a knife with a kind of a curl in the blade, so Iwhips out my revolver, and we walks round and round each other till atlast she bursts out laughing. It isn't nice treatment for a Christianman to have to put up with from a savage, however handsome she may be, but it is what people must expect as is _fools_ enough" (Job laid greatemphasis on the "fools") "to come to such a place to look for things noman is meant to find. It's a judgment on us, sir--that's my view; and I, for one, is of opinion that the judgment isn't half done yet, and whenit is done we shall be done too, and just stop in these beastly caveswith the ghosts and the corpseses for once and all. And now, sir, Imust be seeing about Mr. Leo's broth, if that wild cat will let me; and, perhaps, you would like to get up, sir, because it's past nine o'clock. " Job's remarks were not of an exactly cheering order to a man who hadpassed such a night as I had; and, what is more, they had the weight oftruth. Taking one thing with another, it appeared to me to be an utterimpossibility that we should escape from the place we were. Supposingthat Leo recovered, and supposing that _She_ would let us go, which wasexceedingly doubtful, and that she did not "blast" us in some moment ofvexation, and that we were not hot-potted by the Amahagger, it would bequite impossible for us to find our way across the network of marsheswhich, stretching for scores and scores of miles, formed a stronger andmore impassable fortification round the various Amahagger householdsthan any that could be built or designed by man. No, there was butone thing to do--face it out; and, speaking for my own part, I was sointensely interested in the whole weird story that, so far as I wasconcerned, notwithstanding the shattered state of my nerves, I askednothing better, even if my life paid forfeit to my curiosity. What manfor whom physiology has charms could forbear to study such a characteras that of this Ayesha when the opportunity of doing so presenteditself? The very terror of the pursuit added to its fascination, andbesides, as I was forced to own to myself even now in the sober light ofday, she herself had attractions that I could not forget. Not even thedreadful sight which I had witnessed during the night could drive thatfolly from my mind; and alas! that I should have to admit it, it has notbeen driven thence to this hour. After I had dressed myself I passed into the eating, or rather embalmingchamber, and had some food, which was as before brought to me by thegirl mutes. When I had finished I went and saw poor Leo, who was quiteoff his head, and did not even know me. I asked Ustane how she thoughthe was; but she only shook her head and began to cry a little. Evidentlyher hopes were small; and I then and there made up my mind that, if itwere in any way possible, I would get _She_ to come and see him. Surelyshe would cure him if she chose--at any rate she said she could. While Iwas in the room, Billali entered, and also shook his head. "He will die at night, " he said. "God forbid, my father, " I answered, and turned away with a heavy heart. "_She-who-must-be-obeyed_ commands thy presence, my Baboon, " said theold man as soon as we got to the curtain; "but, oh my dear son, be morecareful. Yesterday I made sure in my heart that _She_ would blast theewhen thou didst not crawl upon thy stomach before her. She is sitting inthe great hall even now to do justice upon those who would have smittenthee and the Lion. Come on, my son; come swiftly. " I turned, and followed him down the passage, and when we reached thegreat central cave saw that many Amahagger, some robed, and some merelyclad in the sweet simplicity of a leopard skin, were hurrying alongit. We mingled with the throng, and walked up the enormous and, indeed, almost interminable cave. All the way its walls were elaboratelysculptured, and every twenty paces or so passages opened out of it atright angles, leading, Billali told me, to tombs, hollowed in the rockby "the people who were before. " Nobody visited those tombs now, hesaid; and I must say that my heart rejoiced when I thought of theopportunities of antiquarian research which opened out before me. At last we came to the head of the cave, where there was a rock daïsalmost exactly similar to the one on which we had been so furiouslyattacked, a fact that proved to me that these daïs must have been usedas altars, probably for the celebration of religious ceremonies, andmore especially of rites connected with the interment of the dead. Oneither side of this daïs were passages leading, Billali informed me, toother caves full of dead bodies. "Indeed, " he added, "the whole mountainis full of dead, and nearly all of them are perfect. " In front of the daïs were gathered a great number of people of bothsexes, who stood staring about in their peculiar gloomy fashion, whichwould have reduced Mark Tapley himself to misery in about five minutes. On the daïs was a rude chair of black wood inlaid with ivory, havinga seat made of grass fibre, and a footstool formed of a wooden slabattached to the framework of the chair. Suddenly there was a cry of "Hiya! Hiya!" ("_She! She!_"), and thereuponthe entire crowd of spectators instantly precipitated itself upon theground, and lay still as though it were individually and collectivelystricken dead, leaving me standing there like some solitary survivor ofa massacre. As it did so a long string of guards began to defile from apassage to the left, and ranged themselves on either side of the daïs. Then followed about a score of male mutes, then as many women mutesbearing lamps, and then a tall white figure, swathed from head to foot, in whom I recognised _She_ herself. She mounted the daïs and sat downupon the chair, and spoke to me in _Greek_, I suppose because she didnot wish those present to understand what she said. "Come hither, oh Holly, " she said, "and sit thou at my feet, and see medo justice on those who would have slain thee. Forgive me if my Greekdoth halt like a lame man; it is so long since I have heard the sound ofit that my tongue is stiff, and will not bend rightly to the words. " I bowed, and, mounting the daïs, sat down at her feet. "How hast thou slept, my Holly?" she asked. "I slept not well, oh Ayesha!" I answered with perfect truth, and withan inward fear that perhaps she knew how I had passed the heart of thenight. "So, " she said, with a little laugh; "I, too, have not slept well. Lastnight I had dreams, and methinks that thou didst call them to me, ohHolly. " "Of what didst thou dream, Ayesha?" I asked indifferently. "I dreamed, " she answered quickly, "of one I hate and one I love, " andthen, as though to turn the conversation, she addressed the captain ofher guard in Arabic: "Let the men be brought before me. " The captain bowed low, for the guard and her attendants did notprostrate themselves, but had remained standing, and departed with hisunderlings down a passage to the right. Then came a silence. _She_ leaned her swathed head upon her hand andappeared to be lost in thought, while the multitude before her continuedto grovel upon their stomachs, only screwing their heads round a littleso as to get a view of us with one eye. It seemed that their Queenso rarely appeared in public that they were willing to undergo thisinconvenience, and even graver risks, to have the opportunity of lookingon her, or rather on her garments, for no living man there except myselfhad ever seen her face. At last we caught sight of the waving of lights, and heard the tramp of men coming along the passage, and in filed theguard, and with them the survivors of our would-be murderers, to thenumber of twenty or more, on whose countenances a natural expression ofsullenness struggled with the terror that evidently filled their savagehearts. They were ranged in front of the daïs, and would have castthemselves down on the floor of the cave like the spectators, but _She_stopped them. "Nay, " she said in her softest voice, "stand; I pray you stand. Perchance the time will soon be when ye shall grow weary of beingstretched out, " and she laughed melodiously. I saw a cringe of terror run along the rank of the doomed wretches, and, wicked villains as they were, I felt sorry for them. Some minutes, perhaps two or three, passed before anything fresh occurred, duringwhich _She_ appeared from the movement of her head--for, of course, we could not see her eyes--to be slowly and carefully examining eachdelinquent. At last she spoke, addressing herself to me in a quiet anddeliberate tone. "Dost thou, oh my guest, recognise these men?" "Ay, oh Queen, nearly all of them, " I said, and I saw them glower at meas I said it. "Then tell to me, and this great company, the tale whereof I haveheard. " Thus adjured, I, in as few words as I could, related the history of thecannibal feast, and of the attempted torture of our poor servant. Thenarrative was received in perfect silence, both by the accused and bythe audience, and also by _She_ herself. When I had done, Ayesha calledupon Billali by name, and, lifting his head from the ground, but withoutrising, the old man confirmed my story. No further evidence was taken. "Ye have heard, " said _She_ at length, in a cold, clear voice, very different from her usual tones--indeed, it was one of the mostremarkable things about this extraordinary creature that her voice hadthe power of suiting itself in a wonderful manner to the mood of themoment. "What have ye to say, ye rebellious children, why vengeanceshould not be done upon you?" For some time there was no answer, but at last one of the men, a fine, broad-chested fellow, well on in middle-life, with deep-graven featuresand an eye like a hawk's, spoke, and said that the orders that they hadreceived were not to harm the white men; nothing was said of theirblack servant, so, egged on thereto by a woman who was now dead, theyproceeded to try to hot-pot him after the ancient and honourable customof their country, with a view of eating him in due course. As for theirsudden attack upon ourselves, it was made in an access of sudden fury, and they deeply regretted it. He ended by humbly praying that they mightbe banished into the swamps, to live and die as it might chance; but Isaw it written on his face that he had but little hope of mercy. Then came a pause, and the most intense silence reigned over the wholescene, which, illuminated as it was by the flicker of the lamps strikingout broad patterns of light and shadow upon the rocky walls, was asstrange as any I ever saw, even in that unholy land. Upon the groundbefore the daïs were stretched scores of the corpselike forms of thespectators, till at last the long lines of them were lost in thegloomy background. Before this outstretched audience were the knotsof evil-doers, trying to cover up their natural terrors with a braveappearance of unconcern. On the right and left stood the silent guards, robed in white and armed with great spears and daggers, and men andwomen mutes watching with hard curious eyes. Then, seated in herbarbaric chair above them all, with myself at her feet, was the veiledwhite woman, whose loveliness and awesome power seemed to visibly shineabout her like a halo, or rather like the glow from some unseen light. Never have I seen her veiled shape look more terrible than it did inthat space, while she gathered herself up for vengeance. At last it came. "Dogs and serpents, " _She_ began in a low voice that gradually gatheredpower as she went on, till the place rang with it. "Eaters of humanflesh, two things have ye done. First, ye have attacked these strangers, being white men, and would have slain their servant, and for that alonedeath is your reward. But that is not all. Ye have dared to disobey me. Did I not send my word unto you by Billali, my servant, and the fatherof your household? Did I not bid you to hospitably entertain thesestrangers, whom now ye have striven to slay, and whom, had not theybeen brave and strong beyond the strength of men, ye would cruelly havemurdered? Hath it not been taught to you from childhood that the law of_She_ is an ever fixed law, and that he who breaketh it by so much asone jot or tittle shall perish? And is not my lightest word a law?Have not your fathers taught you this, I say, whilst as yet ye were butchildren? Do ye not know that as well might ye bid these great caves tofall upon you, or the sun to cease its journeying, as to hope to turnme from my courses, or make my word light or heavy, according to yourminds? Well do ye know it, ye Wicked Ones. But ye are all evil--evilto the core--the wickedness bubbles up in you like a fountain in thespring-time. Were it not for me, generations since had ye ceased to be, for of your own evil way had ye destroyed each other. And now, becauseye have done this thing, because ye have striven to put these men, myguests, to death, and yet more because ye have dared to disobey my word, this is the doom that I doom you to. That ye be taken to the cave oftorture, [*] and given over to the tormentors, and that on the going downof to-morrow's sun those of you who yet remain alive be slain, even asye would have slain the servant of this my guest. " [*] "The cave of torture. " I afterwards saw this dreadful place, also a legacy from the prehistoric people who lived in Kôr. The only objects in the cave itself were slabs of rock arranged in various positions to facilitate the operations of the torturers. Many of these slabs, which were of a porous stone, were stained quite dark with the blood of ancient victims that had soaked into them. Also in the centre of the room was a place for a furnace, with a cavity wherein to heat the historic pot. But the most dreadful thing about the cave was that over each slab was a sculptured illustration of the appropriate torture being applied. These sculptures were so awful that I will not harrow the reader by attempting a description of them. --L. H. H. She ceased, and a faint murmur of horror ran round the cave. As for thevictims, as soon as they realised the full hideousness of their doom, their stoicism forsook them, and they flung themselves down upon theground, and wept and implored for mercy in a way that was dreadful tobehold. I, too, turned to Ayesha, and begged her to spare them, or atleast to mete out their fate in some less awful way. But she was hard asadamant about it. "My Holly, " she said, again speaking in Greek, which, to tell the truth, although I have always been considered a better scholar of the languagethan most men, I found it rather difficult to follow, chiefly because ofthe change in the fall of the accent. Ayesha, of course, talked withthe accent of her contemporaries, whereas we have only tradition and themodern accent to guide us as to the exact pronunciation. "My Holly, itcannot be. Were I to show mercy to those wolves, your lives would not besafe among this people for a day. Thou knowest them not. They are tigersto lap blood, and even now they hunger for your lives. How thinkestthou that I rule this people? I have but a regiment of guards to do mybidding, therefore it is not by force. It is by terror. My empire isof the imagination. Once in a generation mayhap I do as I have done butnow, and slay a score by torture. Believe not that I would be cruel, ortake vengeance on anything so low. What can it profit me to be avengedon such as these? Those who live long, my Holly, have no passions, save where they have interests. Though I may seem to slay in wrath, or because my mood is crossed, it is not so. Thou hast seen how in theheavens the little clouds blow this way and that without a cause, yetbehind them is the great wind sweeping on its path whither it listeth. So it is with me, oh Holly. My moods and changes are the little clouds, and fitfully these seem to turn; but behind them ever blows the greatwind of my purpose. Nay, the men must die; and die as I have said. "Then, suddenly turning to the captain of the guard:-- "As my word is, so be it!" XVI THE TOMBS OF KÔR After the prisoners had been removed Ayesha waved her hand, and thespectators turned round, and began to crawl off down the cave like ascattered flock of sheep. When they were a fair distance from the daïs, however, they rose and walked away, leaving the Queen and myself alone, with the exception of the mutes and the few remaining guards, most ofwhom had departed with the doomed men. Thinking this a good opportunity, I asked _She_ to come and see Leo, telling her of his serious condition;but she would not, saying that he certainly would not die before thenight, as people never died of that sort of fever except at nightfallor dawn. Also she said that it would be better to let the sickness spendits course as much as possible before she cured it. Accordingly, I wasrising to leave, when she bade me follow her, as she would talk with me, and show me the wonders of the caves. I was too much involved in the web of her fatal fascinations to say herno, even if I had wished, which I did not. She rose from her chair, and, making some signs to the mutes, descended from the daïs. Thereon fourof the girls took lamps, and ranged themselves two in front and twobehind us, but the others went away, as also did the guards. "Now, " she said, "wouldst thou see some of the wonders of this place, ohHolly? Look upon this great cave. Sawest thou ever the like? Yet was it, and many more like it, hollowed by the hands of the dead race that oncelived here in the city on the plain. A great and wonderful people mustthey have been, those men of Kôr, but, like the Egyptians, they thoughtmore of the dead than of the living. How many men, thinkest thou, working for how many years, did it need to the hollowing out this caveand all the galleries thereof?" "Tens of thousands, " I answered. "So, oh Holly. This people was an old people before the Egyptianswere. A little can I read of their inscriptions, having found the keythereto--and see, thou here, this was one of the last of the caves thatthey hollowed, " and, turning to the rock behind her, she motioned themutes to hold up the lamps. Carven over the daïs was the figure of anold man seated in a chair, with an ivory rod in his hand. It struck meat once that his features were exceedingly like those of the man who wasrepresented as being embalmed in the chamber where we took our meals. Beneath the chair, which, by the way, was shaped exactly like the onein which Ayesha had sat to give judgment, was a short inscription in theextraordinary characters of which I have already spoke, but which I donot remember sufficient of to illustrate. It looked more like Chinesewriting than any other that I am acquainted with. This inscriptionAyesha proceeded, with some difficulty and hesitation, to read aloud andtranslate. It ran as follows:-- "In the year four thousand two hundred and fifty-nine from the foundingof the City of imperial Kôr was this cave (or burial place) completedby Tisno, King of Kôr, the people thereof and their slaves havinglaboured thereat for three generations, to be a tomb for their citizensof rank who shall come after. May the blessings of the heaven above theheaven rest upon their work, and make the sleep of Tisno, the mightymonarch, the likeness of whose features is graven above, a sound andhappy sleep till the day of awakening, [*] and also the sleep of hisservants, and of those of his race who, rising up after him, shall yetlay their heads as low. " [*] This phrase is remarkable, as seeming to indicate a belief in a future state. --Editor. "Thou seest, oh Holly, " she said, "this people founded the city, ofwhich the ruins yet cumber the plain yonder, four thousand years beforethis cave was finished. Yet, when first mine eyes beheld it two thousandyears ago, was it even as it is now. Judge, therefore, how old must thatcity have been! And now, follow thou me, and I will show thee after whatfashion this great people fell when the time was come for it to fall, "and she led the way down to the centre of the cave, stopping at a spotwhere a round rock had been let into a kind of large manhole in theflooring, accurately filling it just as the iron plates fill the spacesin the London pavements down which the coals are thrown. "Thou seest, "she said. "Tell me, what is it?" "Nay, I know not, " I answered; whereon she crossed to the left-hand sideof the cave (looking towards the entrance) and signed to the mutes tohold up the lamps. On the wall was something painted with a red pigmentin similar characters to those hewn beneath the sculpture of Tisno, Kingof Kôr. This inscription she proceeded to translate to me, the pigmentstill being fresh enough to show the form of the letters. It ran thus: "I, Junis, a priest of the Great Temple of Kôr, write this upon therock of the burying-place in the year four thousand eight hundred andthree from the founding of Kôr. Kôr is fallen! No more shall themighty feast in her halls, no more shall she rule the world, and hernavies go out to commerce with the world. Kôr is fallen! and her mightyworks and all the cities of Kôr, and all the harbours that she builtand the canals that she made, are for the wolf and the owl and the wildswan, and the barbarian who comes after. Twenty and five moons ago dida cloud settle upon Kôr, and the hundred cities of Kôr, and out of thecloud came a pestilence that slew her people, old and young, onewith another, and spared not. One with another they turned black anddied--the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the man and thewoman, the prince and the slave. The pestilence slew and slew, andceased not by day or by night, and those who escaped from the pestilencewere slain of the famine. No longer could the bodies of the children ofKôr be preserved according to the ancient rites, because of the numberof the dead, therefore were they hurled into the great pit beneaththe cave, through the hole in the floor of the cave. Then, at last, aremnant of this the great people, the light of the whole world, wentdown to the coast and took ship and sailed northwards; and now am I, thePriest Junis, who write this, the last man left alive of this great cityof men, but whether there be any yet left in the other cities I knownot. This do I write in misery of heart before I die, because Kôrthe Imperial is no more, and because there are none to worship in hertemple, and all her palaces are empty, and her princes and her captainsand her traders and her fair women have passed off the face of theearth. " I gave a sigh of astonishment--the utter desolation depicted in thisrude scrawl was so overpowering. It was terrible to think of thissolitary survivor of a mighty people recording its fate before he toowent down into darkness. What must the old man have felt as, in ghastlyterrifying solitude, by the light of one lamp feebly illuminating alittle space of gloom, he in a few brief lines daubed the history of hisnation's death upon the cavern wall? What a subject for the moralist, orthe painter, or indeed for any one who can think! "Doth it not occur to thee, oh Holly, " said Ayesha, laying her hand uponmy shoulder, "that those men who sailed North may have been the fathersof the first Egyptians?" "Nay, I know not, " I said; "it seems that the world is very old. " "Old? Yes, it is old indeed. Time after time have nations, ay, and richand strong nations, learned in the arts, been and passed away andbeen forgotten, so that no memory of them remains. This is but one ofseveral; for Time eats up the works of man, unless, indeed, he digs incaves like the people of Kôr, and then mayhap the sea swallows them, orthe earthquake shakes them in. Who knows what hath been on the earth, orwhat shall be? There is no new thing under the sun, as the wise Hebrewwrote long ago. Yet were not these people utterly destroyed, as I think. Some few remained in the other cities, for their cities were many. Butthe barbarians from the south, or perchance my people, the Arabs, came down upon them, and took their women to wife, and the race of theAmahagger that is now is a bastard brood of the mighty sons of Kôr, andbehold it dwelleth in the tombs with its fathers' bones. [*] But I knownot: who can know? My arts cannot pierce so far into the blackness ofTime's night. A great people were they. They conquered till none wereleft to conquer, and then they dwelt at ease within their rocky mountainwalls, with their man servants and their maid servants, their minstrels, their sculptors, and their concubines, and traded and quarrelled, andate and hunted and slept and made merry till their time came. But come, I will show thee the great pit beneath the cave whereof the writingspeaks. Never shall thine eyes witness such another sight. " [*] The name of the race Ama-hagger would seem to indicate a curious mingling of races such as might easily have occurred in the neighbourhood of the Zambesi. The prefix "Ama" is common to the Zulu and kindred races, and signifies "people, " while "hagger" is an Arabic word meaning a stone. --Editor. Accordingly I followed her to a side passage opening out of the maincave, then down a great number of steps, and along an underground shaftwhich cannot have been less than sixty feet beneath the surface of therock, and was ventilated by curious borings that ran upward, I know notwhere. Suddenly the passage ended, and she halted and bade the muteshold up the lamps, and, as she had prophesied, I saw a scene such asI was not likely to see again. We were standing in an enormous pit, orrather on the brink of it, for it went down deeper--I do not know howmuch--than the level on which we stood, and was edged in with a low wallof rock. So far as I could judge, this pit was about the size of thespace beneath the dome of St. Paul's in London, and when the lamps wereheld up I saw that it was nothing but one vast charnel-house, beingliterally full of thousands of human skeletons, which lay piled up in anenormous gleaming pyramid, formed by the slipping down of the bodiesat the apex as fresh ones were dropped in from above. Anything moreappalling than this jumbled mass of the remains of a departed race Icannot imagine, and what made it even more dreadful was that in thisdry air a considerable number of the bodies had simply become desiccatedwith the skin still on them, and now, fixed in every conceivableposition, stared at us out of the mountain of white bones, grotesquelyhorrible caricatures of humanity. In my astonishment I uttered anejaculation, and the echoes of my voice, ringing in the vaulted space, disturbed a skull that had been accurately balanced for many thousandsof years near the apex of the pile. Down it came with a run, boundingalong merrily towards us, and of course bringing an avalanche of otherbones after it, till at last the whole pit rattled with their movement, even as though the skeletons were getting up to greet us. "Come, " I said, "I have seen enough. These are the bodies of those whodied of the great sickness, is it not so?" I added, as we turned away. "Yea. The people of Kôr ever embalmed their dead, as did the Egyptians, but their art was greater than the art of the Egyptians, for, whereasthe Egyptians disembowelled and drew the brain, the people of Kôrinjected fluid into the veins, and thus reached every part. But stay, thou shalt see, " and she halted at haphazard at one of the littledoorways opening out of the passage along which we were walking, andmotioned to the mutes to light us in. We entered into a small chambersimilar to the one in which I had slept at our first stopping-place, only instead of one there were two stone benches or beds in it. On thebenches lay figures covered with yellow linen, [*] on which a fine andimpalpable dust had gathered in the course of ages, but nothing like tothe extent that one would have anticipated, for in these deep-hewn cavesthere is no material to turn to dust. About the bodies on the stoneshelves and floor of the tomb were many painted vases, but I saw veryfew ornaments or weapons in any of the vaults. [*] All the linen that the Amahagger wore was taken from the tombs, which accounted for its yellow hue. It was well washed, however, and properly rebleached, it acquired its former snowy whiteness, and was the softest and best linen I ever saw. --L. H. H. "Uplift the cloths, oh Holly, " said Ayesha, but when I put out my handto do so I drew it back again. It seemed like sacrilege, and, to speakthe truth, I was awed by the dread solemnity of the place, and of thepresences before us. Then, with a little laugh at my fears, she drewthem herself, only to discover other and yet finer cloths lying over theforms upon the stone bench. These also she withdrew, and then for thefirst for thousands upon thousands of years did living eyes look uponthe face of that chilly dead. It was a woman; she might have beenthirty-five years of age, or perhaps a little less, and had certainlybeen beautiful. Even now her calm clear-cut features, marked out withdelicate eyebrows and long eyelashes which threw little lines of theshadow of the lamplight upon the ivory face, were wonderfully beautiful. There, robed in white, down which her blue-black hair was streaming, sheslept her last long sleep, and on her arm, its face pressed against herbreast, there lay a little babe. So sweet was the sight, although soawful, that--I confess it without shame--I could scarcely withhold mytears. It took me back across the dim gulf of ages to some happy home indead Imperial Kôr, where this winsome lady girt about with beauty hadlived and died, and dying taken her last-born with her to the tomb. There they were before us, mother and babe, the white memories of aforgotten human history speaking more eloquently to the heart thancould any written record of their lives. Reverently I replaced thegrave-cloths, and, with a sigh that flowers so fair should, in thepurpose of the Everlasting, have only bloomed to be gathered to thegrave, I turned to the body on the opposite shelf, and gently unveiledit. It was that of a man in advanced life, with a long grizzled beard, and also robed in white, probably the husband of the lady, who, aftersurviving her many years, came at the last to sleep once more for goodand all beside her. We left the place and entered others. It would be too long to describethe many things I saw in them. Each one had its occupants, for the fivehundred and odd years that had elapsed between the completion of thecave and the destruction of the race had evidently sufficed to fillthese catacombs, numberless as they were, and all appeared to have beenundisturbed since the day when they were placed there. I could fill abook with the description of them, but to do so would only be to repeatwhat I have said, with variations. Nearly all the bodies, so masterfully was the art with which they hadbeen treated, were as perfect as on the day of death thousands of yearsbefore. Nothing came to injure them in the deep silence of the livingrock: they were beyond the reach of heat and cold and damp, and thearomatic drugs with which they had been saturated were evidentlypractically everlasting in their effect. Here and there, however, we sawan exception, and in these cases, although the flesh looked sound enoughexternally, if one touched it it fell in, and revealed the fact that thefigure was but a pile of dust. This arose, Ayesha told me, from theseparticular bodies having, either owing to haste in the burial orother causes, been soaked in the preservative, [*] instead of its beinginjected into the substance of the flesh. [*] Ayesha afterwards showed me the tree from the leaves of which this ancient preservative was manufactured. It is a low bush-like tree, that to this day grows in wonderful plenty upon the sides of the mountains, or rather upon the slopes leading up to the rocky walls. The leaves are long and narrow, a vivid green in colour, but turning a bright red in the autumn, and not unlike those of a laurel in general appearance. They have little smell when green, but if boiled the aromatic odour from them is so strong that one can hardly bear it. The best mixture, however, was made from the roots, and among the people of Kôr there was a law, which Ayesha showed me alluded to on some of the inscriptions, to the effect that on pain of heavy penalties no one under a certain rank was to be embalmed with the drugs prepared from the roots. The object and effect of this was, of course, to preserve the trees from extermination. The sale of the leaves and roots was a Government monopoly, and from it the Kings of Kôr derived a large proportion of their private revenue. --L. H. H. About the last tomb we visited I must, however, say one word, for itscontents spoke even more eloquently to the human sympathies than thoseof the first. It had but two occupants, and they lay together on asingle shelf. I withdrew the grave-cloths and there, clasped heart toheart, were a young man and a blooming girl. Her head rested on his arm, and his lips were pressed against her brow. I opened the man's linenrobe, and there over his heart was a dagger-wound, and beneath thewoman's fair breast was a like cruel stab, through which her life hadebbed away. On the rock above was an inscription in three words. Ayeshatranslated it. It was "_Wedded in Death_. " What was the life-story of these two, who, of a truth, were beautiful intheir lives, and in their death were not divided? I closed my eyelids, and imagination, taking up the thread of thought, shot its swift shuttle back across the ages, weaving a picture on theirblackness so real and vivid in its details that I could almost for amoment think that I had triumphed o'er the Past, and that my spirit'seyes had pierced the mystery of Time. I seemed to see this fair girl form--the yellow hair streaming downher, glittering against her garments snowy white, and the bosom thatwas whiter than the robes, even dimming with its lustre her ornamentsof burnished gold. I seemed to see the great cave filled with warriors, bearded and clad in mail, and, on the lighted daïs where Ayesha hadgiven judgment, a man standing, robed, and surrounded by the symbols ofhis priestly office. And up the cave there came one clad in purple, andbefore him and behind him came minstrels and fair maidens, chanting awedding song. White stood the maid against the altar, fairer thanthe fairest there--purer than a lily, and more cold than the dew thatglistens in its heart. But as the man drew near she shuddered. Then outof the press and throng there sprang a dark-haired youth, and put hisarms about this long-forgotten maid, and kissed her pale face in whichthe blood shot up like lights of the red dawn across the silent sky. Andnext there was turmoil and uproar, and a flashing of swords, and theytore the youth from her arms, and stabbed him, but with a cry shesnatched the dagger from his belt, and drove it into her snowy breast, home to the heart, and down she fell, and then, with cries and wailing, and every sound of lamentation, the pageant rolled away from the arenaof my vision, and once more the past shut to its book. Let him who reads forgive the intrusion of a dream into a history offact. But it came so home to me--I saw it all so clear in a moment, as it were; and, besides, who shall say what proportion of fact, past, present, or to come, may lie in the imagination? What is imagination?Perhaps it is the shadow of the intangible truth, perhaps it is thesoul's thought. In an instant the whole thing had passed through my brain, and _She_ wasaddressing me. "Behold the lot of man, " said the veiled Ayesha, as she drew the windingsheets back over the dead lovers, speaking in a solemn, thrilling voice, which accorded well with the dream that I had dreamed: "to the tomb, andto the forgetfulness that hides the tomb, must we all come at last! Ay, even I who live so long. Even for me, oh Holly, thousands upon thousandsof years hence; thousands of years after you hast gone through the gateand been lost in the mists, a day will dawn whereon I shall die, and beeven as thou art and these are. And then what will it avail that I havelived a little longer, holding off death by the knowledge that I havewrung from Nature, since at last I too must die? What is a span of tenthousand years, or ten times ten thousand years, in the history of time?It is as naught--it is as the mists that roll up in the sunlight; itfleeth away like an hour of sleep or a breath of the Eternal Spirit. Behold the lot of man! Certainly it shall overtake us, and we shallsleep. Certainly, too, we shall awake and live again, and again shallsleep, and so on and on, through periods, spaces, and times, from æonunto æon, till the world is dead, and the worlds beyond the world aredead, and naught liveth but the Spirit that is Life. But for us twainand for these dead ones shall the end of ends be Life, or shall it beDeath? As yet Death is but Life's Night, but out of the night is theMorrow born again, and doth again beget the Night. Only when Day andNight, and Life and Death, are ended and swallowed up in that from whichthey came, what shall be our fate, oh Holly? Who can see so far? Noteven I!" And then, with a sudden change of tone and manner-- "Hast thou seen enough, my stranger guest, or shall I show thee more ofthe wonders of these tombs that are my palace halls? If thou wilt, I canlead thee to where Tisno, the mightiest and most valorous King of Kôr, in whose day these caves were ended, lies in a pomp that seems to mockat nothingness, and bid the empty shadows of the past do homage to hissculptured vanity!" "I have seen enough, oh Queen, " I answered. "My heart is overwhelmedby the power of the present Death. Mortality is weak, and easily brokendown by a sense of the companionship that waits upon its end. Take mehence, oh Ayesha!" XVII THE BALANCE TURNS In a few minutes, following the lamps of the mutes, which, held outfrom the body as a bearer holds water in a vessel, had the appearance offloating down the darkness by themselves, we came to a stair which ledus to _She's_ ante-room, the same that Billali had crept up upon on allfours on the previous day. Here I would have bid the Queen adieu, butshe would not. "Nay, " she said, "enter with me, oh Holly, for of a truth thyconversation pleaseth me. Think, oh Holly: for two thousand years have Ihad none to converse with save slaves and my own thoughts, and thoughof all this thinking hath much wisdom come, and many secrets been madeplain, yet am I weary of my thoughts, and have come to loathe mine ownsociety, for surely the food that memory gives to eat is bitter to thetaste, and it is only with the teeth of hope that we can bear to biteit. Now, though thy thoughts are green and tender, as becometh one soyoung, yet are they those of a thinking brain, and in truth thou dostbring back to my mind certain of those old philosophers with whom indays bygone I have disputed at Athens, and at Becca in Arabia, for thouhast the same crabbed air and dusty look, as though thou hadst passedthy days in reading ill-writ Greek, and been stained dark with the grimeof manuscripts. So draw the curtain, and sit here by my side, and wewill eat fruit, and talk of pleasant things. See, I will again unveilto thee. Thou hast brought it on thyself, oh Holly; fairly have I warnedthee--and thou shalt call me beautiful as even those old philosopherswere wont to do. Fie upon them, forgetting their philosophy!" And without more ado she stood up and shook the white wrappings fromher, and came forth shining and splendid like some glittering snake whenshe has cast her slough; ay, and fixed her wonderful eyes upon me--moredeadly than any Basilisk's--and pierced me through and through withtheir beauty, and sent her light laugh ringing through the air likechimes of silver bells. A new mood was on her, and the very colour of her mind seemed to changebeneath it. It was no longer torture-torn and hateful, as I had seenit when she was cursing her dead rival by the leaping flames, no longericily terrible as in the judgment-hall, no longer rich, and sombre, andsplendid, like a Tyrian cloth, as in the dwellings of the dead. No, hermood now was that of Aphrodité triumphing. Life--radiant, ecstatic, wonderful--seemed to flow from her and around her. Softly she laughedand sighed, and swift her glances flew. She shook her heavy tresses, and their perfume filled the place; she struck her little sandalled footupon the floor, and hummed a snatch of some old Greek epithalamium. Allthe majesty was gone, or did but lurk and faintly flicker through herlaughing eyes, like lightning seen through sunlight. She had cast offthe terror of the leaping flame, the cold power of judgment that waseven now being done, and the wise sadness of the tombs--cast them offand put them behind her, like the white shroud she wore, and now stoodout the incarnation of lovely tempting womanhood, made more perfect--andin a way more spiritual--than ever woman was before. "So, my Holly, sit there where thou canst see me. It is by thine ownwish, remember--again I say, blame me not if thou dost wear away thylittle span with such a sick pain at the heart that thou wouldst fainhave died before ever thy curious eyes were set upon me. There, sit so, and tell me, for in truth I am inclined for praises--tell me, am I notbeautiful? Nay, speak not so hastily; consider well the point; take mefeature by feature, forgetting not my form, and my hands and feet, andmy hair, and the whiteness of my skin, and then tell me truly, hastthou ever known a woman who in aught, ay, in one little portion ofher beauty, in the curve of an eyelash even, or the modelling of ashell-like ear, is justified to hold a light before my loveliness? Now, my waist! Perchance thou thinkest it too large, but of a truth it is notso; it is this golden snake that is too large, and doth not bind it asit should. It is a wide snake, and knoweth that it is ill to tie inthe waist. But see, give me thy hands--so--now press them round me, andthere, with but a little force, thy fingers touch, oh Holly. " I could bear it no longer. I am but a man, and she was more than awoman. Heaven knows what she was--I do not! But then and there Ifell upon my knees before her, and told her in a sad mixture oflanguages--for such moments confuse the thoughts--that I worshipped heras never woman was worshipped, and that I would give my immortal soulto marry her, which at that time I certainly would have done, and so, indeed, would any other man, or all the race of men rolled into one. Fora moment she looked surprised, and then she began to laugh, and clap herhands in glee. "Oh, so soon, oh Holly!" she said. "I wondered how many minutes it wouldneed to bring thee to thy knees. I have not seen a man kneel beforeme for so many days, and, believe me, to a woman's heart the sight issweet, ay, wisdom and length of days take not from that dear pleasurewhich is our sex's only right. "What wouldst thou?--what wouldst thou? Thou dost not know what thoudoest. Have I not told thee that I am not for thee? I love but one, andthou art not the man. Ah Holly, for all thy wisdom--and in a way thouart wise--thou art but a fool running after folly. Thou wouldst lookinto mine eyes--thou wouldst kiss me! Well, if it pleaseth thee, _look_, " and she bent herself towards me, and fixed her dark andthrilling orbs upon my own; "ay, and _kiss_ too, if thou wilt, for, thanks be given to the scheme of things, kisses leave no marks, exceptupon the heart. But if thou dost kiss, I tell thee of a surety wilt thoueat out thy breast with love of me, and die!" and she bent yet furthertowards me till her soft hair brushed my brow, and her fragrant breathplayed upon my face, and made me faint and weak. Then of a sudden, evenas I stretched out my hands to clasp, she straightened herself, and aquick change passed over her. Reaching out her hand, she held it over myhead, and it seemed to me that something flowed from it that chilledme back to common sense, and a knowledge of propriety and the domesticvirtues. "Enough of this wanton folly, " she said with a touch of sternness. "Listen, Holly. Thou art a good and honest man, and I fain would sparethee; but, oh! it is so hard for woman to be merciful. I have said I amnot for thee, therefore let thy thoughts pass by me like an idle wind, and the dust of thy imagination sink again into the depths--well, ofdespair, if thou wilt. Thou dost not know me, Holly. Hadst thou seen mebut ten hours past when my passion seized me, thou hadst shrunk from mein fear and trembling. I am of many moods, and, like the water in thatvessel, I reflect many things; but they pass, my Holly; they pass, andare forgotten. Only the water is the water still, and I still am I, andthat which maketh the water maketh it, and that which maketh me makethme, nor can my quality be altered. Therefore, pay no heed to what Iseem, seeing that thou canst not know what I am. If thou troublest meagain I will veil myself, and thou shalt behold my face no more. " I rose, and sank on the cushioned couch beside her, yet quivering withemotion, though for a moment my mad passion had left me, as the leavesof a tree quiver still, although the gust be gone that stirred them. Idid not dare to tell her that I _had_ seen her in that deep and hellishmood, muttering incantations to the fire in the tomb. "So, " she went on, "now eat some fruit; believe me, it is the only truefood for man. Oh, tell me of the philosophy of that Hebrew Messiah, whocame after me, and who thou sayest doth now rule Rome, and Greece, andEgypt, and the barbarians beyond. It must have been a strange philosophythat He taught, for in my day the peoples would have naught of ourphilosophies. Revel and lust and drink, blood and cold steel, and theshock of men gathered in the battle--these were the canons of theircreeds. " I had recovered myself a little by now, and, feeling bitterly ashamed ofthe weakness into which I had been betrayed, I did my best to expoundto her the doctrines of Christianity, to which, however, with the singleexception of our conception of Heaven and Hell, I found that she paidbut scant attention, her interest being all directed towards the Manwho taught them. Also I told her that among her own people, the Arabs, another prophet, one Mohammed, had arisen and preached a new faith, towhich many millions of mankind now adhered. "Ah!" she said; "I see--two new religions! I have known so many, anddoubtless there have been many more since I knew aught beyond thesecaves of Kôr. Mankind asks ever of the skies to vision out whatlies behind them. It is terror for the end, and but a subtler form ofselfishness--this it is that breeds religions. Mark, my Holly, eachreligion claims the future for its followers; or, at least, the goodthereof. The evil is for those benighted ones who will have none ofit; seeing the light the true believers worship, as the fishes see thestars, but dimly. The religions come and the religions pass, and thecivilisations come and pass, and naught endures but the world and humannature. Ah! if man would but see that hope is from within and not fromwithout--that he himself must work out his own salvation! He is there, and within him is the breath of life and a knowledge of good and evil asgood and evil is to him. Thereon let him build and stand erect, and notcast himself before the image of some unknown God, modelled like hispoor self, but with a bigger brain to think the evil thing, and a longerarm to do it. " I thought to myself, which shows how old such reasoning is, being, indeed, one of the recurring qualities of theological discussion, thather argument sounded very like some that I have heard in the nineteenthcentury, and in other places than the caves of Kôr, and with which, bythe way, I totally disagree, but I did not care to try and discuss thequestion with her. To begin with, my mind was too weary with all theemotions through which I had passed, and, in the second place, I knewthat I should get the worst of it. It is weary work enough to arguewith an ordinary materialist, who hurls statistics and whole strataof geological facts at your head, whilst you can only buffet him withdeductions and instincts and the snowflakes of faith, that are, alas! soapt to melt in the hot embers of our troubles. How little chance, then, should I have against one whose brain was supernaturally sharpened, and who had two thousand years of experience, besides all manner ofknowledge of the secrets of Nature at her command! Feeling that shewould be more likely to convert me than I should to convert her, Ithought it best to leave the matter alone, and so sat silent. Many atime since then have I bitterly regretted that I did so, for thereby Ilost the only opportunity I can remember having had of ascertaining whatAyesha _really_ believed, and what her "philosophy" was. "Well, my Holly, " she continued, "and so those people of mine have founda prophet, a false prophet thou sayest, for he is not thine own, and, indeed, I doubt it not. Yet in my day was it otherwise, for then weArabs had many gods. Allât there was, and Saba, the Host of Heaven, AlUzza, and Manah the stony one, for whom the blood of victims flowed, and Wadd and Sawâ, and Yaghûth the Lion of the dwellers in Yaman, andYäûk the Horse of Morad, and Nasr the Eagle of Hamyar; ay, and manymore. Oh, the folly of it all, the shame and the pitiful folly! Yet whenI rose in wisdom and spoke thereof, surely they would have slain me inthe name of their outraged gods. Well, so hath it ever been;--but, myHolly, art thou weary of me already, that thou dost sit so silent? Ordost thou fear lest I should teach thee my philosophy?--for know I havea philosophy. What would a teacher be without her own philosophy? andif thou dost vex me overmuch beware! for I will have thee learn it, andthou shalt be my disciple, and we twain will found a faith that shallswallow up all others. Faithless man! And but half an hour since thouwast upon thy knees--the posture does not suit thee, Holly--swearingthat thou didst love me. What shall we do?--Nay, I have it. I will comeand see this youth, the Lion, as the old man Billali calls him, who camewith thee, and who is so sick. The fever must have run its course bynow, and if he is about to die I will recover him. Fear not, my Holly, Ishall use no magic. Have I not told thee that there is no such thing asmagic, though there is such a thing as understanding and applying theforces which are in Nature? Go now, and presently, when I have made thedrug ready, I will follow thee. "[*] [*] Ayesha was a great chemist, indeed chemistry appears to have been her only amusement and occupation. She had one of the caves fitted up as a laboratory, and, although her appliances were necessarily rude, the results that she attained were, as will become clear in the course of this narrative, sufficiently surprising. --L. H. H. Accordingly I went, only to find Job and Ustane in a great state ofgrief, declaring that Leo was in the throes of death, and that they hadbeen searching for me everywhere. I rushed to the couch, and glanced athim: clearly he was dying. He was senseless, and breathing heavily, buthis lips were quivering, and every now and again a little shudder randown his frame. I knew enough of doctoring to see that in another hourhe would be beyond the reach of earthly help--perhaps in another fiveminutes. How I cursed my selfishness and the folly that had kept melingering by Ayesha's side while my dear boy lay dying! Alas and alas!how easily the best of us are lighted down to evil by the gleam ofa woman's eyes! What a wicked wretch was I! Actually, for the lasthalf-hour I had scarcely thought of Leo, and this, be it remembered, of the man who for twenty years had been my dearest companion, and thechief interest of my existence. And now, perhaps, it was too late! I wrung my hands, and glanced round. Ustane was sitting by the couch, and in her eyes burnt the dull light of despair. Job was blubbering--Iam sorry I cannot name his distress by any more delicate word--audiblyin the corner. Seeing my eye fixed upon him, he went outside to give wayto his grief in the passage. Obviously the only hope lay in Ayesha. She, and she alone--unless, indeed, she was an imposter, which I couldnot believe--could save him. I would go and implore her to come. AsI started to do so, however, Job came flying into the room, his hairliterally standing on end with terror. "Oh, God help us, sir!" he ejaculated in a frightened whisper, "here's acorpse a-coming sliding down the passage!" For a moment I was puzzled, but presently, of course, it struck me thathe must have seen Ayesha, wrapped in her grave-like garment, and beendeceived by the extraordinary undulating smoothness of her walk into abelief that she was a white ghost gliding towards him. Indeed, at thatvery moment the question was settled, for Ayesha herself was in theapartment, or rather cave. Job turned, and saw her sheeted form, andthen, with a convulsive howl of "Here it comes!" sprang into a corner, and jammed his face against the wall, and Ustane, guessing whose thedread presence must be, prostrated herself upon her face. "Thou comest in a good time, Ayesha, " I said, "for my boy lies at thepoint of death. " "So, " she said softly; "provided he be not dead, it is no matter, for Ican bring him back to life, my Holly. Is that man there thy servant, and is that the method wherewith thy servants greet strangers in thycountry?" "He is frightened of thy garb--it hath a death-like air, " I answered. She laughed. "And the girl? Ah, I see now. It is she of whom thou didst speak to me. Well, bid them both to leave us, and we will see to this sick Lion ofthine. I love not that underlings should perceive my wisdom. " Thereon I told Ustane in Arabic and Job in English both to leave theroom; an order which the latter obeyed readily enough, and was glad toobey, for he could not in any way subdue his fear. But it was otherwisewith Ustane. "What does _She_ want?" she whispered, divided between her fear of theterrible Queen and her anxiety to remain near Leo. "It is surely theright of a wife to be near her husband when he dieth. Nay, I will notgo, my lord the Baboon. " "Why doth not that woman leave us, my Holly?" asked Ayesha from theother end of the cave, where she was engaged in carelessly examiningsome of the sculptures on the wall. "She is not willing to leave Leo, " I answered, not knowing what to say. Ayesha wheeled round, and, pointing to the girl Ustane, said one word, and one only, but it was quite enough, for the tone in which it was saidmeant volumes. "Go!" And then Ustane crept past her on her hands and knees, and went. "Thou seest, my Holly, " said Ayesha, with a little laugh, "it wasneedful that I should give these people a lesson in obedience. That girlwent nigh to disobeying me, but then she did not learn this morn howI treat the disobedient. Well, she has gone; and now let me see theyouth, " and she glided towards the couch on which Leo lay, with his facein the shadow and turned towards the wall. "He hath a noble shape, " she said, as she bent over him to look upon hisface. Next second her tall and willowy form was staggering back across theroom, as though she had been shot or stabbed, staggering back till atlast she struck the cavern wall, and then there burst from her lips themost awful and unearthly scream that I ever heard in all my life. "What is it, Ayesha?" I cried. "Is he dead?" She turned, and sprang towards me like a tigress. "Thou dog!" she said, in her terrible whisper, which sounded like thehiss of a snake, "why didst thou hide this from me?" And she stretchedout her arm, and I thought that she was about to slay me. "What?" I ejaculated, in the most lively terror; "what?" "Ah!" she said, "perchance thou didst not know. Learn, my Holly, learn:there lies--there lies my lost Kallikrates. Kallikrates, who has comeback to me at last, as I knew he would, as I knew he would;" and shebegan to sob and to laugh, and generally to conduct herself like anyother lady who is a little upset, murmuring "Kallikrates, Kallikrates!" "Nonsense, " thought I to myself, but I did not like to say it; and, indeed, at that moment I was thinking of Leo's life, having forgotteneverything else in that terrible anxiety. What I feared now was that heshould die while she was "carrying on. " "Unless thou art able to help him, Ayesha, " I put in, by way of areminder, "thy Kallikrates will soon be far beyond thy calling. Surelyhe dieth even now. " "True, " she said, with a start. "Oh, why did I not come before! I amunnerved--my hand trembles, even mine--and yet it is very easy. Here, thou Holly, take this phial, " and she produced a tiny jar of potteryfrom the folds of her garment, "and pour the liquid in it down histhroat. It will cure him if he be not dead. Swift, now! Swift! The mandies!" I glanced towards him; it was true enough, Leo was in hisdeath-struggle. I saw his poor face turning ashen, and heard the breathbegin to rattle in his throat. The phial was stoppered with a littlepiece of wood. I drew it with my teeth, and a drop of the fluid withinflew out upon my tongue. It had a sweet flavour, and for a second mademy head swim, and a mist gather before my eyes, but happily the effectpassed away as swiftly as it had arisen. When I reached Leo's side he was plainly expiring--his golden head wasslowly turning from side to side, and his mouth was slightly open. Icalled to Ayesha to hold his head, and this she managed to do, thoughthe woman was quivering from head to foot, like an aspen-leaf or astartled horse. Then, forcing the jaw a little more open, I poured thecontents of the phial into his mouth. Instantly a little vapour arosefrom it, as happens when one disturbs nitric acid, and this sight didnot increase my hopes, already faint enough, of the efficacy of thetreatment. One thing, however, was certain, the death throes ceased--at first Ithought because he had got beyond them, and crossed the awful river. His face turned to a livid pallor, and his heart-beats, which had beenfeeble enough before, seemed to die away altogether--only the eyelidstill twitched a little. In my doubt I looked up at Ayesha, whosehead-wrapping had slipped back in her excitement when she went reelingacross the room. She was still holding Leo's head, and, with a face aspale as his own, watching his countenance with such an expression ofagonised anxiety as I had never seen before. Clearly she did not know ifhe would live or die. Five minutes slowly passed and I saw that she wasabandoning hope; her lovely oval face seemed to fall in and grow visiblythinner beneath the pressure of a mental agony whose pencil drew blacklines about the hollows of her eyes. The coral faded even from her lips, till they were as white as Leo's face, and quivered pitifully. It wasshocking to see her: even in my own grief I felt for hers. "Is it too late?" I gasped. She hid her face in her hands, and made no answer, and I too turnedaway. But as I did so I heard a deep-drawn breath, and looking downperceived a line of colour creeping up Leo's face, then another andanother, and then, wonder of wonders, the man we had thought dead turnedover on his side. "Thou seest, " I said in a whisper. "I see, " she answered hoarsely. "He is saved. I thought we were toolate--another moment--one little moment more--and he had been gone!"and she burst into an awful flood of tears, sobbing as though her heartwould break, and yet looking lovelier than ever as she did it. As lastshe ceased. "Forgive me, my Holly--forgive me for my weakness, " she said. "Thouseest after all I am a very woman. Think--now think of it! This morningdidst thou speak of the place of torment appointed by this new religionof thine. Hell or Hades thou didst call it--a place where the vitalessence lives and retains an individual memory, and where all the errorsand faults of judgment, and unsatisfied passions and the unsubstantialterrors of the mind wherewith it hath at any time had to do, come tomock and haunt and gibe and wring the heart for ever and for ever withthe vision of its own hopelessness. Thus, even thus, have I lived forfull two thousand years--for some six and sixty generations, as yereckon time--in a Hell, as thou callest it--tormented by the memory ofa crime, tortured day and night with an unfulfilled desire--withoutcompanionship, without comfort, without death, and led on only down mydreary road by the marsh lights of Hope, which, though they flickeredhere and there, and now glowed strong, and now were not, yet, as myskill told me, would one day lead unto my deliverer. "And then--think of it still, oh Holly, for never shalt thou hear suchanother tale, or see such another scene, nay, not even if I give theeten thousand years of life--and thou shalt have it in payment if thouwilt--think: at last my deliverer came--he for whom I had watched andwaited through the generations--at the appointed time he came to seekme, as I knew that he must come, for my wisdom could not err, thoughI knew not when or how. Yet see how ignorant I was! See how small myknowledge, and how faint my strength! For hours he lay there sick untodeath, and I felt it not--I who had waited for him for two thousandyears--I knew it not. And then at last I see him, and behold, my chanceis gone but by a hair's breadth even before I have it, for he is in thevery jaws of death, whence no power of mine can draw him. And if he die, surely must the Hell be lived through once more--once more must I facethe weary centuries, and wait, and wait till the time in its fulnessshall bring my Beloved back to me. And then thou gavest him themedicine, and that five minutes dragged long before I knew if he wouldlive or die, and I tell thee that all the sixty generations that aregone were not so long as that five minutes. But they passed at length, and still he showed no sign, and I knew that if the drug works not then, so far as I have had knowledge, it works not at all. Then thought I thathe was once more dead, and all the tortures of all the years gatheredthemselves into a single venomed spear, and pierced me through andthrough, because again I had lost Kallikrates! And then, when all wasdone, behold! he sighed, behold! he lived, and I knew that he wouldlive, for none die on whom the drug takes hold. Think of it now, myHolly--think of the wonder of it! He will sleep for twelve hours andthen the fever will have left him!" She stopped, and laid her hand upon his golden head, and then bent downand kissed his brow with a chastened abandonment of tenderness thatwould have been beautiful to behold had not the sight cut me to theheart--for I was jealous! XVIII "GO, WOMAN!" Then followed a silence of a minute or so, during which _She_ appeared, if one might judge from the almost angelic rapture of her face--for shelooked angelic sometimes--to be plunged into a happy ecstasy. Suddenly, however, a new thought struck her, and her expression became the veryreverse of angelic. "Almost had I forgotten, " she said, "that woman, Ustane. What is sheto Kallikrates--his servant, or----" and she paused, and her voicetrembled. I shrugged my shoulders. "I understand that she is wed to him accordingto the custom of the Amahagger, " I answered; "but I know not. " Her face grew dark as a thunder-cloud. Old as she was, Ayesha had notoutlived jealousy. "Then there is an end, " she said; "she must die, even now!" "For what crime?" I asked, horrified. "She is guilty of naught that thouart not guilty of thyself, oh Ayesha. She loves the man, and he has beenpleased to accept her love: where, then, is her sin?" "Truly, oh Holly, thou art foolish, " she answered, almost petulantly. "Where is her sin? Her sin is that she stands between me and my desire. Well, I know that I can take him from her--for dwells there a man uponthis earth, oh Holly, who could resist me if I put out my strength?Men are faithful for so long only as temptations pass them by. If thetemptation be but strong enough, then will the man yield, for every man, like every rope, hath his breaking strain, and passion is to men whatgold and power are to women--the weight upon their weakness. Believe me, ill will it go with mortal woman in that heaven of which thou speakest, if only the spirits be more fair, for their lords will never turn tolook upon them, and their Heaven will become their Hell. For man can bebought with woman's beauty, if it be but beautiful enough; and woman'sbeauty can be ever bought with gold, if only there be gold enough. Sowas it in my day, and so it will be to the end of time. The world is agreat mart, my Holly, where all things are for sale to whom who bids thehighest in the currency of our desires. " These remarks, which were as cynical as might have been expected froma woman of Ayesha's age and experience, jarred upon me, and I answered, testily, that in our heaven there was no marriage or giving in marriage. "Else would it not be heaven, dost thou mean?" she put in. "Fie on thee, Holly, to think so ill of us poor women! Is it, then, marriage thatmarks the line between thy heaven and thy hell? but enough of this. Thisis no time for disputing and the challenge of our wits. Why dost thoualways dispute? Art thou also a philosopher of these latter days? Asfor this woman, she must die; for, though I can take her lover from her, yet, while she lived, might he think tenderly of her, and that I cannotaway with. No other woman shall dwell in my Lord's thoughts; my empireshall be all my own. She hath had her day, let her be content; forbetter is an hour with love than a century of loneliness--now the nightshall swallow her. " "Nay, nay, " I cried, "it would be a wicked crime; and from a crimenaught comes but what is evil. For thine own sake, do not this deed. " "Is it, then, a crime, oh foolish man, to put away that which standsbetween us and our ends? Then is our life one long crime, my Holly, since day by day we destroy that we may live, since in this world nonesave the strongest can endure. Those who are weak must perish; the earthis to the strong, and the fruits thereof. For every tree that grows ascore shall wither, that the strong one may take their share. We run toplace and power over the dead bodies of those who fail and fall; ay, wewin the food we eat from out of the mouths of starving babes. It isthe scheme of things. Thou sayest, too, that a crime breeds evil, buttherein thou dost lack experience; for out of crimes come many goodthings, and out of good grows much evil. The cruel rage of the tyrantmay prove a blessing to the thousands who come after him, and thesweetheartedness of a holy man may make a nation slaves. Man doeth this, and doeth that from the good or evil of his heart; but he knoweth notto what end his moral sense doth prompt him; for when he striketh he isblind to where the blow shall fall, nor can he count the airy threadsthat weave the web of circumstance. Good and evil, love and hate, nightand day, sweet and bitter, man and woman, heaven above and the earthbeneath--all these things are necessary, one to the other, and who knowsthe end of each? I tell thee that there is a hand of fate that twinesthem up to bear the burden of its purpose, and all things are gatheredin that great rope to which all things are needful. Therefore doth itnot become us to say this thing is evil and this good, or the dark ishateful and the light lovely; for to other eyes than ours the evil maybe the good and the darkness more beautiful than the day, or all alikebe fair. Hearest thou, my Holly?" I felt it was hopeless to argue against casuistry of this nature, which, if it were carried to its logical conclusion, would absolutely destroyall morality, as we understand it. But her talk gave me a fresh thrillof fear; for what may not be possible to a being who, unconstrained byhuman law, is also absolutely unshackled by a moral sense of right andwrong, which, however partial and conventional it may be, is yetbased, as our conscience tells us, upon the great wall of individualresponsibility that marks off mankind from the beasts? But I was deeply anxious to save Ustane, whom I liked and respected, from the dire fate that overshadowed her at the hands of her mightyrival. So I made one more appeal. "Ayesha, " I said, "thou art too subtle for me; but thou thyself hasttold me that each man should be a law unto himself, and follow theteaching of his heart. Hath thy heart no mercy towards her whose placethou wouldst take? Bethink thee--as thou sayest--though to me the thingis incredible--he whom thou desirest has returned to thee after manyages, and but now thou hast, as thou sayest also, wrung him from thejaws of death. Wilt thou celebrate his coming by the murder of one wholoved him, and whom perchance he loved--one, at the least, who savedhis life for thee when the spears of thy slaves would have made an endthereof? Thou sayest also that in past days thou didst grievously wrongthis man, that with thine own hand thou didst slay him because of theEgyptian Amenartas whom he loved. " "How knowest thou that, oh stranger? How knowest thou that name? I spokeit not to thee, " she broke in with a cry, catching at my arm. "Perchance I dreamed it, " I answered; "strange dreams do hover aboutthese caves of Kôr. It seems that the dream was, indeed, a shadow ofthe truth. What came to thee of thy mad crime?--two thousand years ofwaiting, was it not? And now wouldst thou repeat the history? Say whatthou wilt, I tell thee that evil will come of it; for to him who doeth, at the least, good breeds good and evil evil, even though in after daysout of evil cometh good. Offences must needs come; but woe to him bywhom the offence cometh. So said that Messiah of whom I spoke to thee, and it was truly said. If thou slayest this innocent woman, I say untothee that thou shalt be accursed, and pluck no fruit from thine ancienttree of love. Also, what thinkest thou? How will this man take theered-handed from the slaughter of her who loved and tended him?" "As to that, " she answered, "I have already answered thee. Had I slainthee as well as her, yet should he love me, Holly, because he could notsave himself from therefrom any more than thou couldst save thyself fromdying, if by chance I slew thee, oh Holly. And yet maybe there is truthin what thou dost say; for in some way it presseth on my mind. If itmay be, I will spare this woman; for have I not told thee that I am notcruel for the sake of cruelty? I love not to see suffering, or to causeit. Let her come before me--quick now, before my mood changes, " and shehastily covered her face with its gauzy wrapping. Well pleased to have succeeded even to this extent, I passed out intothe passage and called to Ustane, whose white garment I caught sight ofsome yards away, huddled up against one of the earthenware lamps thatwere placed at intervals along the tunnel. She rose, and ran towards me. "Is my lord dead? Oh, say not he is dead, " she cried, lifting hernoble-looking face, all stained as it was with tears, up to me with anair of infinite beseeching that went straight to my heart. "Nay, he lives, " I answered. "_She_ hath saved him. Enter. " She sighed deeply, entered, and fell upon her hands and knees, after thecustom of the Amahagger people, in the presence of the dread _She_. "Stand, " said Ayesha, in her coldest voice, "and come hither. " Ustane obeyed, standing before her with bowed head. Then came a pause, which Ayesha broke. "Who is this man?" she said, pointing to the sleeping form of Leo. "The man is my husband, " she answered in a low voice. "Who gave him to thee for a husband?" "I took him according to the custom of our country, oh _She_. " "Thou hast done evil, woman, in taking this man, who is a stranger. Heis not a man of thine own race, and the custom fails. Listen: perchancethou didst this thing through ignorance, therefore, woman, do I sparethee, otherwise hadst thou died. Listen again. Go from hence back tothine own place, and never dare to speak to or set thine eyes upon thisman again. He is not for thee. Listen a third time. If thou breakestthis my law, that moment thou diest. Go. " But Ustane did not move. "Go, woman!" Then she looked up, and I saw that her face was torn with passion. "Nay, oh _She_. I will not go, " she answered in a choked voice: "theman is my husband, and I love him--I love him, and I will not leave him. What right hast thou to command me to leave my husband?" I saw a little quiver pass down Ayesha's frame, and shuddered myself, fearing the worst. "Be pitiful, " I said in Latin; "it is but Nature working. " "I am pitiful, " she answered coldly in the same language; "had I notbeen pitiful she had been dead even now. " Then, addressing Ustane:"Woman, I say to thee, go before I destroy thee where thou art!" "I will not go! He is mine--mine!" she cried in anguish. "I took him, and I saved his life! Destroy me, then, if thou hast the power! I willnot give thee my husband--never--never!" Ayesha made a movement so swift that I could scarcely follow it, but itseemed to me that she lightly struck the poor girl upon the head withher hand. I looked at Ustane, and then staggered back in horror, forthere upon her hair, right across her bronze-like tresses, were threefinger-marks _white as snow_. As for the girl herself, she had put herhands to her head, and was looking dazed. "Great heavens!" I said, perfectly aghast at this dreadful manifestationof human power; but _She_ did but laugh a little. "Thou thinkest, poor ignorant fool, " she said to the bewildered woman, "that I have not the power to slay. Stay, there lies a mirror, " and shepointed to Leo's round shaving-glass that had been arranged by Job withother things upon his portmanteau; "give it to this woman, my Holly, andlet her see that which lies across her hair, and whether or no I havepower to slay. " I picked up the glass, and held it before Ustane's eyes. She gazed, thenfelt at her hair, then gazed again, and then sank upon the ground with asort of sob. "Now, wilt thou go, or must I strike a second time?" asked Ayesha, inmockery. "Look, I have set my seal upon thee so that I may know theetill thy hair is all as white as it. If I see thy face again, be sure, too, that thy bones shall soon be whiter than my mark upon thy hair. " Utterly awed and broken down, the poor creature rose, and, marked withthat awful mark, crept from the room, sobbing bitterly. "Look not so frighted, my Holly, " said Ayesha, when she had gone. "Itell thee I deal not in magic--there is no such thing. 'Tis only a forcethat thou dost not understand. I marked her to strike terror to herheart, else must I have slain her. And now I will bid my servants tobear my Lord Kallikrates to a chamber near mine own, that I may watchover him, and be ready to greet him when he wakes; and thither, too, shalt thou come, my Holly, and the white man, thy servant. But one thingremember at thy peril. Naught shalt thou say to Kallikrates as to howthis woman went, and as little as may be of me. Now, I have warnedthee!" and she slid away to give her orders, leaving me more absolutelyconfounded than ever. Indeed, so bewildered was I, and racked and tornwith such a succession of various emotions, that I began to think thatI must be going mad. However, perhaps fortunately, I had but little timeto reflect, for presently the mutes arrived to carry the sleeping Leoand our possessions across the central cave, so for a while all wasbustle. Our new rooms were situated immediately behind what we used tocall Ayesha's boudoir--the curtained space where I had first seen her. Where she herself slept I did not then know, but it was somewhere quiteclose. That night I passed in Leo's room, but he slept through it like thedead, never once stirring. I also slept fairly well, as, indeed, Ineeded to do, but my sleep was full of dreams of all the horrorsand wonders I had undergone. Chiefly, however, I was haunted by thatfrightful piece of _diablerie_ by which Ayesha left her finger-marksupon her rival's hair. There was something so terrible about her swift, snake-like movement, and the instantaneous blanching of that threefoldline, that, if the results to Ustane had been much more tremendous, Idoubt if they would have impressed me so deeply. To this day I oftendream of that awful scene, and see the weeping woman, bereaved, andmarked like Cain, cast a last look at her lover, and creep from thepresence of her dread Queen. Another dream that troubled me originated in the huge pyramid of bones. I dreamed that they all stood up and marched past me in thousandsand tens of thousands--in squadrons, companies, and armies--with thesunlight shining through their hollow ribs. On they rushed across theplain to Kôr, their imperial home; I saw the drawbridges fall beforethem, and heard their bones clank through the brazen gates. On theywent, up the splendid streets, on past fountains, palaces, and templessuch as the eye of man never saw. But there was no man to greet them inthe market-place, and no woman's face appeared at the windows--onlya bodiless voice went before them, calling: "_Fallen is ImperialKôr!--fallen!--fallen! fallen!_" On, right through the city, marchedthose gleaming phalanxes, and the rattle of their bony tread echoedthrough the silent air as they pressed grimly on. They passed throughthe city and clomb the wall, and marched along the great roadway thatwas made upon the wall, till at length they once more reached thedrawbridge. Then, as the sun was sinking, they returned again towardstheir sepulchre, and luridly his light shone in the sockets of theirempty eyes, throwing gigantic shadows of their bones, that stretchedaway, and crept and crept like huge spiders' legs as their armies woundacross the plain. Then they came to the cave, and once more one by oneflung themselves in unending files through the hole into the pit ofbones, and I awoke, shuddering, to see _She_, who had evidently beenstanding between my couch and Leo's, glide like a shadow from the room. After this I slept again, soundly this time, till morning, when Iawoke much refreshed, and got up. At last the hour drew near at which, according to Ayesha, Leo was to awake, and with it came _She_ herself, as usual, veiled. "Thou shalt see, oh Holly, " she said; "presently shall he awake in hisright mind, the fever having left him. " Hardly were the words out of her mouth, when Leo turned round andstretched out his arms, yawned, opened his eyes, and, perceiving afemale form bending over him, threw his arms round her and kissed her, mistaking her, perhaps, for Ustane. At any rate, he said, in Arabic, "Hullo, Ustane, why have you tied your head up like that? Have you gotthe toothache?" and then, in English, "I say, I'm awfully hungry. Why, Job, you old son of a gun, where the deuce have we got to now--eh?" "I am sure I wish I knew, Mr. Leo, " said Job, edging suspiciously pastAyesha, whom he still regarded with the utmost disgust and horror, beingby no means sure that she was not an animated corpse; "but you mustn'ttalk, Mr. Leo, you've been very ill, and given us a great deal ofhanxiety, and, if this lady, " looking at Ayesha, "would be so kind as tomove, I'll bring you your soup. " This turned Leo's attention to the "lady, " who was standing by inperfect silence. "Hullo!" he said; "that is not Ustane--where isUstane?" Then, for the first time, Ayesha spoke to him, and her first words werea lie. "She has gone from hence upon a visit, " she said; "and, behold, in her place am I here as thine handmaiden. " Ayesha's silver notes seemed to puzzle Leo's half-awakened intellect, as also did her corpse-like wrappings. However, he said nothing at thetime, but drank off his soup greedily enough, and then turned over andslept again till the evening. When he woke for the second time he sawme, and began to question me as to what had happened, but I had toput him off as best I could till the morrow, when he awoke almostmiraculously better. Then I told him something of his illness and of mydoings, but as Ayesha was present I could not tell him much except thatshe was the Queen of the country, and well disposed towards us, andthat it was her pleasure to go veiled; for, though of course I spoke inEnglish, I was afraid that she might understand what we were saying fromthe expression of our faces, and besides, I remembered her warning. On the following day Leo got up almost entirely recovered. The fleshwound in his side was healed, and his constitution, naturally a vigorousone, had shaken off the exhaustion consequent on his terrible fever witha rapidity that I can only attribute to the effects of the wonderfuldrug which Ayesha had given to him, and also to the fact that hisillness had been too short to reduce him very much. With his returninghealth came back full recollection of all his adventures up to the timewhen he had lost consciousness in the marsh, and of course of Ustanealso, to whom I had discovered he had grown considerably attached. Indeed, he overwhelmed me with questions about the poor girl, which Idid not dare to answer, for after Leo's first awakening _She_ had sentfor me, and again warned me solemnly that I was to reveal nothing of thestory to him, delicately hinting that if I did it would be the worse forme. She also, for the second time, cautioned me not to tell Leo anythingmore than I was obliged about herself, saying that she would revealherself to him in her own time. Indeed, her whole manner changed. After all that I had seen I hadexpected that she would take the earliest opportunity of claiming theman she believed to be her old-world lover, but this, for some reason ofher own, which was at the time quite inscrutable to me, she did not do. All that she did was to attend to his wants quietly, and with a humilitywhich was in striking contrast with her former imperious bearing, addressing him always in a tone of something very like respect, andkeeping him with her as much as possible. Of course his curiosity was asmuch excited about this mysterious woman as my own had been, and he wasparticularly anxious to see her face, which I had, without enteringinto particulars, told him was as lovely as her form and voice. Thisin itself was enough to raise the expectations of any young man to adangerous pitch, and, had it not been that he had not as yet completelyshaken off the effects of illness, and was much troubled in his mindabout Ustane, of whose affection and brave devotion he spoke in touchingterms, I have no doubt that he would have entered into her plans, andfallen in love with her by anticipation. As it was, however, he wassimply wildly curious, and also, like myself, considerably awed, for, though no hint had been given to him by Ayesha of her extraordinary age, he not unnaturally came to identify her with the woman spoken of onthe potsherd. At last, quite driven into a corner by his continualquestions, which he showered on me while he was dressing on this thirdmorning, I referred him to Ayesha, saying, with perfect truth, that Idid not know where Ustane was. Accordingly, after Leo had eaten a heartybreakfast, we adjourned into _She's_ presence, for her mutes had ordersto admit us at all hours. She was, as usual, seated in what, for want of a better term, we calledher boudoir, and on the curtains being drawn she rose from her couchand, stretching out both hands, came forward to greet us, or ratherLeo; for I, as may be imagined, was now quite left in the cold. It wasa pretty sight to see her veiled form gliding towards the sturdy youngEnglishman, dressed in his grey flannel suit; for, though he is half aGreek in blood, Leo is, with the exception of his hair, one of the mostEnglish-looking men I ever saw. He has nothing of the subtle form orslippery manner of the modern Greek about him, though I presume thathe got his remarkable personal beauty from his foreign mother, whoseportrait he resembles not a little. He is very tall and big-chested, andyet not awkward, as so many big men are, and his head is set upon him insuch a fashion as to give him a proud and vigorous air, which was welltranslated in his Amahagger name of the "Lion. " "Greeting to thee, my young stranger lord, " she said in her softestvoice. "Right glad am I to see thee upon thy feet. Believe me, had I notsaved thee at the last, never wouldst thou have stood upon those feetagain. But the danger is done, and it shall be my care"--and she flung aworld of meaning into the words--"that it doth return no more. " Leo bowed to her, and then, in his best Arabic, thanked her for all herkindness and courtesy in caring for one unknown to her. "Nay, " she answered softly, "ill could the world spare such a man. Beauty is too rare upon it. Give me no thanks, who am made happy by thycoming. " "Humph! old fellow, " said Leo aside to me in English, "the lady is verycivil. We seem to have tumbled into clover. I hope that you have madethe most of your opportunities. By Jove! what a pair of arms she hasgot!" I nudged him in the ribs to make him keep quiet, for I caught sight of agleam from Ayesha's veiled eyes, which were regarding me curiously. "I trust, " went on Ayesha, "that my servants have attended well uponthee; if there can be comfort in this poor place, be sure it waits onthee. Is there aught that I can do for thee more?" "Yes, oh _She_, " answered Leo hastily, "I would fain know whither theyoung lady who was looking after me has gone to. " "Ah, " said Ayesha: "the girl--yes, I saw her. Nay, I know not; shesaid that she would go, I know not whither. Perchance she will return, perchance not. It is wearisome waiting on the sick, and these savagewomen are fickle. " Leo looked both sulky and distressed at this intelligence. "It's very odd, " he said to me in English; and then, addressing _She_, "I cannot understand, " he said; "the young lady and I--well--in short, we had a regard for each other. " Ayesha laughed a little very musically, and then turned the subject. XIX "GIVE ME A BLACK GOAT!" The conversation after this was of such a desultory order that I do notquite recollect it. For some reason, perhaps from a desire to keep heridentity and character in reserve, Ayesha did not talk freely, as sheusually did. Presently, however, she informed Leo that she had arrangeda dance that night for our amusement. I was astonished to hear this, asI fancied that the Amahagger were much too gloomy a folk to indulgein any such frivolity; but, as will presently more clearly appear, it turned out that an Amahagger dance has little in common with suchfantastic festivities in other countries, savage or civilised. Then, aswe were about to withdraw, she suggested that Leo might like to seesome of the wonders of the caves, and as he gladly assented thither wedeparted, accompanied by Job and Billali. To describe our visit wouldonly be to repeat a great deal of what I have already said. The tombswe entered were indeed different, for the whole rock was a honeycomb ofsepulchres, [*] but the contents were nearly always similar. Afterwardswe visited the pyramid of bones that had haunted my dreams on theprevious night, and from thence went down a long passage to one of thegreat vaults occupied by the bodies of the poorer citizens of ImperialKôr. These bodies were not nearly so well preserved as were those ofthe wealthier classes. Many of them had no linen covering on them, alsothey were buried from five hundred to one thousand in a single largevault, the corpses in some instances being thickly piled one uponanother, like a heap of slain. [*] For a long while it puzzled me to know what could have been done with the enormous quantities of rock that must have been dug out of these vast caves; but I afterwards discovered that it was for the most part built into the walls and palaces of Kôr, and also used to line the reservoirs and sewers. --L. H. H. Leo was of course intensely interested in this stupendous and unequalledsight, which was, indeed, enough to awake all the imagination a manhad in him into the most active life. But to poor Job it did notprove attractive. His nerves--already seriously shaken by what he hadundergone since we had arrived in this terrible country--were, as maybe imagined, still further disturbed by the spectacle of these masses ofdeparted humanity, whereof the forms still remained perfect before hiseyes, though their voices were for ever lost in the eternal silence ofthe tomb. Nor was he comforted when old Billali, by way of soothinghis evident agitation, informed him that he should not be frightened ofthese dead things, as he would soon be like them himself. "There's a nice thing to say of a man, sir, " he ejaculated, when Itranslated this little remark; "but there, what can one expect of an oldman-eating savage? Not but what I dare say he's right, " and Job sighed. When we had finished inspecting the caves, we returned and had ourmeal, for it was now past four in the afternoon, and we all--especiallyLeo--needed some food and rest. At six o'clock we, together with Job, waited on Ayesha, who set to work to terrify our poor servant stillfurther by showing him pictures on the pool of water in the font-likevessel. She learnt from me that he was one of seventeen children, andthen bid him think of all his brothers and sisters, or as many of themas he could, gathered together in his father's cottage. Then she toldhim to look in the water, and there, reflected from its stilly surface, was that dead scene of many years gone by, as it was recalled to ourretainer's brain. Some of the faces were clear enough, but some weremere blurs and splotches, or with one feature grossly exaggerated; thefact being that, in these instances, Job had been unable to recallthe exact appearances of the individuals, or remembered them only by apeculiarity of his tribe, and the water could only reflect what he sawwith his mind's eye. For it must be remembered that _She's_ power inthis matter was strictly limited; she could apparently, except in veryrare instances, only photograph upon the water what was actually in themind of some one present, and then only by his will. But, if she waspersonally acquainted with a locality, she could, as in the case ofourselves and the whale-boat, throw its reflection upon the water, andalso, it seems, the reflection of anything extraneous that was passingthere at the time. This power, however, did not extend to the mindsof others. For instance, she could show me the interior of my collegechapel, as I remembered it, but not as it was at the moment ofreflection; for, where other people were concerned, her art was strictlylimited to the facts or memories present to _their_ consciousness at themoment. So much was this so that when we tried, for her amusement, toshow her pictures of noted buildings, such as St. Paul's or the Housesof Parliament, the result was most imperfect; for, of course, though wehad a good general idea of their appearance, we could not recall all thearchitectural details, and therefore the minutiæ necessary to a perfectreflection were wanting. But Job could not be got to understand this, and, so far from accepting a natural explanation of the matter, whichwas after all, though strange enough in all conscience, nothing morethan an instance of glorified and perfected telepathy, he set the wholething down as a manifestation of the blackest magic. I shall neverforget the howl of terror which he uttered when he saw the more or lessperfect portraits of his long-scattered brethren staring at him from thequiet water, or the merry peal of laughter with which Ayesha greeted hisconsternation. As for Leo, he did not altogether like it either, but ranhis fingers through his yellow curls, and remarked that it gave him thecreeps. After about an hour of this amusement, in the latter part of which Jobdid _not_ participate, the mutes by signs indicated that Billali waswaiting for an audience. Accordingly he was told to "crawl up, " whichhe did as awkwardly as usual, and announced that the dance was readyto begin if _She_ and the white strangers would be pleased to attend. Shortly afterwards we all rose, and, Ayesha having thrown a dark cloak(the same, by the way, that she had worn when I saw her cursing by thefire) over her white wrappings, we started. The dance was to be held inthe open air, on the smooth rocky plateau in front of the great cave, and thither we made our way. About fifteen paces from the mouth of thecave we found three chairs placed, and here we sat and waited, for asyet no dancers were to be seen. The night was almost, but not quite, dark, the moon not having risen as yet, which made us wonder how weshould be able to see the dancing. "Thou wilt presently understand, " said Ayesha, with a little laugh, whenLeo asked her; and we certainly did. Scarcely were the words out of hermouth when from every point we saw dark forms rushing up, each bearingwith him what we at first took to be an enormous flaming torch. Whateverthey were, they were burning furiously, for the flames stood out ayard or more behind each bearer. On they came, fifty or more of them, carrying their flaming burdens and looking like so many devils fromhell. Leo was the first to discover what these burdens were. "Great heaven!" he said, "they are corpses on fire!" I stared and stared again--he was perfectly right--the torches that wereto light our entertainment were human mummies from the caves! On rushed the bearers of the flaming corpses, and, meeting at a spotabout twenty paces in front of us, built their ghastly burdens crosswaysinto a huge bonfire. Heavens! how they roared and flared! No tar barrelcould have burnt as those mummies did. Nor was this all. Suddenly Isaw one great fellow seize a flaming human arm that had fallen from itsparent frame, and rush off into the darkness. Presently he stopped, anda tall streak of fire shot up into the air, illumining the gloom, andalso the lamp from which it sprang. That lamp was the mummy of a womantied to a stout stake let into the rock, and he had fired her hair. Onhe went a few paces and touched a second, then a third, and a fourth, till at last we were surrounded on all three sides by a great ring ofbodies flaring furiously, the material with which they were preservedhaving rendered them so inflammable that the flames would literallyspout out of the ears and mouth in tongues of fire a foot or more inlength. Nero illuminated his gardens with live Christians soaked in tar, andwe were now treated to a similar spectacle, probably for the first timesince his day, only happily our lamps were not living ones. But, although this element of horror was fortunately wanting, todescribe the awful and hideous grandeur of the spectacle thus presentedto us is, I feel, so absolutely beyond my poor powers that I scarcelydare attempt it. To begin with, it appealed to the moral as well as thephysical susceptibilities. There was something very terrible, and yetvery fascinating, about the employment of the remote dead to illuminethe orgies of the living; in itself the thing was a satire, both on theliving and the dead. Cæsar's dust--or is it Alexander's?--may stop abunghole, but the functions of these dead Cæsars of the past was tolight up a savage fetish dance. To such base uses may we come, of solittle account may we be in the minds of the eager multitudes that weshall breed, many of whom, so far from revering our memory, will live tocurse us for begetting them into such a world of woe. Then there was the physical side of the spectacle, and a weird andsplendid one it was. Those old citizens of Kôr burnt as, to judge fromtheir sculptures and inscriptions, they had lived, very fast, and withthe utmost liberality. What is more, there were plenty of them. As soonas ever a mummy had burnt down to the ankles, which it did in abouttwenty minutes, the feet were kicked away, and another one put in itsplace. The bonfire was kept going on the same generous scale, and itsflames shot up, with a hiss and a crackle, twenty or thirty feet intothe air, throwing great flashes of light far out into the gloom, throughwhich the dark forms of the Amahagger flitted to and fro likedevils replenishing the infernal fires. We all stood and staredaghast--shocked, and yet fascinated at so strange a spectacle, and halfexpecting to see the spirits those flaming forms had once enclosed comecreeping from the shadows to work vengeance on their desecrators. "I promised thee a strange sight, my Holly, " laughed Ayesha, whosenerves alone did not seem to be affected; "and, behold, I have notfailed thee. Also, it hath its lesson. Trust not to the future, forwho knows what the future may bring! Therefore, live for the day, andendeavour not to escape the dust which seems to be man's end. Whatthinkest thou those long-forgotten nobles and ladies would have felt hadthey known that they should one day flare to light the dance or boil thepot of savages? But see, here come the dancers; a merry crew--are theynot? The stage is lit--now for the play. " As she spoke, we perceived two lines of figures, one male and the otherfemale, to the number of about a hundred, each advancing round the humanbonfire, arrayed only in the usual leopard and buck skins. They formedup, in perfect silence, in two lines, facing each other between usand the fire, and then the dance--a sort of infernal and fiendishcancan--began. To describe it is quite impossible, but, though there wasa good deal of tossing of legs and double-shuffling, it seemed to ouruntutored minds to be more of a play than a dance, and, as usual withthis dreadful people, whose minds seem to have taken their colour fromthe caves in which they live, and whose jokes and amusements are drawnfrom the inexhaustible stores of preserved mortality with which theyshare their homes, the subject appeared to be a most ghastly one. Iknow that it represented an attempted murder first of all, and then theburial alive of the victim and his struggling from the grave; each actof the abominable drama, which was carried on in perfect silence, beingrounded off and finished with a furious and most revolting dance roundthe supposed victim, who writhed upon the ground in the red light of thebonfire. Presently, however, this pleasing piece was interrupted. Suddenly therewas a slight commotion, and a large powerful woman, whom I had noted asone of the most vigorous of the dancers, came, made mad and drunken withunholy excitement, bounding and staggering towards us, shrieking out asshe came:-- "I want a Black Goat, I must have a Black Goat, bring me a BlackGoat!" and down she fell upon the rocky floor foaming and writhing, andshrieking for a Black Goat, about as hideous a spectacle as can well beconceived. Instantly most of the dancers came up and got round her, though somestill continued their capers in the background. "She has got a Devil, " called out one of them. "Run and get a blackgoat. There, Devil, keep quiet! keep quiet! You shall have the goatpresently. They have gone to fetch it, Devil. " "I want a Black Goat, I must have a Black Goat!" shrieked the foamingrolling creature again. "All right, Devil, the goat will be here presently; keep quiet, there'sa good Devil!" And so on till the goat, taken from a neighbouring kraal, did at lastarrive, being dragged bleating on to the scene by its horns. "Is it a Black One, is it a Black One?" shrieked the possessed. "Yes, yes, Devil, as black as night;" then aside, "keep it behind thee, don't let the Devil see that it has got a white spot on its rump andanother on its belly. In one minute, Devil. There, cut his throat quick. Where is the saucer?" "The Goat! the Goat! the Goat! Give me the blood of my black goat! Imust have it, don't you see I must have it? Oh! oh! oh! give me theblood of the goat. " At this moment a terrified _bah!_ announced that the poor goat had beensacrificed, and the next minute a woman ran up with a saucer full ofblood. This the possessed creature, who was then raving and foaming herwildest, seized and _drank_, and was instantly recovered, and withouta trace of hysteria, or fits, or being possessed, or whatever dreadfulthing it was she was suffering from. She stretched her arms, smiledfaintly, and walked quietly back to the dancers, who presently withdrewin a double line as they had come, leaving the space between us and thebonfire deserted. I thought that the entertainment was now over, and, feeling ratherqueer, was about to ask _She_ if we could rise, when suddenly whatat first I took to be a baboon came hopping round the fire, and wasinstantly met upon the other side by a lion, or rather a human beingdressed in a lion's skin. Then came a goat, then a man wrapped in anox's hide, with the horns wobbling about in a ludicrous way. After himfollowed a blesbok, then an impala, then a koodoo, then more goats, andmany other animals, including a girl sewn up in the shining scaly hideof a boa-constrictor, several yards of which trailed along the groundbehind her. When all the beasts had collected they began to dance aboutin a lumbering, unnatural fashion, and to imitate the sounds producedby the respective animals they represented, till the whole air was alivewith roars and bleating and the hissing of snakes. This went on for along time, till, getting tired of the pantomime, I asked Ayesha if therewould be any objection to Leo and myself walking round to inspect thehuman torches, and, as she had nothing to say against it, we started, striking round to the left. After looking at one or two of the flamingbodies, we were about to return, thoroughly disgusted with the grotesqueweirdness of the spectacle, when our attention was attracted by one ofthe dancers, a particularly active leopard, that had separated itselffrom its fellow-beasts, and was whisking about in our immediateneighbourhood, but gradually drawing into a spot where the shadowwas darkest, equidistant between two of the flaming mummies. Drawn bycuriosity, we followed it, when suddenly it darted past us into theshadows beyond, and as it did so erected itself and whispered, "Come, "in a voice that we both recognised as that of Ustane. Without waiting toconsult me Leo turned and followed her into the outer darkness, and I, feeling sick enough at heart, went after them. The leopard crawled onfor about fifty paces--a sufficient distance to be quite beyond thelight of the fire and torches--and then Leo came up with it, or, rather, with Ustane. "Oh, my lord, " I heard her whisper, "so I have found thee! Listen. I amin peril of my life from '_She-who-must-be-obeyed_. ' Surely the Baboonhas told thee how she drove me from thee? I love thee, my lord, and thouart mine according to the custom of the country. I saved thy life! MyLion, wilt thou cast me off now?" "Of course not, " ejaculated Leo; "I have been wondering whither thouhadst gone. Let us go and explain matters to the Queen. " "Nay, nay, she would slay us. Thou knowest not her power--the Baboonthere, he knoweth, for he saw. Nay, there is but one way: if thou wiltcleave to me, thou must flee with me across the marshes even now, andthen perchance we may escape. " "For Heaven's sake, Leo, " I began, but she broke in-- "Nay, listen not to him. Swift--be swift--death is in the air webreathe. Even now, mayhap, _She_ heareth us, " and without more ado sheproceeded to back her arguments by throwing herself into his arms. Asshe did so the leopard's head slipped from her hair, and I saw the threewhite finger-marks upon it, gleaming faintly in the starlight. Oncemore realising the desperate nature of the position, I was about tointerpose, for I knew that Leo was not too strong-minded where womenwere concerned, when--oh! horror!--I heard a little silvery laugh behindme. I turned round, and there was _She_ herself, and with her Billaliand two male mutes. I gasped and nearly sank to the ground, for I knewthat such a situation must result in some dreadful tragedy, of which itseemed exceedingly probable to me that I should be the first victim. Asfor Ustane, she untwined her arms and covered her eyes with her hands, while Leo, not knowing the full terror of the position, merely coveredup, and looked as foolish as a man caught in such a trap would naturallydo. XX TRIUMPH Then followed a moment of the most painful silence that I ever endured. It was broken by Ayesha, who addressed herself to Leo. "Nay, now, my lord and guest, " she said in her softest tones, which yethad the ring of steel about them, "look not so bashful. Surely the sightwas a pretty one--the leopard and the lion!" "Oh, hang it all!" said Leo in English. "And thou, Ustane, " she went on, "surely I should have passed thee by, had not the light fallen on the white across thy hair, " and she pointedto the bright edge of the rising moon which was now appearing abovethe horizon. "Well! well! the dance is done--see, the tapers have burntdown, and all things end in silence and in ashes. So thou thoughtestit a fit time for love, Ustane, my servant--and I, dreaming not that Icould be disobeyed, thought thee already far away. " "Play not with me, " moaned the wretched woman; "slay me, and let therebe an end. " "Nay, why? It is not well to go so swift from the hot lips of love downto the cold mouth of the grave, " and she made a motion to the mutes, whoinstantly stepped up and caught the girl by either arm. With an oath Leosprang upon the nearest, and hurled him to the ground, and then stoodover him with his face set, and his fist ready. Again Ayesha laughed. "It was well thrown, my guest; thou hast a strongarm for one who so late was sick. But now out of thy courtesy I praythee let that man live and do my bidding. He shall not harm the girl;the night air grows chill, and I would welcome her in mine own place. Surely she whom thou dost favour shall be favoured of me also. " I took Leo by the arm, and pulled him from the prostrate mute, and he, half bewildered, obeyed the pressure. Then we all set out for the caveacross the plateau, where a pile of white human ashes was all thatremained of the fire that had lit the dancing, for the dancers hadvanished. In due course we gained Ayesha's boudoir--all too soon, it seemed to me, having a sad presage of what was to come lying heavy on my heart. Ayesha seated herself upon her cushions, and, having dismissed Job andBillali, by signs bade the mutes tend the lamps and retire--all saveone girl, who was her favourite personal attendant. We three remainedstanding, the unfortunate Ustane a little to the left of the rest of us. "Now, oh Holly, " Ayesha began, "how came it that thou who didst hearmy words bidding this evil-doer"--and she pointed to Ustane--"to gohence--thou at whose prayer I did weakly spare her life--how came it, I say, that thou wast a sharer in what I saw to-night? Answer, and forthine own sake, I say, speak all the truth, for I am not minded to hearlies upon this matter!" "It was by accident, oh Queen, " I answered. "I knew naught of it. " "I do believe thee, oh Holly, " she answered coldly, "and well it is forthee that I do--then does the whole guilt rest upon her. " "I do not find any guilt therein, " broke in Leo. "She is not anotherman's wife, and it appears that she has married me according to thecustom of this awful place, so who is the worse? Any way, madam, " hewent on, "whatever she has done I have done too, so if she is to bepunished let me be punished also; and I tell thee, " he went on, workinghimself up into a fury, "that if thou biddest one of those dead and dumbvillains to touch her again I will tear him to pieces!" And he looked asthough he meant it. Ayesha listened in icy silence, and made no remark. When he hadfinished, however, she addressed Ustane. "Hast thou aught to say, woman? Thou silly straw, thou feather, whodidst think to float towards thy passion's petty ends, even against thegreat wind of my will! Tell me, for I fain would understand. Why didstthou this thing?" And then I think I saw the most tremendous exhibition of moral courageand intrepidity that it is possible to conceive. For the poor doomedgirl, knowing what she had to expect at the hands of her terrible Queen, knowing, too, from bitter experience, how great was her adversary'spower, yet gathered herself together, and out of the very depths of herdespair drew materials to defy her. "I did it, oh _She_, " she answered, drawing herself up to the full ofher stately height, and throwing back the panther skin from her head, "because my love is stronger than the grave. I did it because my lifewithout this man whom my heart chose would be but a living death. Therefore did I risk my life, and, now that I know that it is forfeitto thine anger, yet am I glad that I did risk it, and pay it away in therisking, ay, because he embraced me once, and told me that he loved meyet. " Here Ayesha half rose from her couch, and then sank down again. "I have no magic, " went on Ustane, her rich voice ringing strong andfull, "and I am not a Queen, nor do I live for ever, but a woman's heartis heavy to sink through waters, however deep, oh Queen! and a woman'seyes are quick to see--even through thy veil, oh Queen! "Listen: I know it, thou dost love this man thyself, and thereforewouldst thou destroy me who stand across thy path. Ay, I die--I die, andgo into the darkness, nor know I whither I go. But this I know. There isa light shining in my breast, and by that light, as by a lamp, I seethe truth, and the future that I shall not share unroll itself beforeme like a scroll. When first I knew my lord, " and she pointed to Leo, "Iknew also that death would be the bridal gift he gave me--it rushed uponme of a sudden, but I turned not back, being ready to pay the price, and, behold, death is here! And now, even as I knew that, so do I, standing on the steps of doom, know that thou shalt not reap the profitof thy crime. Mine he is, and, though thy beauty shine like a sun amongthe stars, mine shall he remain for thee. Never here in this life shallhe look thee in the eyes and call thee spouse. Thou too art doomed, Isee"--and her voice rang like the cry of an inspired prophetess; "ah, Isee----" Then came an answering cry of mingled rage and terror. I turned my head. Ayesha had risen, and was standing with her outstretched hand pointingat Ustane, who had suddenly stopped speaking. I gazed at the poorwoman, and as I gazed there came upon her face that same woeful, fixedexpression of terror that I had seen once before when she had broken outinto her wild chant. Her eyes grew large, her nostrils dilated, and herlips blanched. Ayesha said nothing, she made no sound, she only drew herself up, stretched out her arm, and, her tall veiled frame quivering like anaspen leaf, appeared to look fixedly at her victim. Even as she did soUstane put her hands to her head, uttered one piercing scream, turnedround twice, and then fell backwards with a thud--prone upon the floor. Both Leo and myself rushed to her--she was stone dead--blasted intodeath by some mysterious electric agency or overwhelming will-forcewhereof the dread _She_ had command. For a moment Leo did not quite realise what had happened. But, when hedid, his face was awful to see. With a savage oath he rose from besidethe corpse, and, turning, literally sprang at Ayesha. But she waswatching, and, seeing him come, stretched out her hand again, and hewent staggering back towards me, and would have fallen, had I notcaught him. Afterwards he told me that he felt as though he had suddenlyreceived a violent blow in the chest, and, what is more, utterly cowed, as if all the manhood had been taken out of him. Then Ayesha spoke. "Forgive me, my guest, " she said softly, addressinghim, "if I have shocked thee with my justice. " "Forgive thee, thou fiend, " roared poor Leo, wringing his hands in hisrage and grief. "Forgive thee, thou murderess! By Heaven, I will killthee if I can!" "Nay, nay, " she answered in the same soft voice, "thou dost notunderstand--the time has come for thee to learn. _Thou_ art my love, my Kallikrates, my Beautiful, my Strong! For two thousand years, Kallikrates, have I waited for _thee_, and now at length thou hast comeback to me; and as for this woman, " pointing to the corpse, "shestood between me and thee, and therefore have I laid her in the dust, Kallikrates. " "It is an accursed lie!" said Leo. "My name is not Kallikrates! I am LeoVincey; my ancestor was Kallikrates--at least, I believe he was. " "Ah, thou sayest it--thine ancestor was Kallikrates, and thou, eventhou, art Kallikrates reborn, come back--and mine own dear lord!" "I am not Kallikrates, and, as for being thy lord, or having aught to dowith thee, I had sooner be the lord of a fiend from hell, for she wouldbe better than thou. " "Sayest thou so--sayest thou so, Kallikrates? Nay, but thou hast notseen me for so long a time that no memory remains. Yet am I very fair, Kallikrates!" "I hate thee, murderess, and I have no wish to see thee. What is it tome how fair thou art? I hate thee, I say. " "Yet within a very little space shalt thou creep to my knee, and swearthat thou dost love me, " answered Ayesha, with a sweet, mocking laugh. "Come, there is no time like the present time, here before this deadgirl who loved thee, let us put it to the proof. "Look now on me, Kallikrates!" and with a sudden motion she shook hergauzy covering from her, and stood forth in her low kirtle and her snakyzone, in her glorious radiant beauty and her imperial grace, rising fromher wrappings, as it were, like Venus from the wave, or Galatea from hermarble, or a beatified spirit from the tomb. She stood forth, and fixedher deep and glowing eyes upon Leo's eyes, and I saw his clenched fistsunclasp, and his set and quivering features relax beneath her gaze. I saw his wonder and astonishment grow into admiration, and then intofascination, and the more he struggled the more I saw the power of herdread beauty fasten on him and take possession of his senses, druggingthem, and drawing the heart out of him. Did I not know the process? Hadnot I, who was twice his age, gone through it myself? Was I not goingthrough it afresh even then, although her sweet and passionate gaze wasnot for me? Yes, alas, I was! Alas, that I should have to confess thatat that very moment I was rent by mad and furious jealousy. I couldhave flown at him, shame upon me! The woman had confounded and almostdestroyed my moral sense, as she was bound to confound all who lookedupon her superhuman loveliness. But--I do not quite know how--I got thebetter of myself, and once more turned to see the climax of the tragedy. "Oh, great Heaven!" gasped Leo, "art thou a woman?" "A woman in truth--in very truth--and thine own spouse, Kallikrates!"she answered, stretching out her rounded ivory arms towards him, andsmiling, ah, so sweetly! He looked and looked, and slowly I perceived that he was drawing nearerto her. Suddenly his eye fell upon the corpse of poor Ustane, and heshuddered and stopped. "How can I?" he said hoarsely. "Thou art a murderess; she loved me. " Observe, he was already forgetting that he had loved her. "It is naught, " she murmured, and her voice sounded sweet as thenight-wind passing through the trees. "It is naught at all. If I havesinned, let my beauty answer for my sin. If I have sinned, it is forlove of thee: let my sin, therefore, be put away and forgotten;" andonce more she stretched out her arms and whispered "_Come_, " and then inanother few seconds it was all over. I saw him struggle--I saw him even turn to fly; but her eyes drewhim more strongly than iron bonds, and the magic of her beauty andconcentrated will and passion entered into him and overpowered him--ay, even there, in the presence of the body of the woman who had loved himwell enough to die for him. It sounds horrible and wicked enough, but heshould not be too greatly blamed, and be sure his sin will find him out. The temptress who drew him into evil was more than human, and her beautywas greater than the loveliness of the daughters of men. I looked up again and now her perfect form lay in his arms, and her lipswere pressed against his own; and thus, with the corpse of his deadlove for an altar, did Leo Vincey plight his troth to her red-handedmurderess--plight it for ever and a day. For those who sell themselvesinto a like dominion, paying down the price of their own honour, andthrowing their soul into the balance to sink the scale to the level oftheir lusts, can hope for no deliverance here or hereafter. As theyhave sown, so shall they reap and reap, even when the poppy flowers ofpassion have withered in their hands, and their harvest is but bittertares, garnered in satiety. Suddenly, with a snake-like motion, she seemed to slip from his embrace, and then again broke out into her low laugh of triumphant mockery. "Did I not tell thee that within a little space thou wouldst creep to myknee, oh Kallikrates? And surely the space has not been a great one!" Leo groaned in shame and misery; for though he was overcome andstricken down, he was not so lost as to be unaware of the depth of thedegradation to which he had sunk. On the contrary, his better naturerose up in arms against his fallen self, as I saw clearly enough lateron. Ayesha laughed again, and then quickly veiled herself, and made a signto the girl mute, who had been watching the whole scene with curiousstartled eyes. The girl left, and presently returned, followed by twomale mutes, to whom the Queen made another sign. Thereon they all threeseized the body of poor Ustane by the arms, and dragged it heavily downthe cavern and away through the curtains at the end. Leo watched it fora little while, and then covered his eyes with his hand, and it too, tomy excited fancy, seemed to watch us as it went. "There passes the dead past, " said Ayesha, solemnly, as the curtainsshook and fell back into their places, when the ghastly processionhad vanished behind them. And then, with one of those extraordinarytransitions of which I have already spoken, she again threw off herveil, and broke out, after the ancient and poetic fashion of thedwellers in Arabia, [*] into a pæan of triumph or epithalamium, which, wild and beautiful as it was, is exceedingly difficult to render intoEnglish, and ought by rights to be sung to the music of a cantata, rather than written and read. It was divided into two parts--onedescriptive or definitive, and the other personal; and, as nearly as Ican remember, ran as follows:-- Love is like a flower in the desert. It is like the aloe of Arabia that blooms but once and dies; it bloomsin the salt emptiness of Life, and the brightness of its beauty is setupon the waste as a star is set upon a storm. It hath the sun above that is the Spirit, and above it blows the air ofits divinity. At the echoing of a step, Love blooms, I say; I say Love blooms, andbends her beauty down to him who passeth by. He plucketh it, yea, he plucketh the red cup that is full of honey, and beareth it away; away across the desert, away till the flower bewithered, away till the desert be done. There is only one perfect flower in the wilderness of Life. That flower is Love! There is only one fixed star in the midsts of our wandering. That star is Love! There is only one hope in our despairing night. That hope is Love! All else is false. All else is shadow moving upon water. All else iswind and vanity. Who shall say what is the weight or the measure of Love? It is born of the flesh, it dwelleth in the spirit. From each doth itdraw its comfort. For beauty it is as a star. Many are its shapes, but all are beautiful, and none know where the starrose, or the horizon where it shall set. [*] Among the ancient Arabians the power of poetic declamation, either in verse or prose, was held in the highest honour and esteem, and he who excelled in it was known as "Khâteb, " or Orator. Every year a general assembly was held at which the rival poets repeated their compositions, when those poems which were judged to be the best were, so soon as the knowledge and the art of writing became general, inscribed on silk in letters of gold, and publicly exhibited, being known as "Al Modhahabât, " or golden verses. In the poem given above by Mr. Holly, Ayesha evidently followed the traditional poetic manner of her people, which was to embody their thoughts in a series of somewhat disconnected sentences, each remarkable for its beauty and the grace of its expression. --Editor. Then, turning to Leo, and laying her hand upon his shoulder, she wenton in a fuller and more triumphant tone, speaking in balanced sentencesthat gradually grew and swelled from idealised prose into pure andmajestic verse:-- Long have I loved thee, oh, my love; yet has my love not lessened. Long have I waited for thee, and behold my reward is at hand--is here! Far away I saw thee once, and thou wast taken from me. Then in a grave sowed I the seed of patience, and shone upon it with thesun of hope, and watered it with tears of repentance, and breathed onit with the breath of my knowledge. And now, lo! it hath sprung up, andborne fruit. Lo! out of the grave hath it sprung. Yea, from among thedry bones and ashes of the dead. I have waited and my reward is with me. I have overcome Death, and Death brought back to me him that was dead. Therefore do I rejoice, for fair is the future. Green are the paths that we shall tread across the everlasting meadows. The hour is at hand. Night hath fled away into the valleys. The dawn kisseth the mountain tops. Soft shall we live, my love, and easy shall we go. Crowned shall we be with the diadem of Kings. Worshipping and wonder struck all peoples of the world, Blinded shallfall before our beauty and might. From time unto times shall our greatness thunder on, Rolling like achariot through the dust of endless days. Laughing shall we speed in our victory and pomp, Laughing like theDaylight as he leaps along the hills. Onward, still triumphant to a triumph ever new! Onward, in our power to a power unattained! Onward, never weary, clad with splendour for a robe! Till accomplished be our fate, and the night is rushing down. She paused in her strange and most thrilling allegorical chant, ofwhich I am, unfortunately, only able to give the burden, and that feeblyenough, and then said-- "Perchance thou dost not believe my word, Kallikrates--perchance thouthinkest that I do delude thee, and that I have not lived these manyyears, and that thou hast not been born again to me. Nay, look notso--put away that pale cast of doubt, for oh be sure herein can errorfind no foothold! Sooner shall the suns forget their course and theswallow miss her nest, than my soul shall swear a lie and be led astrayfrom thee, Kallikrates. Blind me, take away mine eyes, and let thedarkness utterly fence me in, and still mine ears would catch the toneof thy unforgotten voice, striking more loud against the portals ofmy sense than can the call of brazen-throated clarions:--stop up minehearing also, and let a thousand touch me on the brow, and I would namethee out of all:--yea, rob me of every sense, and see me stand deaf andblind, and dumb, and with nerves that cannot weigh the value of a touch, yet would my spirit leap within me like a quickening child and cry untomy heart, behold Kallikrates! behold, thou watcher, the watches ofthy night are ended! behold thou who seekest in the night season, thymorning Star ariseth. " She paused awhile and then continued, "But stay, if thy heart is yethardened against the mighty truth and thou dost require a further pledgeof that which thou dost find too deep to understand, even now shall itbe given to thee, and to thee also, oh my Holly. Bear each one of you alamp, and follow after me whither I shall lead you. " Without stopping to think--indeed, speaking for myself, I had almostabandoned the function in circumstances under which to think seemedto be absolutely useless, since thought fell hourly helpless against ablack wall of wonder--we took the lamps and followed her. Going to theend of her "boudoir, " she raised a curtain and revealed a little stairof the sort that is so common in these dim caves of Kôr. As we hurrieddown the stair I observed that the steps were worn in the centre tosuch an extent that some of them had been reduced from seven and a halfinches, at which I guessed their original height, to about three anda half. Now, all the other steps that I had seen in the caves werepractically unworn, as was to be expected, seeing that the only trafficwhich ever passed upon them was that of those who bore a fresh burden tothe tomb. Therefore this fact struck my notice with that curious forcewith which little things do strike us when our minds are absolutelyoverwhelmed by a sudden rush of powerful sensations; beaten flat, as itwere, like a sea beneath the first burst of a hurricane, so that everylittle object on the surface starts into an unnatural prominence. At the bottom of the staircase I stood and stared at the worn steps, andAyesha, turning, saw me. "Wonderest thou whose are the feet that have worn away the rock, myHolly?" she asked. "They are mine--even mine own light feet! I canremember when those stairs were fresh and level, but for two thousandyears and more have I gone down hither day by day, and see, my sandalshave worn out the solid rock!" I made no answer, but I do not think that anything that I had heard orseen brought home to my limited understanding so clear a sense of thisbeing's overwhelming antiquity as that hard rock hollowed out by hersoft white feet. How many hundreds of thousands of times must she havepassed up and down that stair to bring about such a result? The stair led to a tunnel, and a few paces down the tunnel was one ofthe usual curtain-hung doorways, a glance at which told me that itwas the same where I had been a witness of that terrible scene by theleaping flame. I recognised the pattern of the curtain, and the sight ofit brought the whole event vividly before my eyes, and made me trembleeven at its memory. Ayesha entered the tomb (for it was a tomb), and wefollowed her--I, for one, rejoicing that the mystery of the place wasabout to be cleared up, and yet afraid to face its solution. XXI THE DEAD AND LIVING MEET "See now the place where I have slept for these two thousand years, "said Ayesha, taking the lamp from Leo's hand and holding it above herhead. Its rays fell upon a little hollow in the floor, where I had seenthe leaping flame, but the fire was out now. They fell upon the whiteform stretched there beneath its wrappings upon its bed of stone, upon the fretted carving of the tomb, and upon another shelf of stoneopposite the one on which the body lay, and separated from it by thebreadth of the cave. "Here, " went on Ayesha, laying her hand upon the rock--"here have Islept night by night for all these generations, with but a cloak tocover me. It did not become me that I should lie soft when my spouseyonder, " and she pointed to the rigid form, "lay stiff in death. Herenight by night have I slept in his cold company--till, thou seest, thisthick slab, like the stairs down which we passed, has worn thin with thetossing of my form--so faithful have I been to thee even in thy spaceof sleep, Kallikrates. And now, mine own, thou shalt see a wonderfulthing--living, thou shalt behold thyself dead--for well have I tendedthee during all these years, Kallikrates. Art thou prepared?" We made no answer, but gazed at each other with frightened eyes, thewhole scene was so dreadful and so solemn. Ayesha advanced, and laid herhand upon the corner of the shroud, and once more spoke. "Be not affrighted, " she said; "though the thing seem wonderful tothee--all we who live have thus lived before; nor is the very shapethat holds us a stranger to the sun! Only we know it not, because memorywrites no record, and earth hath gathered in the earth she lent us, fornone have saved our glory from the grave. But I, by my arts and by thearts of those dead men of Kôr which I have learned, have held theeback, oh Kallikrates, from the dust, that the waxen stamp of beautyon thy face should ever rest before mine eye. 'Twas a mask that memorymight fill, serving to fashion out thy presence from the past, andgive it strength to wander in the habitations of my thought, clad in amummery of life that stayed my appetite with visions of dead days. "Behold now, let the Dead and Living meet! Across the gulf of Time theystill are one. Time hath no power against Identity, though sleep themerciful hath blotted out the tablets of our mind, and with oblivionsealed the sorrows that else would hound us from life to life, stuffingthe brain with gathered griefs till it burst in the madness of uttermostdespair. Still are they one, for the wrappings of our sleep shall rollaway as thunder-clouds before the wind; the frozen voice of the pastshall melt in music like mountain snows beneath the sun; and the weepingand the laughter of the lost hours shall be heard once more most sweetlyechoing up the cliffs of immeasurable time. "Ay, the sleep shall roll away, and the voices shall be heard, when downthe completed chain, whereof our each existence is a link, the lightningof the Spirit hath passed to work out the purpose of our being;quickening and fusing those separated days of life, and shaping them toa staff whereon we may safely lean as we wend to our appointed fate. "Therefore, have no fear, Kallikrates, when thou--living, and but latelyborn--shalt look upon thine own departed self, who breathed and diedso long ago. I do but turn one page in thy Book of Being, and show theewhat is writ thereon. "_Behold!_" With a sudden motion she drew the shroud from the cold form, and let thelamplight play upon it. I looked, and then shrank back terrified; since, say what she might in explanation, the sight was an uncanny one--for herexplanations were beyond the grasp of our finite minds, and when theywere stripped from the mists of vague esoteric philosophy, and broughtinto conflict with the cold and horrifying fact, did not do much tobreak its force. For there, stretched upon the stone bier before us, robed in white and perfectly preserved, was what appeared to be the bodyof Leo Vincey. I stared from Leo, standing _there_ alive, to Leo lying_there_ dead, and could see no difference; except, perhaps, that thebody on the bier looked older. Feature for feature they were the same, even down to the crop of little golden curls, which was Leo's mostuncommon beauty. It even seemed to me, as I looked, that the expressionon the dead man's face resembled that which I had sometimes seen uponLeo's when he was plunged into profound sleep. I can only sum up thecloseness of the resemblance by saying that I never saw twins so exactlysimilar as that dead and living pair. I turned to see what effect was produced upon Leo by the sight of hisdead self, and found it to be one of partial stupefaction. He stoodfor two or three minutes staring, and said nothing, and when at last hespoke it was only to ejaculate-- "Cover it up, and take me away. " "Nay, wait, Kallikrates, " said Ayesha, who, standing with the lampraised above her head, flooding with its light her own rich beauty andthe cold wonder of the death-clothed form upon the bier, resembledan inspired Sibyl rather than a woman, as she rolled out her majesticsentences with a grandeur and a freedom of utterance which I am, alas!quite unable to reproduce. "Wait, I would show thee something, that no tittle of my crime may behidden from thee. Do thou, oh Holly, open the garment on the breastof the dead Kallikrates, for perchance my lord may fear to touch ithimself. " I obeyed with trembling hands. It seemed a desecration and an unhallowedthing to touch that sleeping image of the live man by my side. Presentlyhis broad chest was bare, and there upon it, right over the heart, was awound, evidently inflicted with a spear. "Thou seest, Kallikrates, " she said. "Know then that it was _I_ who slewthee: in the Place of Life _I_ gave thee death. I slew thee because ofthe Egyptian Amenartas, whom thou didst love, for by her wiles she heldthy heart, and her I could not smite as but now I smote that woman, forshe was too strong for me. In my haste and bitter anger I slew thee, andnow for all these days have I lamented thee, and waited for thy coming. And thou hast come, and none can stand between thee and me, and of atruth now for death I will give thee life--not life eternal, for thatnone can give, but life and youth that shall endure for thousands uponthousands of years, and with it pomp, and power, and wealth, and allthings that are good and beautiful, such as have been to no man beforethee, nor shall be to any man who comes after. And now one thing more, and thou shalt rest and make ready for the day of thy new birth. Thouseest this body, which was thine own. For all these centuries it hathbeen my cold comfort and my companion, but now I need it no more, forI have thy living presence, and it can but serve to stir up memoriesof that which I would fain forget. Let it therefore go back to the dustfrom which I held it. "Behold! I have prepared against this happy hour!" And going to theother shelf or stone ledge, which she said had served her for a bed, shetook from it a large vitrified double-handed vase, the mouth of whichwas tied up with a bladder. This she loosed, and then, having bent downand gently kissed the white forehead of the dead man, she undid thevase, and sprinkled its contents carefully over the form, taking, Iobserved, the greatest precautions against any drop of them touchingus or herself, and then poured out what remained of the liquid upon thechest and head. Instantly a dense vapour arose, and the cave was filledwith choking fumes that prevented us from seeing anything while thedeadly acid (for I presume it was some tremendous preparation of thatsort) did its work. From the spot where the body lay came a fiercefizzing and cracking sound, which ceased, however, before the fumes hadcleared away. At last they were all gone, except a little cloud thatstill hung over the corpse. In a couple of minutes more this too hadvanished, and, wonderful as it may seem, it is a fact that on the stonebench that had supported the mortal remains of the ancient Kallikratesfor so many centuries there was now nothing to be seen but a fewhandfuls of smoking white powder. The acid had utterly destroyed thebody, and even in places eaten into the stone. Ayesha stooped down, and, taking a handful of this powder in her grasp, threw it into the air, saying at the same time, in a voice of calm solemnity-- "Dust to dust!--the past to the past!--the dead to thedead!--Kallikrates is dead, and is born again!" The ashes floated noiselessly to the rocky floor, and we stood in awedsilence and watched them fall, too overcome for words. "Now leave me, " she said, "and sleep if ye may. I must watch and think, for to-morrow night we go hence, and the time is long since I trod thepath that we must follow. " Accordingly we bowed, and left her. As we passed to our own apartment I peeped into Job's sleeping place, to see how he fared, for he had gone away just before our interview withthe murdered Ustane, quite prostrated by the terrors of the Amahaggerfestivity. He was sleeping soundly, good honest fellow that he was, and I rejoiced to think that his nerves, which, like those of mostuneducated people, were far from strong, had been spared the closingscenes of this dreadful day. Then we entered our own chamber, and hereat last poor Leo, who, ever since he had looked upon that frozenimage of his living self, had been in a state not far removed fromstupefaction, burst out into a torrent of grief. Now that he was nolonger in the presence of the dread _She_, his sense of the awfulnessof all that had happened, and more especially of the wicked murder ofUstane, who was bound to him by ties so close, broke upon him like astorm, and lashed him into an agony of remorse and terror which waspainful to witness. He cursed himself--he cursed the hour when we hadfirst seen the writing on the sherd, which was being so mysteriouslyverified, and bitterly he cursed his own weakness. Ayesha he dared notcurse--who dared speak evil of such a woman, whose consciousness, foraught we knew, was watching us at the very moment? "What am I to do, old fellow?" he groaned, resting his head against myshoulder in the extremity of his grief. "I let her be killed--not thatI could help that, but within five minutes I was kissing her murderessover her body. I am a degraded brute, but I cannot resist that" (andhere his voice sank)--"that awful sorceress. I know I shall do it againto-morrow; I know that I am in her power for always; if I never saw heragain I should never think of anybody else during all my life; I mustfollow her as a needle follows a magnet; I would not go away now if Icould; I could not leave her, my legs would not carry me, but my mind isstill clear enough, and in my mind I hate her--at least, I think so. Itis all so horrible; and that--that body! What can I make of it? It was_I_! I am sold into bondage, old fellow, and she will take my soul asthe price of herself!" Then, for the first time, I told him that I was in a but very littlebetter position; and I am bound to say that, notwithstanding his owninfatuation, he had the decency to sympathise with me. Perhaps he didnot think it worth while being jealous, realising that he had no causeso far as the lady was concerned. I went on to suggest that we shouldtry to run away, but we soon rejected the project as futile, and, to beperfectly honest, I do not believe that either of us would really haveleft Ayesha even if some superior power had suddenly offered to conveyus from these gloomy caves and set us down in Cambridge. We could nomore have left her than a moth can leave the light that destroys it. Wewere like confirmed opium-eaters: in our moments of reason we well knewthe deadly nature of our pursuit, but we certainly were not prepared toabandon its terrible delights. No man who once had seen _She_ unveiled, and heard the music of hervoice, and drunk in the bitter wisdom of her words, would willingly giveup the sight for a whole sea of placid joys. How much more, then, wasthis likely to be so when, as in Leo's case, to put myself out of thequestion, this extraordinary creature declared her utter and absolutedevotion, and gave what appeared to be proofs of its having lasted forsome two thousand years? No doubt she was a wicked person, and no doubt she had murdered Ustanewhen she stood in her path, but then she was very faithful, and by alaw of nature man is apt to think but lightly of a woman's crimes, especially if that woman be beautiful, and the crime be committed forthe love of him. And then, for the rest, when had such a chance ever come to a man beforeas that which now lay in Leo's hand? True, in uniting himself to thisdread woman, he would place his life under the influence of a mysteriouscreature of evil tendencies, [*] but then that would be likely enough tohappen to him in any ordinary marriage. On the other hand, however, noordinary marriage could bring him such awful beauty--for awful is theonly word that can describe it--such divine devotion, such wisdom, andcommand over the secrets of nature, and the place and power that theymust win, or, lastly, the royal crown of unending youth, if indeed shecould give that. No, on the whole, it is not wonderful that, though Leowas plunged in bitter shame and grief, such as any gentleman would havefelt under the circumstances, he was not ready to entertain the idea ofrunning away from his extraordinary fortune. [*] After some months of consideration of this statement I am bound to confess that I am not quite satisfied of its truth. It is perfectly true that Ayesha committed a murder, but I shrewdly suspect that, were we endowed with the same absolute power, and if we had the same tremendous interest at stake, we would be very apt to do likewise under parallel circumstances. Also, it must be remembered that she looked on it as an execution for disobedience under a system which made the slightest disobedience punishable by death. Putting aside this question of the murder, her evil-doing resolves itself into the expression of views and the acknowledgment of motives which are contrary to our preaching if not to our practice. Now at first sight this might be fairly taken as a proof of an evil nature, but when we come to consider the great antiquity of the individual it becomes doubtful if it was anything more than the natural cynicism which arises from age and bitter experience, and the possession of extraordinary powers of observation. It is a well known fact that very often, putting the period of boyhood out of the question, the older we grow the more cynical and hardened we get; indeed many of us are only saved by timely death from utter moral petrifaction if not moral corruption. No one will deny that a young man is on the average better than an old one, for he is without that experience of the order of things that in certain thoughtful dispositions can hardly fail to produce cynicism, and that disregard of acknowledged methods and established custom which we call evil. Now the oldest man upon the earth was but a babe compared to Ayesha, and the wisest man upon the earth was not one-third as wise. And the fruit of her wisdom was this, that there was but one thing worth living for, and that was Love in its highest sense, and to gain that good thing she was not prepared to stop at trifles. This is really the sum of her evil doings, and it must be remembered, on the other hand, that, whatever may be thought of them, she had some virtues developed to a degree very uncommon in either sex--constancy, for instance. --L. H. H. My own opinion is that he would have been mad if he had done so. Butthen I confess that my statement on the matter must be accepted withqualifications. I am in love with Ayesha myself to this day, and I wouldrather have been the object of her affection for one short week thanthat of any other woman in the world for a whole lifetime. And let meadd that, if anybody who doubts this statement, and thinks me foolishfor making it, could have seen Ayesha draw her veil and flash out inbeauty on his gaze, his view would exactly coincide with my own. Ofcourse, I am speaking of any _man_. We never had the advantage of alady's opinion of Ayesha, but I think it quite possible that shewould have regarded the Queen with dislike, would have expressed herdisapproval in some more or less pointed manner, and ultimately have gotherself blasted. For two hours or more Leo and I sat with shaken nerves and frightenedeyes, and talked over the miraculous events through which we werepassing. It seemed like a dream or a fairy tale, instead of the solemn, sober fact. Who would have believed that the writing on the potsherd wasnot only true, but that we should live to verify its truth, and thatwe two seekers should find her who was sought, patiently awaiting ourcoming in the tombs of Kôr? Who would have thought that in the personof Leo this mysterious woman should, as she believed, discover thebeing whom she awaited from century to century, and whose former earthlyhabitation she had till this very night preserved? But so it was. In theface of all we had seen it was difficult for us as ordinary reasoningmen any longer to doubt its truth, and therefore at last, with humblehearts and a deep sense of the impotence of human knowledge, and theinsolence of its assumption that denies that to be possible which it hasno experience of, we laid ourselves down to sleep, leaving our fates inthe hands of that watching Providence which had thus chosen to allow usto draw the veil of human ignorance, and reveal to us for good or evilsome glimpse of the possibilities of life. XXII JOB HAS A PRESENTIMENT It was nine o'clock on the following morning when Job, who still lookedscared and frightened, came in to call me, and at the same time breathehis gratitude at finding us alive in our beds, which it appeared wasmore than he had expected. When I told him of the awful end of poorUstane he was even more grateful at our survival, and much shocked, though Ustane had been no favourite of his, or he of hers, for thematter of that. She called him "pig" in bastard Arabic, and he calledher "hussy" in good English, but these amenities were forgotten in theface of the catastrophe that had overwhelmed her at the hands of herQueen. "I don't want to say anything as mayn't be agreeable, sir, " said Job, when he had finished exclaiming at my tale, "but it's my opinion thatthat there _She_ is the old gentleman himself, or perhaps his wife, ifhe has one, which I suppose he has, for he couldn't be so wicked all byhimself. The Witch of Endor was a fool to her, sir: bless you, she wouldmake no more of raising every gentleman in the Bible out of these herebeastly tombs than I should of growing cress on an old flannel. It's acountry of devils, this is, sir, and she's the master one of the lot;and if ever we get out of it it will be more than I expect to do. Idon't see no way out of it. That witch isn't likely to let a fine youngman like Mr. Leo go. " "Come, " I said, "at any rate she saved his life. " "Yes, and she'll take his soul to pay for it. She'll make him a witch, like herself. I say it's wicked to have anything to do with those sortof people. Last night, sir, I lay awake and read in my little Bible thatmy poor old mother gave me about what is going to happen to sorceressesand them sort, till my hair stood on end. Lord, how the old lady wouldstare if she saw where her Job had got to!" "Yes, it's a queer country, and a queer people too, Job, " I answered, with a sigh, for, though I am not superstitious like Job, I admit to anatural shrinking (which will not bear investigation) from the thingsthat are above Nature. "You are right, sir, " he answered, "and if you won't think me veryfoolish, I should like to say something to you now that Mr. Leo is outof the way"--(Leo had got up early and gone for a stroll)--"and that isthat I know it is the last country as ever I shall see in this world. I had a dream last night, and I dreamed that I saw my old father witha kind of night-shirt on him, something like these folks wear when theywant to be in particular full-dress, and a bit of that feathery grassin his hand, which he may have gathered on the way, for I saw lots of ityesterday about three hundred yards from the mouth of this beastly cave. "'Job, ' he said to me, solemn like, and yet with a kind of satisfactionshining through him, more like a Methody parson when he has sold aneighbour a marked horse for a sound one and cleared twenty pounds bythe job than anything I can think on--'Job, time's up, Job; but I neverdid expect to have to come and hunt you out in this 'ere place, Job. Such ado as I have had to nose you up; it wasn't friendly to giveyour poor old father such a run, let alone that a wonderful lot of badcharacters hail from this place Kôr. '" "Regular cautions, " I suggested. "Yes, sir--of course, sir, that's just what he said they was--'cautions, downright scorchers'--sir, and I'm sure I don't doubt it, seeing what Iknow of them, and their hot-potting ways, " went on Job sadly. "Anyway, he was sure that time was up, and went away saying that we shouldsee more than we cared for of each other soon, and I suppose he wasa-thinking of the fact that father and I never could hit it off togetherfor longer nor three days, and I daresay that things will be similarwhen we meet again. " "Surely, " I said, "you don't think that you are going to die because youdreamed you saw your old father; if one dies because one dreams of one'sfather, what happens to a man who dreams of his mother-in-law?" "Ah, sir, you're laughing at me, " said Job; "but, you see, you didn'tknow my old father. If it had been anybody else--my Aunt Mary, forinstance, who never made much of a job--I should not have thought somuch of it; but my father was that idle, which he shouldn't have beenwith seventeen children, that he would never have put himself out tocome here just to see the place. No, sir; I know that he meant business. Well, sir, I can't help it; I suppose every man must go some time orother, though it is a hard thing to die in a place like this, whereChristian burial isn't to be had for its weight in gold. I've triedto be a good man, sir, and do my duty honest, and if it wasn't for thesupercilus kind of way in which father carried on last night--a sortof sniffing at me as it were, as though he hadn't no opinion of myreferences and testimonials--I should feel easy enough in my mind. Anyway, sir, I've been a good servant to you and Mr. Leo, bless him!--why, it seems but the other day that I used to lead him about the streetswith a penny whip;--and if ever you get out of this place--which, asfather didn't allude to you, perhaps you may--I hope you will thinkkindly of my whitened bones, and never have anything more to do withGreek writing on flower-pots, sir, if I may make so bold as to say so. " "Come, come, Job, " I said seriously, "this is all nonsense, you know. You mustn't be silly enough to go getting such ideas into your head. We've lived through some queer things, and I hope that we may go ondoing so. " "No, sir, " answered Job, in a tone of conviction that jarred on meunpleasantly, "it isn't nonsense. I'm a doomed man, and I feel it, and awonderful uncomfortable feeling it is, sir, for one can't help wonderinghow it's going to come about. If you are eating your dinner you thinkof poison and it goes against your stomach, and if you are walking alongthese dark rabbit-burrows you think of knives, and Lord, don't you justshiver about the back! I ain't particular, sir, provided it's sharp, like that poor girl, who, now that she's gone, I am sorry to have spokehard on, though I don't approve of her morals in getting married, whichI consider too quick to be decent. Still, sir, " and poor Job turned ashade paler as he said it, "I do hope it won't be that hot-pot game. " "Nonsense, " I broke in angrily, "nonsense!" "Very well, sir, " said Job, "it isn't my place to differ from you, sir, but if you happen to be going anywhere, sir, I should be obliged if youcould manage to take me with you, seeing that I shall be glad to have afriendly face to look at when the time comes, just to help one through, as it were. And now, sir, I'll be getting the breakfast, " and he went, leaving me in a very uncomfortable state of mind. I was deeply attachedto old Job, who was one of the best and honestest men I have ever hadto do with in any class of life, and really more of a friend than aservant, and the mere idea of anything happening to him brought a lumpinto my throat. Beneath all his ludicrous talk I could see that hehimself was quite convinced that something was going to happen, and though in most cases these convictions turn out to be uttermoonshine--and this particular one especially was to be amply accountedfor by the gloomy and unaccustomed surroundings in which its victimwas placed--still it did more or less carry a chill to my heart, as anydread that is obviously a genuine object of belief is apt to do, howeverabsurd the belief may be. Presently the breakfast arrived, and with itLeo, who had been taking a walk outside the cave--to clear his mind, hesaid--and very glad I was to see both, for they gave me a respitefrom my gloomy thoughts. After breakfast we went for another walk, andwatched some of the Amahagger sowing a plot of ground with the grainfrom which they make their beer. This they did in scriptural fashion--aman with a bag made of goat's hide fastened round his waist walking upand down the plot and scattering the seed as he went. It was a positiverelief to see one of these dreadful people do anything so homely andpleasant as sow a field, perhaps because it seemed to link them, as itwere, with the rest of humanity. As we were returning Billali met us, and informed us that it was _She's_pleasure that we should wait upon her, and accordingly we entered herpresence, not without trepidation, for Ayesha was certainly an exceptionto the rule. Familiarity with her might and did breed passion and wonderand horror, but it certainly did _not_ breed contempt. We were as usual shown in by the mutes, and after these hadretired Ayesha unveiled, and once more bade Leo embrace her, which, notwithstanding his heart-searchings of the previous night, he did withmore alacrity and fervour than in strictness courtesy required. She laid her white hand on his head, and looked him fondly in the eyes. "Dost thou wonder, my Kallikrates, " she said, "when thou shalt call meall thine own, and when we shall of a truth be for one another and toone another? I will tell thee. First, must thou be even as I am, notimmortal indeed, for that I am not, but so cased and hardened againstthe attacks of Time that his arrows shall glance from the armour of thyvigorous life as the sunbeams glance from water. As yet I may not matewith thee, for thou and I are different, and the very brightness of mybeing would burn thee up, and perchance destroy thee. Thou couldst noteven endure to look upon me for too long a time lest thine eyes shouldache, and thy senses swim, and therefore" (with a little nod) "shallI presently veil myself again. " (This by the way she did not do. ) "No:listen, thou shalt not be tried beyond endurance, for this veryevening, an hour before the sun goes down, shall we start hence, andby to-morrow's dark, if all goes well, and the road is not lost to me, which I pray it may not be, shall we stand in the place of Life, andthou shalt bathe in the fire, and come forth glorified, as no man everwas before thee, and then, Kallikrates, shalt thou call me wife, and Iwill call thee husband. " Leo muttered something in answer to this astonishing statement, I do notknow what, and she laughed a little at his confusion, and went on. "And thou, too, oh Holly; on thee also will I confer this boon, and thenof a truth shalt thou be evergreen, and this will I do--well, becausethou hast pleased me, Holly, for thou art not altogether a fool, likemost of the sons of men, and because, though thou hast a school ofphilosophy as full of nonsense as those of the old days, yet hast thounot forgotten how to turn a pretty phrase about a lady's eyes. " "Hulloa, old fellow!" whispered Leo, with a return of his oldcheerfulness, "have you been paying compliments? I should never havethought it of you!" "I thank thee, oh Ayesha, " I replied, with as much dignity as I couldcommand, "but if there be such a place as thou dost describe, and if inthis strange place there may be found a fiery virtue that can hold offDeath when he comes to pluck us by the hand, yet would I none of it. Forme, oh Ayesha, the world has not proved so soft a nest that I would liein it for ever. A stony-hearted mother is our earth, and stones are thebread she gives her children for their daily food. Stones to eat andbitter water for their thirst, and stripes for tender nurture. Who wouldendure this for many lives? Who would so load up his back with memoriesof lost hours and loves, and of his neighbour's sorrows that he cannotlessen, and wisdom that brings not consolation? Hard is it to die, because our delicate flesh doth shrink back from the worm it will notfeel, and from that unknown which the winding-sheet doth curtain fromour view. But harder still, to my fancy, would it be to live on, greenin the leaf and fair, but dead and rotten at the core, and feel thatother secret worm of recollection gnawing ever at the heart. " "Bethink thee, Holly, " she said; "yet doth long life and strength andbeauty beyond measure mean power and all things that are dear to man. " "And what, oh Queen, " I answered, "are those things that are dear toman? Are they not bubbles? Is not ambition but an endless ladder bywhich no height is ever climbed till the last unreachable rung ismounted? For height leads on to height, and there is no resting-placeupon them, and rung doth grow upon rung, and there is no limit to thenumber. Doth not wealth satiate, and become nauseous, and no longerserve to satisfy or pleasure, or to buy an hour's peace of mind? And isthere any end to wisdom that we may hope to reach it? Rather, the morewe learn, shall we not thereby be able only to better compass out ourignorance? Did we live ten thousand years could we hope to solve thesecrets of the suns, and of the space beyond the suns, and of the Handthat hung them in the heavens? Would not our wisdom be but as a gnawinghunger calling our consciousness day by day to a knowledge of the emptycraving of our souls? Would it not be but as a light in one of thesegreat caverns, that, though bright it burn, and brighter yet, doth butthe more serve to show the depths of the gloom around it? And what goodthing is there beyond that we may gain by length of days?" "Nay, my Holly, there is love--love which makes all things beautiful, and doth breathe divinity into the very dust we tread. With love shalllife roll gloriously on from year to year, like the voice of some greatmusic that hath power to hold the hearer's heart poised on eagles' wingsabove the sordid shame and folly of the earth. " "It may be so, " I answered; "but if the loved one prove a broken reed topierce us, or if the love be loved in vain--what then? Shall a man gravehis sorrows upon a stone when he hath but need to write them onthe water? Nay, oh _She_, I will live my day, and grow old with mygeneration, and die my appointed death, and be forgotten. For I do hopefor an immortality to which the little span that perchance thou canstconfer will be but as a finger's length laid against the measure of thegreat world; and, mark this! the immortality to which I look, and whichmy faith doth promise me, shall be free from the bonds that here musttie my spirit down. For, while the flesh endures, sorrow and evil andthe scorpion whips of sin must endure also; but when the flesh hathfallen from us, then shall the spirit shine forth clad in the brightnessof eternal good, and for its common air shall breathe so rare an etherof most noble thoughts that the highest aspiration of our manhood, orthe purest incense of a maiden's prayer, would prove too earthly grossto float therein. " "Thou lookest high, " answered Ayesha, with a little laugh, "and speakestclearly as a trumpet and with no uncertain sound. And yet methinks thatbut now didst thou talk of 'that Unknown' from which the winding-sheetdoth curtain us. But perchance, thou seest with the eye of Faith, gazingon that brightness, that is to be, through the painted-glass of thyimagination. Strange are the pictures of the future that mankind canthus draw with this brush of faith and this many-coloured pigment ofimagination! Strange, too, that no one of them doth agree with another!I could tell thee--but there, what is the use? why rob a fool of hisbauble? Let it pass, and I pray, oh Holly, that when thou dost feel oldage creeping slowly toward thyself, and the confusion of senility makinghavoc in thy brain, thou mayest not bitterly regret that thou didst castaway the imperial boon I would have given to thee. But so it hath everbeen; man can never be content with that which his hand can pluck. Ifa lamp be in his reach to light him through the darkness, he must needscast it down because it is no star. Happiness danceth ever apace beforehim, like the marsh-fires in the swamps, and he must catch the fire, andhe must hold the star! Beauty is naught to him, because there are lipsmore honey-sweet; and wealth is naught, because others can weigh himdown with heavier shekels; and fame is naught, because there havebeen greater men than he. Thyself thou saidst it, and I turn thy wordsagainst thee. Well, thou dreamest that thou shalt pluck the star. Ibelieve it not, and I think thee a fool, my Holly, to throw away thelamp. " I made no answer, for I could not--especially before Leo--tell her thatsince I had seen her face I knew that it would always be before my eyes, and that I had no wish to prolong an existence which must always behaunted and tortured by her memory, and by the last bitterness ofunsatisfied love. But so it was, and so, alas, is it to this hour! "And now, " went on _She_, changing her tone and the subject together, "tell me, my Kallikrates, for as yet I know it not, how came ye to seekme here? Yesternight thou didst say that Kallikrates--him whom thousawest--was thine ancestor. How was it? Tell me--thou dost not speakovermuch!" Thus adjured, Leo told her the wonderful story of the casket and of thepotsherd that, written on by his ancestress, the Egyptian Amenartas, hadbeen the means of guiding us to her. Ayesha listened intently, and, whenhe had finished, spoke to me. "Did I not tell thee one day, when we did talk of good and evil, ohHolly--it was when my beloved lay so ill--that out of good came evil, and out of evil good--that they who sowed knew not what the cropshould be, nor he who struck where the blow should fall? See, now: thisEgyptian Amenartas, this royal child of the Nile who hated me, and whomeven now I hate, for in a way she did prevail against me--see, now, sheherself hath been the very means to bring her lover to mine arms! Forher sake I slew him, and now, behold, through her he hath comeback tome! She would have done me evil, and sowed her seeds that I might reaptares, and behold she hath given me more than all the world can give, and there is a strange square for thee to fit into thy circle of goodand evil, oh Holly! "And so, " she went on, after a pause--"and so she bade her son destroyme if he might, because I slew his father. And thou, my Kallikrates, artthe father, and in a sense thou art likewise the son; and wouldst thouavenge thy wrong, and the wrong of that far-off mother of thine, uponme, oh Kallikrates? See, " and she slid to her knees, and drew the whitecorsage still farther down her ivory bosom--"see, here beats my heart, and there by thy side is a knife, heavy, and long, and sharp, the veryknife to slay an erring woman with. Take it now, and be avenged. Strike, and strike home!--so shalt thou be satisfied, Kallikrates, and gothrough life a happy man, because thou hast paid back the wrong, andobeyed the mandate of the past. " He looked at her, and then stretched out his hand and lifted her to herfeet. "Rise, Ayesha, " he said sadly; "well thou knowest that I cannot strikethee, no, not even for the sake of her whom thou slewest but lastnight. I am in thy power, and a very slave to thee. How can I killthee?--sooner should I slay myself. " "Almost dost thou begin to love me, Kallikrates, " she answered, smiling. "And now tell me of thy country--'tis a great people, is it not? with anempire like that of Rome! Surely thou wouldst return thither, and it iswell, for I mean not that thou shouldst dwell in these caves of Kôr. Nay, when once thou art even as I am, we will go hence--fear not butthat I shall find a path--and then shall we journey to this England ofthine, and live as it becometh us to live. Two thousand years have Iwaited for the day when I should see the last of these hateful caves andthis gloomy-visaged folk, and now it is at hand, and my heart bounds upto meet it like a child's towards its holiday. For thou shalt rule thisEngland----" "But we have a queen already, " broke in Leo, hastily. "It is naught, it is naught, " said Ayesha; "she can be overthrown. " At this we both broke out into an exclamation of dismay, and explainedthat we should as soon think of overthrowing ourselves. "But here is a strange thing, " said Ayesha, in astonishment; "a queenwhom her people love! Surely the world must have changed since I dweltin Kôr. " Again we explained that it was the character of monarchs that hadchanged, and that the one under whom we lived was venerated and belovedby all right-thinking people in her vast realms. Also, we told her thatreal power in our country rested in the hands of the people, and that wewere in fact ruled by the votes of the lower and least educated classesof the community. "Ah, " she said, "a democracy--then surely there is a tyrant, for I havelong since seen that democracies, having no clear will of their own, inthe end set up a tyrant, and worship him. " "Yes, " I said, "we have our tyrants. " "Well, " she answered resignedly, "we can at any rate destroy thesetyrants, and Kallikrates shall rule the land. " I instantly informed Ayesha that in England "blasting" was not anamusement that could be indulged in with impunity, and that any suchattempt would meet with the consideration of the law and probably endupon a scaffold. "The law, " she laughed with scorn--"the law! Canst thou not understand, oh Holly, that I am above the law, and so shall my Kallikrates be also?All human law will be to us as the north wind to a mountain. Does thewind bend the mountain, or the mountain the wind?" "And now leave me, I pray thee, and thou too, my own Kallikrates, forI would get me ready against our journey, and so must ye both, and yourservant also. But bring no great quantity of things with thee, for Itrust that we shall be but three days gone. Then shall we return hither, and I will make a plan whereby we can bid farewell for ever to thesesepulchres of Kôr. Yea, surely thou mayst kiss my hand!" So we went, I, for one, meditating deeply on the awful nature of theproblem that now opened out before us. The terrible _She_ had evidentlymade up her mind to go to England, and it made me absolutely shudderto think what would be the result of her arrival there. What her powerswere I knew, and I could not doubt but that she would exercise themto the full. It might be possible to control her for a while, but herproud, ambitious spirit would be certain to break loose and avengeitself for the long centuries of its solitude. She would, if necessary, and if the power of her beauty did not unaided prove equal to theoccasion, blast her way to any end she set before her, and, as she couldnot die, and for aught I knew could not even be killed, [*] what wasthere to stop her? In the end she would, I had little doubt, assumeabsolute rule over the British dominions, and probably over the wholeearth, and, though I was sure that she would speedily make ours the mostglorious and prosperous empire that the world has ever seen, it would beat the cost of a terrible sacrifice of life. [*] I regret to say that I was never able to ascertain if _She_ was invulnerable against the ordinary accidents of life. Presumably this was so, else some misadventure would have been sure to put an end to her in the course of so many centuries. True, she offered to let Leo slay her, but very probably this was only an experiment to try his temper and mental attitude towards her. Ayesha never gave way to impulse without some valid object. --L. H. H. The whole thing sounded like a dream or some extraordinary invention ofa speculative brain, and yet it was a fact--a wonderful fact--of whichthe whole world would soon be called on to take notice. What was themeaning of it all? After much thinking I could only conclude that thismarvellous creature, whose passion had kept her for so many centurieschained as it were, and comparatively harmless, was now about to be usedby Providence as a means to change the order of the world, and possibly, by the building up of a power that could no more be rebelled againstor questioned than the decrees of Fate, to change it materially for thebetter. XXIII THE TEMPLE OF TRUTH Our preparations did not take us very long. We put a change of clothingapiece and some spare boots into my Gladstone bag, also we took ourrevolvers and an express rifle each, together with a good supply ofammunition, a precaution to which, under Providence, we subsequentlyowed our lives over and over again. The rest of our gear, together withour heavy rifles, we left behind us. A few minutes before the appointed time we once more attended inAyesha's boudoir, and found her also ready, her dark cloak thrown overher winding-sheetlike wrappings. "Are ye prepared for the great venture?" she said. "We are, " I answered, "though for my part, Ayesha, I have no faith init. " "Ah, my Holly, " she said, "thou art of a truth like those old Jews--ofwhom the memory vexes me so sorely--unbelieving, and hard to acceptthat which they have not known. But thou shalt see; for unless my mirrorbeyond lies, " and she pointed to the font of crystal water, "the path isyet open as it was of old time. And now let us start upon the new lifewhich shall end--who knoweth where?" "Ah, " I echoed, "who knoweth where?" and we passed down into the greatcentral cave, and out into the light of day. At the mouth of the cave wefound a single litter with six bearers, all of them mutes, waiting, andwith them I was relieved to see our old friend Billali, for whom Ihad conceived a sort of affection. It appeared that, for reasons notnecessary to explain at length, Ayesha had thought it best that, withthe exception of herself, we should proceed on foot, and this we werenothing loth to do, after our long confinement in these caves, which, however suitable they might be for sarcophagi--a singularlyinappropriate word, by the way, for these particular tombs, whichcertainly did not consume the bodies given to their keeping--weredepressing habitations for breathing mortals like ourselves. Either byaccident or by the orders of _She_, the space in front of the cave wherewe had beheld that awful dance was perfectly clear of spectators. Nota soul was to be seen, and consequently I do not believe that ourdeparture was known to anybody, except perhaps the mutes who waited on_She_, and they were, of course, in the habit of keeping what they sawto themselves. In a few minutes' time we were stepping out sharply across the greatcultivated plain or lake bed, framed like a vast emerald in its settingof frowning cliff, and had another opportunity of wondering at theextraordinary nature of the site chosen by these old people of Kôr fortheir capital, and at the marvellous amount of labour, ingenuity, andengineering skill that must have been brought into requisition by thefounders of the city to drain so huge a sheet of water, and to keepit clear of subsequent accumulations. It is, indeed, so far as myexperience goes, an unequalled instance of what man can do in the faceof nature, for in my opinion such achievements as the Suez Canal oreven the Mont Cenis Tunnel do not approach this ancient undertaking inmagnitude and grandeur of conception. When we had been walking for about half an hour, enjoying ourselvesexceedingly in the delightful cool which about this time of the dayalways appeared to descend upon the great plain of Kôr, and which insome degree atoned for the want of any land or sea breeze--for all windwas kept off by the rocky mountain wall--we began to get a clear view ofwhat Billali had informed us were the ruins of the great city. And evenfrom that distance we could see how wonderful those ruins were, a factwhich with every step we took became more evident. The town was notvery large if compared to Babylon or Thebes, or other cities of remoteantiquity; perhaps its outer wall contained some twelve square miles ofground, or a little more. Nor had the walls, so far as we could judgewhen we reached them, been very high, probably not more than forty feet, which was about their present height where they had not through thesinking of the ground, or some such cause, fallen into ruin. The reasonof this, no doubt, was that the people of Kôr, being protected from anyoutside attack by far more tremendous ramparts than any that the hand ofman could rear, only required them for show and to guard against civildiscord. But on the other hand they were as broad as they were high, built entirely of dressed stone, hewn, no doubt, from the vast caves, and surrounded by a great moat about sixty feet in width, some reachesof which were still filled with water. About ten minutes before thesun finally sank we reached this moat, and passed down and through it, clambering across what evidently were the piled-up fragments of a greatbridge in order to do so, and then with some little difficulty over theslope of the wall to its summit. I wish that it lay within the power ofmy pen to give some idea of the grandeur of the sight that then met ourview. There, all bathed in the red glow of the sinking sun, were milesupon miles of ruins--columns, temples, shrines, and the palaces ofkings, varied with patches of green bush. Of course, the roofs of thesebuildings had long since fallen into decay and vanished, but owing tothe extreme massiveness of the style of building, and to the hardnessand durability of the rock employed, most of the party walls and greatcolumns still remained standing. [*] [*] In connection with the extraordinary state of preservation of these ruins after so vast a lapse of time-- at least six thousand years--it must be remembered that Kôr was not burnt or destroyed by an enemy or an earthquake, but deserted, owing to the action of a terrible plague. Consequently the houses were left unharmed; also the climate of the plain is remarkably fine and dry, and there is very little rain or wind; as a result of which these relics have only to contend against the unaided action of time, that works but slowly upon such massive blocks of masonry. --L. H. H. Straight before us stretched away what had evidently been the mainthoroughfare of the city, for it was very wide, wider than the ThamesEmbankment, and regular, being, as we afterwards discovered, paved, or rather built, throughout of blocks of dressed stone, such as wereemployed in the walls, it was but little overgrown even now with grassand shrubs that could get no depth of soil to live in. What had been theparks and gardens, on the contrary, were now dense jungle. Indeed, itwas easy even from a distance to trace the course of the various roadsby the burnt-up appearance of the scanty grass that grew upon them. Oneither side of this great thoroughfare were vast blocks of ruins, eachblock, generally speaking, being separated from its neighbour by a spaceof what had once, I suppose, been garden-ground, but was now dense andtangled bush. They were all built of the same coloured stone, and mostof them had pillars, which was as much as we could make out in thefading light as we passed swiftly up the main road, that I believe I amright in saying no living foot had pressed for thousands of years. [*] [*] Billali told me that the Amahagger believe that the site of the city is haunted, and could not be persuaded to enter it upon any consideration. Indeed, I could see that he himself did not at all like doing so, and was only consoled by the reflection that he was under the direct protection of _She_. It struck Leo and myself as very curious that a people which has no objection to living amongst the dead, with whom their familiarity has perhaps bred contempt, and even using their bodies for purposes of fuel, should be terrified at approaching the habitations that these very departed had occupied when alive. After all, however, it is only a savage inconsistency. --L. H. H. Presently we came to an enormous pile, which we rightly took to be atemple covering at least eight acres of ground, and apparently arrangedin a series of courts, each one enclosing another of smaller size, onthe principle of a Chinese nest of boxes, the courts being separated onefrom the other by rows of huge columns. And, while I think of it, I mayas well state a remarkable thing about the shape of these columns, whichresembled none that I have ever seen or heard of, being fashioned with akind of waist at the centre, and swelling out above and below. At firstwe thought that this shape was meant to roughly symbolise or suggestthe female form, as was a common habit amongst the ancient religiousarchitects of many creeds. On the following day, however, as we went upthe slopes of the mountain, we discovered a large quantity of the moststately looking palms, of which the trucks grew exactly in this shape, and I have now no doubt but that the first designer of those columnsdrew his inspiration from the graceful bends of those very palms, orrather of their ancestors, which then, some eight or ten thousand yearsago, as now, beautified the slopes of the mountain that had once formedthe shores of the volcanic lake. At the _façade_ of this huge temple, which, I should imagine, is almostas large as that of El-Karnac, at Thebes, some of the largest columns, which I measured, being between eighteen to twenty feet in diameter atthe base, by about seventy feet in height, our little procession washalted, and Ayesha descended from her litter. "There was a spot here, Kallikrates, " she said to Leo, who had run up tohelp her down, "where one might sleep. Two thousand years ago did thouand I and that Egyptian asp rest therein, but since then have I not setfoot here, nor any man, and perchance it has fallen, " and, followed bythe rest of us, she passed up a vast flight of broken and ruined stepsinto the outer court, and looked round into the gloom. Presently sheseemed to recollect, and, walking a few paces along the wall to theleft, halted. "It is here, " she said, and at the same time beckoned to the two mutes, who were loaded with provisions and our little belongings, to advance. One of them came forward, and, producing a lamp, lit it from his brazier(for the Amahagger when on a journey nearly always carried with them alittle lighted brazier, from which to provide fire). The tinder of thisbrazier was made of broken fragments of mummy carefully damped, and, if the admixture of moisture was properly managed, this unholy compoundwould smoulder away for hours. [*] As soon as the lamp was lit we enteredthe place before which Ayesha had halted. It turned out to be a chamberhollowed in the thickness of the wall, and, from the fact of there stillbeing a massive stone table in it, I should think that it had probablyserved as a living-room, perhaps for one of the door-keepers of thegreat temple. [*] After all we are not much in advance of the Amahagger in these matters. "Mummy, " that is pounded ancient Egyptian, is, I believe, a pigment much used by artists, and especially by those of them who direct their talents to the reproduction of the works of the old masters. --Editor. Here we stopped, and after cleaning the place out and making it ascomfortable as circumstances and the darkness would permit, we ate somecold meat, at least Leo, Job and I did, for Ayesha, as I think I havesaid elsewhere, never touched anything except cakes of flour, fruit andwater. While we were still eating, the moon, which was at her full, roseabove the mountain-wall, and began to flood the place with silver. "Wot ye why I have brought you here to-night, my Holly?" said Ayesha, leaning her head upon her hand and watching the great orb as she rose, like some heavenly queen, above the solemn pillars of the temple. "Ibrought you--nay, it is strange, but knowest thou, Kallikrates, thatthou liest at this moment upon the very spot where thy dead body laywhen I bore thee back to those caves of Kôr so many years ago? It allreturns to my mind now. I can see it, and horrible is it to my sight!"and she shuddered. Here Leo jumped up and hastily changed his seat. However thereminiscence might affect Ayesha, it clearly had few charms for him. "I brought you, " went on Ayesha presently, "that ye might look uponthe most wonderful sight that ever the eye of man beheld--the full moonshining over ruined Kôr. When ye have done your eating--I would that Icould teach you to eat naught but fruit, Kallikrates, but that will comeafter thou hast laved in the fire. Once I, too, ate flesh like a brutebeast. When ye have done we will go out, and I will show you this greattemple and the God whom men once worshipped therein. " Of course we got up at once, and started. And here again my pen failsme. To give a string of measurements and details of the various courtsof the temple would only be wearisome, supposing that I had them, andyet I know not how I am to describe what we saw, magnificent as it waseven in its ruin, almost beyond the power of realisation. Court upon dimcourt, row upon row of mighty pillars--some of them (especially at thegateways) sculptured from pedestal to capital--space upon space of emptychambers that spoke more eloquently to the imagination than any crowdedstreets. And over all, the dead silence of the dead, the sense of utterloneliness, and the brooding spirit of the Past! How beautiful it was, and yet how drear! We did not dare to speak aloud. Ayesha herself wasawed in the presence of an antiquity compared to which even her lengthof days was but a little thing; we only whispered, and our whispersseemed to run from column to column, till they were lost in the quietair. Bright fell the moonlight on pillar and court and shattered wall, hiding all their rents and imperfections in its silver garment, andclothing their hoar majesty with the peculiar glory of the night. It wasa wonderful sight to see the full moon looking down on the ruined faneof Kôr. It was a wonderful thing to think for how many thousands ofyears the dead orb above and the dead city below had gazed thus uponeach other, and in the utter solitude of space poured forth each to eachthe tale of their lost life and long-departed glory. The whitelight fell, and minute by minute the quiet shadows crept acrossthe grass-grown courts like the spirits of old priests haunting thehabitations of their worship--the white light fell, and the long shadowsgrew till the beauty and grandeur of each scene and the untamed majestyof its present Death seemed to sink into our very souls, and speak moreloudly than the shouts of armies concerning the pomp and splendour thatthe grave had swallowed, and even memory had forgotten. "Come, " said Ayesha, after we had gazed and gazed, I know not for howlong, "and I will show you the stony flower of Loveliness and Wonder'svery crown, if yet it stands to mock time with its beauty and fillthe heart of man with longing for that which is behind the veil, " and, without waiting for an answer, she led us through two more pillaredcourts into the inner shrine of the old fane. And there, in the centre of the inmost court, that might have been somefifty yards square, or a little more, we stood face to face with whatis perhaps the grandest allegorical work of Art that the genius of herchildren has ever given to the world. For in the exact centre of thecourt, placed upon a thick square slab of rock, was a huge round ball ofdark stone, some twenty feet in diameter, and standing on the ball was acolossal winged figure of a beauty so entrancing and divine that whenI first gazed upon it, illuminated and shadowed as it was by the softlight of the moon, my breath stood still, and for an instant my heartceased its beating. The statue was hewn from marble so pure and white that even now, afterall those ages, it shone as the moonbeams danced upon it, and its heightwas, I should say, a trifle over twenty feet. It was the winged figureof a woman of such marvellous loveliness and delicacy of form that thesize seemed rather to add to than to detract from its so human and yetmore spiritual beauty. She was bending forward and poising herself uponher half-spread wings as though to preserve her balance as she leant. Her arms were outstretched like those of some woman about to embraceone she dearly loved, while her whole attitude gave an impression ofthe tenderest beseeching. Her perfect and most gracious form was naked, save--and here came the extraordinary thing--the face, which was thinlyveiled, so that we could only trace the marking of her features. A gauzyveil was thrown round and about the head, and of its two ends one felldown across her left breast, which was outlined beneath it, and one, nowbroken, streamed away upon the air behind her. "Who is she?" I asked, as soon as I could take my eyes off the statue. "Canst thou not guess, oh Holly?" answered Ayesha. "Where then is thyimagination? It is Truth standing on the World, and calling to itschildren to unveil her face. See what is writ upon the pedestal. Withoutdoubt it is taken from the book of Scriptures of these men of Kôr, " andshe led the way to the foot of the statue, where an inscription of theusual Chinese-looking hieroglyphics was so deeply graven as to be stillquite legible, at least to Ayesha. According to her translation it ranthus:-- "Is there no man that will draw my veil and look upon my face, for it isvery fair? Unto him who draws my veil shall I be, and peace will I givehim, and sweet children of knowledge and good works. " And a voice cried, "Though all those who seek after thee desire thee, behold! Virgin art thou, and Virgin shalt thou go till Time be done. Noman is there born of woman who may draw thy veil and live, nor shall be. By Death only can thy veil be drawn, oh Truth!" And Truth stretched out her arms and wept, because those who sought hermight not find her, nor look upon her face to face. "Thou seest, " said Ayesha, when she had finished translating, "Truthwas the Goddess of the people of old Kôr, and to her they built theirshrines, and her they sought; knowing that they should never find, stillsought they. " "And so, " I added sadly, "do men seek to this very hour, but they findout; and, as this Scripture saith, nor shall they; for in Death only isTruth found. " Then with one more look at this veiled and spiritualisedloveliness--which was so perfect and so pure that one might almost fancythat the light of a living spirit shone through the marble prison tolead man on to high and ethereal thoughts--this poet's dream of beautyfrozen into stone, which I shall never forget while I live, we turnedand went back through the vast moonlit courts to the spot whence we hadstarted. I never saw the statue again, which I the more regret, becauseon the great ball of stone representing the World whereon the figurestood, lines were drawn, that probably, had there been light enough, weshould have discovered to be a map of the Universe as it was known tothe people of Kôr. It is at any rate suggestive of some scientificknowledge that these long-dead worshippers of Truth had recognised thefact that the globe is round. XXIV WALKING THE PLANK Next day the mutes woke us before the dawn; and by the time that we hadgot the sleep out of our eyes, and gone through a perfunctory wash at aspring which still welled up into the remains of a marble basin in thecentre of the North quadrangle of the vast outer court, we found _She_standing by the litter ready to start, while old Billali and the twobearer mutes were busy collecting the baggage. As usual, Ayesha wasveiled like the marble Truth (by the way, I wonder if she originallygot the idea of covering up her beauty from that statue?). I noticed, however, that she seemed very depressed, and had none of that proud andbuoyant bearing which would have betrayed her among a thousand women ofthe same stature, even if they had been veiled like herself. She lookedup as we came--for her head was bowed--and greeted us. Leo asked her howshe had slept. "Ill, my Kallikrates, " she answered, "ill. This night have strange andhideous dreams come creeping through my brain, and I know not what theymay portend. Almost do I feel as though some evil overshadowed me; andyet how can evil touch me? I wonder, " she went on with a sudden outbreakof womanly tenderness, "I wonder if, should aught happen to me, so thatI slept awhile and left thee waking, thou wouldst think gently of me? Iwonder, my Kallikrates, if thou wouldst tarry till I came again, as forso many centuries I have tarried for thy coming?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she went on: "Come, let us besetting forth, for we have far to go, and before another day is born inyonder blue should we stand in the place of Life. " In five minutes we were once more on our way through the vast ruinedcity, which loomed at us on either side in the grey dawning in a waythat was at once grand and oppressive. Just as the first ray of therising sun shot like a golden arrow athwart this storied desolation wegained the further gateway of the outer wall, and having given one moreglance at the hoar and pillared majesty through which we had journeyed, and (with the exception of Job, for whom ruins had no charms) breatheda sigh of regret that we had not had more time to explore it, passedthrough the great moat, and on to the plain beyond. As the sun rose so did Ayesha's spirits, till by breakfast-time they hadregained their normal level, and she laughingly set down her previousdepression to the associations of the spot where she had slept. "These barbarians swear that Kôr is haunted, " she said, "and of a truthI do believe their saying, for never did I know so ill a night save one. I remember it now. It was on that very spot when thou didst lie dead atmy feet, Kallikrates. Never will I visit it again; it is a place of evilomen. " After a very brief halt for breakfast we pressed on with such good willthat by two o'clock in the afternoon we were at the foot of the vastwall of rock that formed the lip of the volcano, and which at this pointtowered up precipitously above us for fifteen hundred or two thousandfeet. Here we halted, certainly not to my astonishment, for I did notsee how it was possible that we should go any farther. "Now, " said Ayesha, as she descended from her litter, "doth our labourbut commence, for here do we part with these men, and henceforward mustwe bear ourselves;" and then, addressing Billali, "do thou and theseslaves remain here, and abide our coming. By to-morrow at the middayshall we be with thee--if not, wait. " Billali bowed humbly, and said that her august bidding should be obeyedif they stopped there till they grew old. "And this man, oh Holly, " said _She_, pointing to Job; "best is itthat he should tarry also, for if his heart be not high and his couragegreat, perchance some evil might overtake him. Also, the secrets of theplace whither we go are not fit for common eyes. " I translated this to Job, who instantly and earnestly entreated me, almost with tears in his eyes, not to leave him behind. He said he wassure that he could see nothing worse than he had already seen, and thathe was terrified to death at the idea of being left alone with those"dumb folk, " who, he thought, would probably take the opportunity tohot-pot him. I translated what he said to Ayesha, who shrugged her shoulders, andanswered, "Well, let him come, it is naught to me; on his own head beit, and he will serve to bear the lamp and this, " and she pointed to anarrow plank, some sixteen feet in length, which had been bound abovethe long bearing-pole of her hammock, as I had thought to make curtainsspread out better, but, as it now appeared, for some unknown purposeconnected with our extraordinary undertaking. Accordingly, the plank, which, though tough, was very light, was givento Job to carry, and also one of the lamps. I slung the other on to myback, together with a spare jar of oil, while Leo loaded himself withthe provisions and some water in a kid's skin. When this was done _She_bade Billali and the six bearer mutes to retreat behind a grove offlowering magnolias about a hundred yards away, and remain there underpain of death till we had vanished. They bowed humbly, and went, and, as he departed, old Billali gave me a friendly shake of the hand, andwhispered that he had rather that it was I than he who was going on thiswonderful expedition with "_She-who-must-be-obeyed_, " and upon my wordI felt inclined to agree with him. In another minute they were gone, andthen, having briefly asked us if we were ready, Ayesha turned, and gazedup the towering cliff. "Goodness me, Leo, " I said, "surely we are not going to climb thatprecipice!" Leo shrugged his shoulders, being in a condition of half-fascinated, half-expectant mystification, and as he did so, Ayesha with a suddenmove began to climb the cliff, and of course we had to follow her. Itwas perfectly marvellous to see the ease and grace with which she sprangfrom rock to rock, and swung herself along the ledges. The ascent wasnot, however, so difficult as it seemed, although there were one or twonasty places where it did not do to look behind you, the fact being thatthe rock still sloped here, and was not absolutely precipitous as it washigher up. In this way we, with no great labour, mounted to the heightof some fifty feet above our last standing-place, the only reallytroublesome thing to manage being Job's board, and in doing so drew somefifty or sixty paces to the left of our starting-point, for we went uplike a crab, sideways. Presently we reached a ledge, narrow enough atfirst, but which widened as we followed it, and moreover sloped inwardslike the petal of a flower, so that as we followed it we gradually gotinto a kind of rut or fold of rock, that grew deeper and deeper, till atlast it resembled a Devonshire lane in stone, and hid us perfectly fromthe gaze of anybody on the slope below, if there had been anybody togaze. This lane (which appeared to be a natural formation) continuedfor some fifty or sixty paces, and then suddenly ended in a cave, alsonatural, running at right angles to it. I am sure it was a naturalcave, and not hollowed by the hand of man, because of its irregular andcontorted shape and course, which gave it the appearance of having beenblown bodily in the mountain by some frightful eruption of gas followingthe line of the least resistance. All the caves hollowed by the ancientsof Kôr, on the contrary, were cut out with the most perfect regularityand symmetry. At the mouth of this cave Ayesha halted, and bade us lightthe two lamps, which I did, giving one to her and keeping the othermyself. Then, taking the lead, she advanced down the cavern, picking herway with great care, as indeed it was necessary to do, for the floor wasmost irregular--strewn with boulders like the bed of a stream, and insome places pitted with deep holes, in which it would have been easy tobreak one's leg. This cavern we pursued for twenty minutes or more, it being, so far asI could form a judgment--owing to its numerous twists and turns no easytask--about a quarter of a mile long. At last, however, we halted at its farther end, and whilst I was stilltrying to pierce the gloom a great gust of air came tearing down it, andextinguished both the lamps. Ayesha called to us, and we crept up to her, for she was a little infront, and were rewarded with a view that was positively appalling inits gloom and grandeur. Before us was a mighty chasm in the black rock, jagged and torn and splintered through it in a far past age by someawful convulsion of Nature, as though it had been cleft by stroke uponstroke of the lightning. This chasm, which was bounded by a precipice onthe hither, and presumably, though we could not see it, on the fartherside also, may have measured any width across, but from its darkness Ido not think it can have been very broad. It was impossible to make outmuch of its outline, or how far it ran, for the simple reason that thepoint where we were standing was so far from the upper surface of thecliff, at least fifteen hundred or two thousand feet, that only a verydim light struggled down to us from above. The mouth of the cavern thatwe had been following gave on to a most curious and tremendous spurof rock, which jutted out in mid air into the gulf before us, fora distance of some fifty yards, coming to a sharp point at itstermination, and resembling nothing that I can think of so much as thespur upon the leg of a cock in shape. This huge spur was attached onlyto the parent precipice at its base, which was, of course, enormous, just as the cock's spur is attached to its leg. Otherwise it was utterlyunsupported. "Here must we pass, " said Ayesha. "Be careful lest giddiness overcomeyou, or the wind sweep you into the gulf beneath, for of a truth it hathno bottom;" and, without giving us any further time to get scared, shestarted walking along the spur, leaving us to follow her as best wemight. I was next to her, then came Job, painfully dragging his plank, while Leo brought up the rear. It was a wonderful sight to see thisintrepid woman gliding fearlessly along that dreadful place. For mypart, when I had gone but a very few yards, what between the pressureof the air and the awful sense of the consequences that a slip wouldentail, I found it necessary to go down on my hands and knees and crawl, and so did the other two. But Ayesha never condescended to this. On she went, leaning her bodyagainst the gusts of wind, and never seeming to lose her head or herbalance. In a few minutes we had crossed some twenty paces of this awful bridge, which got narrower at every step, and then all of a sudden a great gustcame tearing along the gorge. I saw Ayesha lean herself against it, butthe strong draught got under her dark cloak, and tore it from her, andaway it went down the wind flapping like a wounded bird. It was dreadfulto see it go, till it was lost in the blackness. I clung to the saddleof rock, and looked round, while, like a living thing, the great spurvibrated with a humming sound beneath us. The sight was a truly awesomeone. There we were poised in the gloom between earth and heaven. Beneathus were hundreds upon hundreds of feet of emptiness that gradually grewdarker, till at last it was absolutely black, and at what depth it endedis more than I can guess. Above was space upon space of giddy air, andfar, far away a line of blue sky. And down this vast gulf upon which wewere pinnacled the great draught dashed and roared, driving clouds andmisty wreaths of vapour before it, till we were nearly blinded, andutterly confused. The whole position was so tremendous and so absolutely unearthly, that Ibelieve it actually lulled our sense of terror, but to this hour I oftensee it in my dreams, and at its mere phantasy wake up covered with coldsweat. "On! on!" cried the white form before us, for now the cloak had gone, _She_ was robed in white, and looked more like a spirit riding down thegale than a woman; "On, or ye will fall and be dashed to pieces. Keepyour eyes fixed upon the ground, and closely hug the rock. " We obeyed her, and crept painfully along the quivering path, againstwhich the wind shrieked and wailed as it shook it, causing it to murmurlike a vast tuning-fork. On we went, I do not know for how long, onlygazing round now and again, when it was absolutely necessary, until atlast we saw that we were on the very tip of the spur, a slab of rock, little larger than an ordinary table, that throbbed and jumped like anyover-engined steamer. There we lay, clinging to the ground, and lookedabout us, while Ayesha stood leaning out against the wind, down whichher long hair streamed, and, absolutely heedless of the hideous depththat yawned beneath, pointed before her. Then we saw why the narrowplank had been provided, which Job and I had painfully dragged alongbetween us. Before us was an empty space, on the other side of which wassomething, as yet we could not see what, for here--either owing to theshadow of the opposite cliff, or from some other cause--the gloom wasthat of night. "We must wait awhile, " called Ayesha; "soon there will be light. " At the moment I could not imagine what she meant. How could more lightthan there was ever come to this dreadful spot? While I was stillwondering, suddenly, like a great sword of flame, a beam from thesetting sun pierced the Stygian gloom, and smote upon the point ofrock whereon we lay, illumining Ayesha's lovely form with an unearthlysplendour. I only wish I could describe the wild and marvellous beautyof that sword of fire, laid across the darkness and rushing mist-wreathsof the gulf. How it got there I do not to this moment know, but Ipresume that there was some cleft or hole in the opposing cliff, throughwhich it pierced when the setting orb was in a direct line therewith. All I can say is, that the effect was the most wonderful that I eversaw. Right through the heart of the darkness that flaming sword wasstabbed, and where it lay there was the most surpassingly vivid light, so vivid that even at a distance we could see the grain of the rock, while, outside of it--yes, within a few inches of its keen edge--wasnaught but clustering shadows. And now, by this ray of light, for which _She_ had been waiting, andtimed our arrival to meet, knowing that at this season for thousands ofyears it had always struck thus at sunset, we saw what was before us. Within eleven or twelve feet of the very tip of the tongue-like rockwhereon we stood there arose, presumably from the far bottom of thegulf, a sugarloaf-shaped cone, of which the summit was exactly oppositeto us. But had there been a summit only it would not have helped usmuch, for the nearest point of its circumference was some forty feetfrom where we were. On the lip of this summit, however, which wascircular and hollow, rested a tremendous flat boulder, something like aglacier stone--perhaps it was one, for all I know to the contrary--andthe end of this boulder approached to within twelve feet or so of us. This huge rock was nothing more or less than a gigantic rocking-stone, accurately balanced upon the edge of the cone or miniature crater, likea half-crown on the rim of a wine-glass; for, in the fierce light thatplayed upon it and us, we could see it oscillating in the gusts of wind. "Quick!" said Ayesha; "the plank--we must cross while the light endures;presently it will be gone. " "Oh, Lord, sir!" groaned Job, "surely she don't mean us to walk acrossthat there place on that there thing, " as in obedience to my directionhe pushed the long board towards me. "That's it, Job, " I halloaed in ghastly merriment, though the idea ofwalking the plank was no pleasanter to me than to him. I pushed the board on to Ayesha, who deftly ran it across the gulf sothat one end of it rested on the rocking-stone, the other remaining onthe extremity of the trembling spur. Then placing her foot upon it toprevent it from being blown away, she turned to me. "Since I was last here, oh Holly, " she called, "the support of themoving stone hath lessened somewhat, so that I am not certain if it willbear our weight or no. Therefore will I cross the first, because noharm will come unto me, " and, without further ado, she trod lightly butfirmly across the frail bridge, and in another second was standing safeupon the heaving stone. "It is safe, " she called. "See, hold thou the plank! I will stand onthe farther side of the stone so that it may not overbalance with yourgreater weights. Now, come, oh Holly, for presently the light will failus. " I struggled to my knees, and if ever I felt terrified in my life it wasthen, and I am not ashamed to say that I hesitated and hung back. "Surely thou art not afraid, " this strange creature called in a lull ofthe gale, from where she stood poised like a bird on the highest pointof the rocking-stone. "Make way then for Kallikrates. " This settled me; it is better to fall down a precipice and die thanbe laughed at by such a woman; so I clenched my teeth, and in anotherinstant I was on that horrible, narrow, bending plank, with bottomlessspace beneath and around me. I have always hated a great height, butnever before did I realise the full horrors of which such a position iscapable. Oh, the sickening sensation of that yielding board resting onthe two moving supports. I grew dizzy, and thought that I must fall;my spine _crept_; it seemed to me that I was falling, and my delight atfinding myself sprawling upon that stone, which rose and fell beneath melike a boat in a swell, cannot be expressed in words. All I know is thatbriefly, but earnestly enough, I thanked Providence for preserving me sofar. Then came Leo's turn, and though he looked rather queer, he came acrosslike a rope-dancer. Ayesha stretched out her hand to clasp his own, andI heard her say, "Bravely done, my love--bravely done! The old Greekspirit lives in thee yet!" And now only poor Job remained on the farther side of the gulf. He creptup to the plank, and yelled out, "I can't do it, sir. I shall fall intothat beastly place. " "You must, " I remember saying with inappropriate facetiousness--"youmust, Job, it's as easy as catching flies. " I suppose that I musthave said it to satisfy my conscience, because although the expressionconveys a wonderful idea of facility, as a matter of fact I know no moredifficult operation in the whole world than catching flies--that is, inwarm weather, unless, indeed, it is catching mosquitoes. "I can't, sir--I can't, indeed. " "Let the man come, or let him stop and perish there. See, the light isdying! In a moment it will be gone!" said Ayesha. I looked. She was right. The sun was passing below the level of the holeor cleft in the precipice through which the ray reached us. "If you stop there, Job, you will die alone, " I called; "the light isgoing. " "Come, be a man, Job, " roared Leo; "it's quite easy. " Thus adjured, the miserable Job, with a most awful yell, precipitatedhimself face downwards on the plank--he did not dare, small blame tohim, to try to walk it, and commenced to draw himself across in littlejerks, his poor legs hanging down on either side into the nothingnessbeneath. His violent jerks at the frail board made the great stone, which wasonly balanced on a few inches of rock, oscillate in a most dreadfulmanner, and, to make matters worse, when he was half-way across theflying ray of lurid light suddenly went out, just as though a lamphad been extinguished in a curtained room, leaving the whole howlingwilderness of air black with darkness. "Come on, Job, for God's sake!" I shouted in an agony of fear, while thestone, gathering motion with every swing, rocked so violently that itwas difficult to hang on to it. It was a truly awful position. "Lord have mercy on me!" cried poor Job from the darkness. "Oh, theplank's slipping!" and I heard a violent struggle, and thought that hewas gone. But at that moment his outstretched hand, clasping in agony at theair, met my own, and I hauled--ah, how I did haul, putting out allthe strength that it has pleased Providence to give me in suchabundance--and to my joy in another minute Job was gasping on the rockbeside me. But the plank! I felt it slip, and heard it knock against aprojecting knob of rock, and it was gone. "Great heavens!" I exclaimed. "How are we going to get back?" "I don't know, " answered Leo, out of the gloom. "'Sufficient to the dayis the evil thereof, ' I am thankful enough to be here. " But Ayesha merely called to me to take her hand and creep after her. XXV THE SPIRIT OF LIFE I did as I was bid, and in fear and trembling felt myself guided overthe edge of the stone. I sprawled my legs out, but could touch nothing. "I am going to fall!" I gasped. "Nay, let thyself go, and trust to me, " answered Ayesha. Now, if the position is considered, it will be easily understood thatthis was a greater demand upon my confidence than was justified by myknowledge of Ayesha's character. For all I knew she might be in the veryact of consigning me to a horrible doom. But in life we sometimes haveto lay our faith upon strange altars, and so it was now. "Let thyself go!" she cried, and, having no choice, I did. I felt myself slide a pace or two down the sloping surface of the rock, and then pass into the air, and the thought flashed through my brainthat I was lost. But no! In another instant my feet struck against arocky floor, and I felt that I was standing upon something solid, andout of reach of the wind, which I could hear singing away overhead. AsI stood there thanking Heaven for these small mercies, there was a slipand a scuffle, and down came Leo alongside of me. "Hulloa, old fellow!" he called out, "are you there? This is gettinginteresting, is it not?" Just then, with a terrific yell, Job arrived right on the top of us, knocking us both down. By the time we had struggled to our feet againAyesha was standing among us, and bidding us light the lamps, whichfortunately remained uninjured, as also did the spare jar of oil. I got out my box of wax matches, and they struck as merrily, there, inthat awful place, as they could have done in a London drawing-room. In a couple of minutes both the lamps were alight and revealed a curiousscene. We were huddled together in a rocky chamber, some ten feetsquare, and scared enough we looked; that is, except Ayesha, who wasstanding calmly with her arms folded, and waiting for the lamps to burnup. The chamber appeared to be partly natural, and partly hollowed outof the top of the cone. The roof of the natural part was formed of theswinging stone, and that of the back part of the chamber, which slopeddownwards, was hewn from the live rock. For the rest, the place was warmand dry--a perfect haven of rest compared to the giddy pinnacle above, and the quivering spur that shot out to meet it in mid-air. "So!" said _She_, "safely have we come, though once I feared thatthe rocking stone would fall with you, and precipitate you into thebottomless depths beneath, for I do believe that the cleft goeth downto the very womb of the world. The rock whereon the stone resteth hathcrumbled beneath the swinging weight. And now that he, " nodding towardsJob, who was sitting on the floor, feebly wiping his forehead with a redcotton pocket-handkerchief, "whom they rightly call the 'Pig, ' for as apig is he stupid, hath let fall the plank, it will not be easy to returnacross the gulf, and to that end must I make a plan. But now rest awhile, and look upon this place. What think ye that it is?" "We know not, " I answered. "Wouldst thou believe, oh Holly, that once a man did choose this airynest for a daily habitation, and did here endure for many years; leavingit only but one day in every twelve to seek food and water and oil thatthe people brought, more than he could carry, and laid as an offering inthe mouth of the tunnel through which we passed hither?" We looked up wonderingly, and she continued-- "Yet so it was. There was a man--Noot, he named himself--who, thoughhe lived in the latter days, had of the wisdom of the sons of Kôr. Ahermit was he, and a philosopher, and greatly skilled in the secretsof Nature, and he it was who discovered the Fire that I shall show you, which is Nature's blood and life, and also that he who bathed therein, and breathed thereof, should live while Nature lives. But like untothee, oh Holly, this man, Noot, would not turn his knowledge to account. 'Ill, ' he said, 'was it for man to live, for man was born to die. 'Therefore did he tell his secret to none, and therefore did he come andlive here, where the seeker after Life must pass, and was revered ofthe Amahagger of the day as holy, and a hermit. And when first I came tothis country--knowest thou how I came, Kallikrates? Another time I willtell thee, for it is a strange tale--I heard of this philosopher, andwaited for him when he came to fetch his food, and returned with himhither, though greatly did I fear to tread the gulf. Then did I beguilehim with my beauty and my wit, and flatter him with my tongue, so thathe led me down and showed me the Fire, and told me the secrets of theFire, but he would not suffer me to step therein, and, fearing lest heshould slay me, I refrained, knowing that the man was very old, and soonwould die. And I returned, having learned from him all that he knew ofthe wonderful Spirit of the World, and that was much, for the manwas wise and very ancient, and by purity and abstinence, and thecontemplations of his innocent mind, had worn thin the veil between thatwhich we see and the great invisible truths, the whisper of whose wingsat times we hear as they sweep through the gross air of the world. Then--it was but a very few days after, I met thee, my Kallikrates, who hadst wandered hither with the beautiful Egyptian Amenartas, and Ilearned to love for the first and last time, once and for ever, so thatit entered into my mind to come hither with thee, and receive the giftof Life for thee and me. Therefore came we, with that Egyptian who wouldnot be left behind, and, behold, we found the old man Noot lying butnewly dead. _There_ he lay, and his white beard covered him like agarment, " and she pointed to a spot near where I was sitting; "butsurely he hath long since crumbled into dust, and the wind hath bornehis ashes hence. " Here I put out my hand and felt in the dust, and presently my fingerstouched something. It was a human tooth, very yellow, but sound. I heldit up and showed it to Ayesha, who laughed. "Yes, " she said, "it is his without a doubt. Behold what remaineth ofNoot, and the wisdom of Noot--one little tooth! And yet that man had alllife at his command, and for his conscience' sake would have none ofit. Well, he lay there newly dead, and we descended whither I shall leadyou, and then, gathering up all my courage, and courting death thatI might perchance win so glorious a crown of life, I stepped into theflames, and behold! life such as ye can never know until ye feel italso, flowed into me, and I came forth undying, and lovely beyondimagining. Then did I stretch out mine arms to thee, Kallikrates, and bid thee take thine immortal bride, and behold, as I spoke, thou, blinded by my beauty, didst turn from me, and throw thine arms about theneck of Amenartas. And then a great fury filled me, and made me mad, and I seized the javelin that thou didst bear, and stabbed thee, so thatthere, at my very feet, in the place of Life, thou didst groan and godown into death. I knew not then that I had strength to slay with mineeyes and by the power of my will, therefore in my madness slew I withthe javelin. [*] [*] It will be observed that Ayesha's account of the death of Kallikrates differs materially from that written on the potsherd by Amenartas. The writing on the sherd says, "Then in her rage did she smite him _by her magic_, and he died. " We never ascertained which was the correct version, but it will be remembered that the body of Kallikrates had a spear- wound in the breast, which seems conclusive, unless, indeed, it was inflicted after death. Another thing that we never ascertained was _how_ the two women--_She_ and the Egyptian Amenartas--were able to bear the corpse of the man they both loved across the dread gulf and along the shaking spur. What a spectacle the two distracted creatures must have presented in their grief and loveliness as they toiled along that awful place with the dead man between them! Probably however the passage was easier then. --L. H. H. "And when thou wast dead, ah! I wept, because I was undying and thouwast dead. I wept there in the place of Life so that had I been mortalany more my heart had surely broken. And she, the swart Egyptian--shecursed me by her gods. By Osiris did she curse me and by Isis, byNephthys and by Anubis, by Sekhet, the cat-headed, and by Set, callingdown evil on me, evil and everlasting desolation. Ah! I can see her darkface now lowering o'er me like a storm, but she could not hurt me, andI--I know not if I could hurt her. I did not try; it was naught to methen; so together we bore thee hence. And afterwards I sent her--theEgyptian--away through the swamps, and it seems that she lived to beara son and to write the tale that should lead thee, her husband, back tome, her rival and thy murderess. "Such is the tale, my love, and now is the hour at hand that shall seta crown upon it. Like all things on the earth, it is compounded of eviland of good--more of evil than of good, perchance; and writ in lettersof blood. It is the truth; naught have I hidden from thee, Kallikrates. And now one thing before the final moment of thy trial. We go downinto the presence of Death, for Life and Death are very near together, and--who knoweth?--that might happen which should separate us foranother space of waiting. I am but a woman, and no prophetess, and Icannot read the future. But this I know--for I learned it from thelips of the wise man Noot--that my life is but prolonged and made morebright. It cannot live for aye. Therefore, before we go, tell me, ohKallikrates, that of a truth thou dost forgive me, and dost love me fromthy heart. See, Kallikrates: much evil have I done--perchance it wasevil but two nights ago to strike that girl who loved thee cold indeath--but she disobeyed me and angered me, prophesying misfortune tome, and I smote. Be careful when power comes to thee also, lest thoutoo shouldst smite in thine anger or thy jealousy, for unconquerablestrength is a sore weapon in the hands of erring man. Yea, I havesinned--out of the bitterness born of a great love have I sinned--butyet do I know the good from the evil, nor is my heart altogetherhardened. Thy love, Kallikrates, shall be the gate of my redemption, even as aforetime my passion was the path down which I ran to evil. Fordeep love unsatisfied is the hell of noble hearts and a portion of theaccursed, but love that is mirrored back more perfect from the soul ofour desired doth fashion wings to lift us above ourselves, and makes uswhat we might be. Therefore, Kallikrates, take me by the hand, and liftmy veil with no more fear than though I were some peasant girl, and notthe wisest and most beauteous woman in this wide world, and look me inthe eyes, and tell me that thou dost forgive me with all thine heart, and that will all thine heart thou dost worship me. " She paused, and the strange tenderness in her voice seemed to hoverround us like a memory. I know that the sound of it moved me more eventhan her words, it was so very human--so very womanly. Leo, too, wasstrangely touched. Hitherto he had been fascinated against his betterjudgment, something as a bird is fascinated by a snake, but now I thinkthat all this passed away, and he realised that he really loved thisstrange and glorious creature, as, alas! I loved her also. At any rate, I saw his eyes fill with tears, and he stepped swiftly to her and undidthe gauzy veil, and then took her by the hand, and, gazing into her deepeyes, said aloud-- "Ayesha, I love thee with all my heart, and so far as forgiveness ispossible I forgive thee the death of Ustane. For the rest, it is betweenthee and thy Maker; I know naught of it. I only know that I love thee asI never loved before, and that I will cleave to thee to the end. " "Now, " answered Ayesha, with proud humility--"now when my lord dothspeak thus royally and give with so free a hand, it cannot become me tolag behind in words, and be beggared of my generosity. Behold!" and shetook his hand and placed it upon her shapely head, and then bent herselfslowly down till one knee for an instant touched the ground--"Behold! intoken of submission do I bow me to my lord! Behold!" and she kissed himon the lips, "in token of my wifely love do I kiss my lord. Behold!"and she laid her hand upon his heart, "by the sin I sinned, by my lonelycenturies of waiting wherewith it was wiped out, by the great lovewherewith I love, and by the Spirit--the Eternal Thing that doth begetall life, from whom it ebbs, to whom it doth return again--I swear:-- "I swear, even in this most holy hour of completed Womanhood, that Iwill abandon Evil and cherish Good. I swear that I will be ever guidedby thy voice in the straightest path of Duty. I swear that I will eschewAmbition, and through all my length of endless days set Wisdom over meas a guiding star to lead me unto Truth and a knowledge of the Right. I swear also that I will honour and will cherish thee, Kallikrates, whohast been swept by the wave of time back into my arms, ay, till the veryend, come it soon or late. I swear--nay, I will swear no more, for whatare words? Yet shalt thou learn that Ayesha hath no false tongue. "So I have sworn, and thou, my Holly, at witness to my oath. Here, too, are we wed, my husband, with the gloom for bridal canopy--wed till theend of all things; here do we write our marriage vows upon the rushingwinds which shall bear them up to heaven, and round and continuallyround this rolling world. "And for a bridal gift I crown thee with my beauty's starry crown, andenduring life, and wisdom without measure, and wealth that none cancount. Behold! the great ones of the earth shall creep about thy feet, and its fair women shall cover up their eyes because of the shiningglory of thy countenance, and its wise ones shall be abased before thee. Thou shalt read the hearts of men as an open writing, and hither andthither shalt thou lead them as thy pleasure listeth. Like that oldSphinx of Egypt shalt thou sit aloft from age to age, and ever shallthey cry to thee to solve the riddle of thy greatness that doth not passaway, and ever shalt thou mock them with thy silence! "Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee dominionover sea and earth, over the peasant in his hovel, over the monarch inhis palace halls, and cities crowned with towers, and those who breathetherein. Where'er the sun shakes out his spears, and the lonesome watersmirror up the moon, where'er storms roll, and Heaven's painted bows archin the sky--from the pure North clad in snows, across the middle spacesof the world, to where the amorous South, lying like a bride upon herblue couch of seas, breathes in sighs made sweet with the odour ofmyrtles--there shall thy power pass and thy dominion find a home. Norsickness, nor icy-fingered fear, nor sorrow, and pale waste of form andmind hovering ever o'er humanity, shall so much as shadow thee with theshadow of their wings. As a God shalt thou be, holding good and evil inthe hollow of thy hand, and I, even I, I humble myself before thee. Such is the power of Love, and such is the bridal gift I give unto thee, Kallikrates, my Lord and Lord of All. "And now it is done; now for thee I loose my virgin zone; and comestorm, come shine, come good, come evil, come life, come death, itnever, never can be undone. For, of a truth, that which is, is, and, being done, is done for aye, and cannot be altered. I have said--Let ushence, that all things may be accomplished in their order;" and, takingone of the lamps, she advanced towards the end of the chamber that wasroofed in by the swaying stone, where she halted. We followed her, and perceived that in the wall of the cone there was astair, or, to be more accurate, that some projecting knobs of rock hadbeen so shaped as to form a good imitation of a stair. Down this Ayeshabegan to climb, springing from step to step, like a chamois, and afterher we followed with less grace. When we had descended some fifteenor sixteen steps we found that they ended in a tremendous rocky slope, running first outwards and then inwards--like the slope of an invertedcone, or tunnel. The slope was very steep, and often precipitous, butit was nowhere impassable, and by the light of the lamps we went down itwith no great difficulty, though it was gloomy work enough travelling onthus, no one of us knew whither, into the dead heart of a volcano. Aswe went, however, I took the precaution of noting our route as well asI could; and this was not so very difficult, owing to the extraordinaryand most fantastic shape of the rocks that were strewn about, many ofwhich in that dim light looked more like the grim faces carven uponmediæval gargoyles than ordinary boulders. For a long time we travelled on thus, half an hour I should say, till, after we had descended for many hundreds of feet, I perceived that wewere reaching the point of the inverted cone. In another minute we werethere, and found that at the very apex of the funnel was a passage, solow and narrow that we had to stoop as we crept along it in Indian file. After some fifty yards of this creeping, the passage suddenly widenedinto a cave, so huge that we could see neither the roof nor the sides. We only knew that it was a cave by the echo of our tread and the perfectquiet of the heavy air. On we went for many minutes in absolute awedsilence, like lost souls in the depths of Hades, Ayesha's white andghost-like form flitting in front of us, till once more the place endedin a passage which opened into a second cavern much smaller than thefirst. Indeed, we could clearly make out the arch and stony banks ofthis second cave, and, from their rent and jagged appearance, discoveredthat, like the first long passage down which we had passed through thecliff before we reached the quivering spur, it had, to all appearance, been torn in the bowels of the rock by the terrific force of someexplosive gas. At length this cave ended in a third passage, throughwhich gleamed a faint glow of light. I heard Ayesha give a sigh of relief as this light dawned upon us. "It is well, " she said; "prepare to enter the very womb of the Earth, wherein she doth conceive the Life that ye see brought forth in man andbeast--ay, and in every tree and flower. " Swiftly she sped along, and after her we stumbled as best we might, ourhearts filled like a cup with mingled dread and curiosity. What were weabout to see? We passed down the tunnel; stronger and stronger the lightbeamed, reaching us in great flashes like the rays from a lighthouse, asone by one they are thrown wide upon the darkness of the waters. Nor wasthis all, for with the flashes came a soul-shaking sound like that ofthunder and of crashing trees. Now we were through it, and--oh heavens! We stood in a third cavern, some fifty feet in length by perhaps asgreat a height, and thirty wide. It was carpeted with fine white sand, and its walls had been worn smooth by the action of I know not what. Thecavern was not dark like the others, it was filled with a soft glow ofrose-coloured light, more beautiful to look on than anything that canbe conceived. But at first we saw no flashes, and heard no more of thethunderous sound. Presently, however, as we stood in amaze, gazing atthe marvellous sight, and wondering whence the rosy radiance flowed, adread and beautiful thing happened. Across the far end of thecavern, with a grinding and crashing noise--a noise so dreadful andawe-inspiring that we all trembled, and Job actually sank to hisknees--there flamed out an awful cloud or pillar of fire, like a rainbowmany-coloured, and like the lightning bright. For a space, perhaps fortyseconds, it flamed and roared thus, turning slowly round and round, andthen by degrees the terrible noise ceased, and with the fire it passedaway--I know not where--leaving behind it the same rosy glow that we hadfirst seen. "Draw near, draw near!" cried Ayesha, with a voice of thrillingexultation. "Behold the very Fountain and Heart of Life as it beats inthe bosom of the great world. Behold the substance from which all thingsdraw their energy, the bright Spirit of the Globe, without which itcannot live, but must grow cold and dead as the dead moon. Draw near, and wash you in the living flames, and take their virtue into your poorframes in all its virgin strength--not as it now feebly glows withinyour bosoms, filtered thereto through all the fine strainers of athousand intermediate lives, but as it is here in the very fount andseat of earthly Being. " We followed her through the rosy glow up to the head of the cave, tillat last we stood before the spot where the great pulse beat and thegreat flame passed. And as we went we became sensible of a wild andsplendid exhilaration, of a glorious sense of such a fierce intensity ofLife that the most buoyant moments of our strength seemed flat and tameand feeble beside it. It was the mere effluvium of the flame, the subtleether that it cast off as it passed, working on us, and making us feelstrong as giants and swift as eagles. We reached the head of the cave, and gazed at each other in the gloriousglow, and laughed aloud--even Job laughed, and he had not laughed for aweek--in the lightness of our hearts and the divine intoxication of ourbrains. I know that I felt as though all the varied genius of which thehuman intellect is capable had descended upon me. I could have spokenin blank verse of Shakesperian beauty, all sorts of great ideas flashedthrough my mind; it was as though the bonds of my flesh had beenloosened and left the spirit free to soar to the empyrean of its nativepower. The sensations that poured in upon me are indescribable. I seemedto live more keenly, to reach to a higher joy, and sip the goblet of asubtler thought than ever it had been my lot to do before. I was anotherand most glorified self, and all the avenues of the Possible were for aspace laid open to the footsteps of the Real. Then, suddenly, whilst I rejoiced in this splendid vigour of a new-foundself, from far, far away there came a dreadful muttering noise, thatgrew and grew to a crash and a roar, which combined in itself all thatis terrible and yet splendid in the possibilities of sound. Nearer itcame, and nearer yet, till it was close upon us, rolling down like allthe thunder-wheels of heaven behind the horses of the lightning. Onit came, and with it came the glorious blinding cloud of many-colouredlight, and stood before us for a space, turning, as it seemed to us, slowly round and round, and then, accompanied by its attendant pomp ofsound, passed away I know not whither. So astonishing was the wondrous sight that one and all of us, save_She_, who stood up and stretched her hands towards the fire, sank downbefore it, and hid our faces in the sand. When it was gone, Ayesha spoke. "Now, Kallikrates, " she said, "the mighty moment is at hand. When thegreat flame comes again thou must stand in it. First throw aside thygarments, for it will burn them, though thee it will not hurt. Thou muststand in the flame while thy senses will endure, and when it embracesthee suck the fire down into thy very heart, and let it leap and playaround thy every part, so that thou lose no moiety of its virtue. Hearest thou me, Kallikrates?" "I hear thee, Ayesha, " answered Leo, "but, of a truth--I am nocoward--but I doubt me of that raging flame. How know I that it willnot utterly destroy me, so that I lose myself and lose thee also?Nevertheless will I do it, " he added. Ayesha thought for a minute, and then said-- "It is not wonderful that thou shouldst doubt. Tell me, Kallikrates:if thou seest me stand in the flame and come forth unharmed, wilt thouenter also?" "Yes, " he answered, "I will enter even if it slay me. I have said that Iwill enter now. " "And that will I also, " I cried. "What, my Holly!" she laughed aloud; "methought that thou wouldst naughtof length of days. Why, how is this?" "Nay, I know not, " I answered, "but there is that in my heart thatcalleth me to taste of the flame and live. " "It is well, " she said. "Thou art not altogether lost in folly. See now, I will for the second time bathe me in this living bath. Fain would Iadd to my beauty and my length of days if that be possible. If it be notpossible, at the least it cannot harm me. "Also, " she continued, after a momentary pause, "is there another anda deeper cause why I would once again dip me in the flame. When first Itasted of its virtue full was my heart of passion and of hatred ofthat Egyptian Amenartas, and therefore, despite my strivings to be ridthereof, have passion and hatred been stamped upon my soul from that sadhour to this. But now it is otherwise. Now is my mood a happy mood, andfilled am I with the purest part of thought, and so would I ever be. Therefore, Kallikrates, will I once more wash and make me pure andclean, and yet more fit for thee. Therefore also, when thou dost in turnstand in the fire, empty all thy heart of evil, and let soft contentmenthold the balance of thy mind. Shake loose thy spirit's wings, and takethy stand upon the utter verge of holy contemplation; ay, dream upon thymother's kiss, and turn thee towards the vision of the highest good thathath ever swept on silver wings across the silence of thy dreams. Forfrom the germ of what thou art in that dread moment shall grow the fruitof what thou shalt be for all unreckoned time. "Now prepare thee, prepare! even as though thy last hour were at hand, and thou wast to cross to the Land of Shadows, and not through the Gatesof Glory into the realms of Life made beautiful. Prepare, I say!" XXVI WHAT WE SAW Then came a few moments' pause, during which Ayesha seemed to begathering up her strength for the fiery trial, while we clung to eachother, and waited in utter silence. At last, from far far away, came the first murmur of sound, that grewand grew till it began to crash and bellow in the distance. As she heardit, Ayesha swiftly threw off her gauzy wrapping, loosened the goldensnake from her kirtle, and then, shaking her lovely hair about her likea garment, beneath its cover slipped the kirtle off and replaced thesnaky belt around her and outside the masses of her falling hair. Thereshe stood before us as Eve might have stood before Adam, clad in nothingbut her abundant locks, held round her by the golden band; and no wordsof mine can tell how sweet she looked--and yet how divine. Nearer andnearer came the thunder-wheels of fire, and as they came she pushed oneivory arm through the dark masses of her hair and flung it round Leo'sneck. "Oh, my love, my love!" she murmured, "wilt thou ever know how I haveloved thee?" and she kissed him on the forehead, and then went and stoodin the pathway of the flame of Life. There was, I remember, to my mind something very touching about herwords and that embrace upon the forehead. It was like a mother's kiss, and seemed to convey a benediction with it. On came the crashing, rolling noise, and the sound of it was as thesound of a forest being swept flat by a mighty wind, and then tossedup like so much grass, and thundered down a mountain-side. Nearer andnearer it came; now flashes of light, forerunners of the revolvingpillar of flame, were passing like arrows through the rosy air; and nowthe edge of the pillar itself appeared. Ayesha turned towards it, andstretched out her arms to greet it. On it came very slowly, and lappedher round with flame. I saw the fire run up her form. I saw her lift itwith both hands as though it were water, and pour it over her head. Ieven saw her open her mouth and draw it down into her lungs, and a dreadand wonderful sight it was. Then she paused, and stretched out her arms, and stood there quitestill, with a heavenly smile upon her face, as though she were the verySpirit of the Flame. The mysterious fire played up and down her dark and rolling locks, twining and twisting itself through and around them like threads ofgolden lace; it gleamed upon her ivory breast and shoulder, from whichthe hair had slipped aside; it slid along her pillared throat anddelicate features, and seemed to find a home in the glorious eyes thatshone and shone, more brightly even than the spiritual essence. Oh, how beautiful she looked there in the flame! No angel out of heavencould have worn a greater loveliness. Even now my heart faints beforethe recollection of it, as she stood and smiled at our awed faces, andI would give half my remaining time upon this earth to see her once likethat again. But suddenly--more suddenly than I can describe--a kind of change cameover her face, a change which I could not define or explain, but nonethe less a change. The smile vanished, and in its place there came adry, hard look; the rounded face seemed to grow pinched, as though somegreat anxiety were leaving its impress upon it. The glorious eyes, too, lost their light, and, as I thought, the form its perfect shape anderectness. I rubbed my eyes, thinking that I was the victim of some hallucination, or that the refraction from the intense light produced an opticaldelusion; and, as I did so, the flaming pillar slowly twisted andthundered off whithersoever it passes to in the bowels of the greatearth, leaving Ayesha standing where it had been. As soon as it was gone, she stepped forward to Leo's side--it seemed tome that there was no spring in her step--and stretched out her handto lay it on his shoulder. I gazed at her arm. Where was its wonderfulroundness and beauty? It was getting thin and angular. And her face--byHeaven!--_her face was growing old before my eyes!_ I suppose that Leosaw it also; certainly he recoiled a step or two. "What is it, my Kallikrates?" she said, and her voice--what was thematter with those deep and thrilling notes? They were quite high andcracked. "Why, what is it--what is it?" she said confusedly. "I feel dazed. Surely the quality of the fire hath not altered. Can the principle ofLife alter? Tell me, Kallikrates, is there aught wrong with my eyes?I see not clear, " and she put her hand to her head and touched herhair--and oh, _horror of horrors!_--it all fell upon the floor. "Oh, _look!--look!--look!_" shrieked Job, in a shrill falsetto ofterror, his eyes nearly dropping out of his head, and foam upon hislips. "_Look!--look!--look!_ she's shrivelling up! she's turning intoa monkey!" and down he fell upon the ground, foaming and gnashing in afit. True enough--I faint even as I write it in the living presence of thatterrible recollection--she _was_ shrivelling up; the golden snake thathad encircled her gracious form slipped over her hips and to the ground;smaller and smaller she grew; her skin changed colour, and in place ofthe perfect whiteness of its lustre it turned dirty brown and yellow, like an piece of withered parchment. She felt at her head: thedelicate hand was nothing but a claw now, a human talon like that of abadly-preserved Egyptian mummy, and then she seemed to realise what kindof change was passing over her, and she shrieked--ah, she shrieked!--sherolled upon the floor and shrieked! Smaller she grew, and smaller yet, till she was no larger than a monkey. Now the skin was puckered into a million wrinkles, and on the shapelessface was the stamp of unutterable age. I never saw anything like it;nobody ever saw anything like the frightful age that was graven on thatfearful countenance, no bigger now than that of a two-months' child, though the skull remained the same size, or nearly so, and let all menpray they never may, if they wish to keep their reason. At last she lay still, or only feebly moving. She, who but two minutesbefore had gazed upon us the loveliest, noblest, most splendid woman theworld has ever seen, she lay still before us, near the masses of her owndark hair, no larger than a big monkey, and hideous--ah, too hideous forwords. And yet, think of this--at that very moment I thought of it--itwas the _same_ woman! She was dying: we saw it, and thanked God--for while she lived she couldfeel, and what must she have felt? She raised herself upon her bonyhands, and blindly gazed around her, swaying her head slowly from sideto side as a tortoise does. She could not see, for her whitish eyes werecovered with a horny film. Oh, the horrible pathos of the sight! But shecould still speak. "Kallikrates, " she said in husky, trembling notes. "Forget me not, Kallikrates. Have pity on my shame; I shall come again, and shall oncemore be beautiful, I swear it--it is true! _Oh--h--h--_" and she fellupon her face, and was still. On the very spot where more than twenty centuries before she had slainKallikrates the priest, she herself fell down and died. * * * * * I know not how long we remained thus. Many hours, I suppose. When atlast I opened my eyes, the other two were still outstretched uponthe floor. The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn, and thethunder-wheels of the Spirit of Life yet rolled upon their accustomedtrack, for as I awoke the great pillar was passing away. There, too, laythe hideous little monkey frame, covered with crinkled yellow parchment, that once had been the glorious _She_. Alas! it was no hideous dream--itwas an awful and unparalleled fact! What had happened to bring this shocking change about? Had the natureof the life-giving Fire changed? Did it, perhaps, from time to time sendforth an essence of Death instead of an essence of Life? Or was it thatthe frame once charged with its marvellous virtue could bear no more, so that were the process repeated--it mattered not at what lapse oftime--the two impregnations neutralised each other, and left the bodyon which they acted as it was before it ever came into contact with thevery essence of Life? This, and this alone, would account for the suddenand terrible ageing of Ayesha, as the whole length of her two thousandyears took effect upon her. I have not the slightest doubt myself butthat the frame now lying before me was just what the frame of a womanwould be if by any extraordinary means life could be preserved in hertill she at length died at the age of two-and-twenty centuries. But who can tell what had happened? There was the fact. Often since thatawful hour I have reflected that it requires no great imagination to seethe finger of Providence in the matter. Ayesha locked up in her livingtomb waiting from age to age for the coming of her lover worked but asmall change in the order of the World. But Ayesha strong and happy inher love, clothed in immortal youth and goddess beauty, and the wisdomof the centuries, would have revolutionised society, and even perchancehave changed the destiny of Mankind. Thus she opposed herself againstthe eternal law, and, strong though she was, by it was swept back tonothingness--swept back with shame and hideous mockery! For some minutes I lay faintly turning these terrors over in my mind, while my physical strength came back to me, which it quickly did in thatbuoyant atmosphere. Then I bethought me of the others, and staggeredto my feet, to see if I could arouse them. But first I took up Ayesha'skirtle and the gauzy scarf with which she had been wont to hide herdazzling loveliness from the eyes of men, and, averting my head so thatI might not look upon it, covered up that dreadful relic of the gloriousdead, that shocking epitome of human beauty and human life. I did thishurriedly, fearing lest Leo should recover, and see it again. Then, stepping over the perfumed masses of dark hair that lay upon thesand, I stooped down by Job, who was lying upon his face, and turned himover. As I did so his arm fell back in a way that I did not like, andwhich sent a chill through me, and I glanced sharply at him. One lookwas enough. Our old and faithful servant was dead. His nerves, alreadyshattered by all he had seen and undergone, had utterly broken downbeneath this last dire sight, and he had died of terror, or in a fitbrought on by terror. I had only to look at his face to see it. It was another blow; but perhaps it may help people to understand howoverwhelmingly awful was the experience through which we had passed--wedid not feel it much at the time. It seemed quite natural that the poorfellow should be dead. When Leo came to himself, which he did with agroan and trembling of the limbs about ten minutes afterwards, and Itold him that Job was dead, he merely said, "_Oh!_" And, mind you, thiswas from no heartlessness, for he and Job were much attached to eachother; and he often talks of him now with the deepest regret andaffection. It was only that his nerves would bear no more. A harp cangive out but a certain quantity of sound, however heavily it is smitten. Well, I set myself to recovering Leo, who, to my infinite relief, Ifound was not dead, but only fainting, and in the end I succeeded, as Ihave said, and he sat up; and then I saw another dreadful thing. When weentered that awful place his curling hair had been of the ruddiest gold, now it was turning grey, and by the time we reached the outer air it wassnow white. Besides, he looked twenty years older. "What is to be done, old fellow?" he said in a hollow, dead sort ofvoice, when his mind had cleared a little, and a recollection of whathad happened forced itself upon it. "Try and get out, I suppose, " I answered; "that is, unless you wouldlike to go in there, " and I pointed to the column of fire that was oncemore rolling by. "I would go in if I were sure that it would kill me, " he said with alittle laugh. "It was my cursed hesitation that did this. If I had notbeen doubtful she might never have tried to show me the road. But I amnot sure. The fire might have the opposite effect upon me. It might makeme immortal; and, old fellow, I have not the patience to wait a coupleof thousand years for her to come back again as she did for me. I hadrather die when my hour comes--and I should fancy that it isn't far offeither--and go my ways to look for her. Do you go in if you like. " But I merely shook my head, my excitement was as dead as ditch-water, and my distaste for the prolongation of my mortal span had come backupon me more strongly than ever. Besides, we neither of us knew what theeffects of the fire might be. The result upon _She_ had not been of anencouraging nature, and of the exact causes that produced that result wewere, of course, ignorant. "Well, my boy, " I said, "we cannot stop here till we go the way of thosetwo, " and I pointed to the little heap under the white garment and tothe stiffing corpse of poor Job. "If we are going we had better go. But, by the way, I expect that the lamps have burnt out, " and I took one upand looked at it, and sure enough it had. "There is some more oil in the vase, " said Leo indifferently--"if it isnot broken, at least. " I examined the vessel in question--it was intact. With a tremblinghand I filled the lamps--luckily there was still some of the linen wickunburnt. Then I lit them with one of our wax matches. While I did sowe heard the pillar of fire approaching once more as it went on itsnever-ending journey, if, indeed, it was the same pillar that passed andrepassed in a circle. "Let's see it come once more, " said Leo; "we shall never look upon itslike again in this world. " It seemed a bit of idle curiosity, but somehow I shared it, and so wewaited till, turning slowly round upon its own axis, it had flamed andthundered by; and I remember wondering for how many thousands of yearsthis same phenomenon had been taking place in the bowels of the earth, and for how many more thousands it would continue to take place. Iwondered also if any mortal eyes would ever again mark its passage, orany mortal ears be thrilled and fascinated by the swelling volume of itsmajestic sound. I do not think that they will. I believe that we are thelast human beings who will ever see that unearthly sight. Presently ithad gone, and we too turned to go. But before we did so we each took Job's cold hand in ours and shook it. It was a rather ghastly ceremony, but it was the only means in ourpower of showing our respect to the faithful dead and of celebrating hisobsequies. The heap beneath the white garment we did not uncover. We hadno wish to look upon that terrible sight again. But we went to the pileof rippling hair that had fallen from her in the agony of that hideouschange which was worse than a thousand natural deaths, and each of usdrew from it a shining lock, and these locks we still have, the solememento that is left to us of Ayesha as we knew her in the fulness ofher grace and glory. Leo pressed the perfumed hair to his lips. "She called to me not to forget her, " he said hoarsely; "and swore thatwe should meet again. By Heaven! I never will forget her. Here I swearthat if we live to get out of this, I will not for all my days haveanything to say to another living woman, and that wherever I go I willwait for her as faithfully as she waited for me. " "Yes, " I thought to myself, "if she comes back as beautiful as we knewher. But supposing she came back _like that!_"[*] [*] What a terrifying reflection it is, by the way, that nearly all our deep love for women who are not our kindred depends--at any rate, in the first instance--upon their personal appearance. If we lost them, and found them again dreadful to look on, though otherwise they were the very same, should we still love them? --L. H. H. Well, and then we went. We went, and left those two in the presence ofthe very well and spring of Life, but gathered to the cold company ofDeath. How lonely they looked as they lay there, and how ill assorted!That little heap had been for two thousand years the wisest, loveliest, proudest creature--I can hardly call her woman--in the whole universe. She had been wicked, too, in her way; but, alas! such is the frailtyof the human heart, her wickedness had not detracted from her charm. Indeed, I am by no means certain that it did not add to it. It was afterall of a grand order, there was nothing mean or small about Ayesha. And poor Job too! His presentiment had come true, and there was an endof him. Well, he has a strange burial-place--no Norfolk hind ever had astranger, or ever will; and it is something to lie in the same sepulchreas the poor remains of the imperial _She_. We looked our last upon them and the indescribable rosy glow in whichthey lay, and then with hearts far too heavy for words we left them, andcrept thence broken-down men--so broken down that we even renounced thechance of practically immortal life, because all that made life valuablehad gone from us, and we knew even then that to prolong our daysindefinitely would only be to prolong our sufferings. For we felt--yes, both of us--that having once looked Ayesha in the eyes, we could notforget her for ever and ever while memory and identity remained. Weboth loved her now and for all time, she was stamped and carven on ourhearts, and no other woman or interest could ever raze that splendiddie. And I--there lies the sting--I had and have no right to think thusof her. As she told me, I was naught to her, and never shall be throughthe unfathomed depths of Time, unless, indeed, conditions alter, anda day comes at last when two men may love one woman, and all three behappy in the fact. It is the only hope of my broken-heartedness, and arather faint one. Beyond it I have nothing. I have paid down this heavyprice, all that I am worth here and hereafter, and that is my solereward. With Leo it is different, and often and often I bitterly envyhim his happy lot, for if _She_ was right, and her wisdom and knowledgedid not fail her at the last, which, arguing from the precedent of herown case, I think most unlikely, he has some future to look forward to. But I have none, and yet--mark the folly and the weakness of the humanheart, and let him who is wise learn wisdom from it--yet I would nothave it otherwise. I mean that I am content to give what I have givenand must always give, and take in payment those crumbs that fall frommy mistress's table, the memory of a few kind words, the hope one dayin the far undreamed future of a sweet smile or two of recognition, alittle gentle friendship, and a little show of thanks for my devotion toher--and Leo. If that does not constitute true love, I do not know what does, and allI have to say is that it is a very bad state of affairs for a man on thewrong side of middle age to fall into. XXVII WE LEAP We passed through the caves without trouble, but when we came to theslope of the inverted cone two difficulties stared us in the face. Thefirst of these was the laborious nature of the ascent, and the next theextreme difficulty of finding our way. Indeed, had it not been for themental notes that I had fortunately taken of the shape of various rocks, I am sure that we never should have managed it at all, but have wanderedabout in the dreadful womb of the volcano--for I suppose it mustonce have been something of the sort--until we died of exhaustion anddespair. As it was we went wrong several times, and once nearly fellinto a huge crack or crevasse. It was terrible work creeping aboutin the dense gloom and awful stillness from boulder to boulder, and examining it by the feeble light of the lamps to see if I couldrecognise its shape. We rarely spoke, our hearts were too heavyfor speech, we simply stumbled about, falling sometimes and cuttingourselves, in a rather dogged sort of way. The fact was that our spiritswere utterly crushed, and we did not greatly care what happened to us. Only we felt bound to try and save our lives whilst we could, and indeeda natural instinct prompted us to it. So for some three or four hours, I should think--I cannot tell exactly how long, for we had no watchleft that would go--we blundered on. During the last two hours we werecompletely lost, and I began to fear that we had got into the funnel ofsome subsidiary cone, when at last I suddenly recognised a very largerock which we had passed in descending but a little way from the top. It is a marvel that I should have recognised it, and, indeed, wehad already passed it going at right angles to the proper path, whensomething about it struck me, and I turned back and examined it in anidle sort of way, and, as it happened, this proved our salvation. After this we gained the rocky natural stair without much furthertrouble, and in due course found ourselves back in the little chamberwhere the benighted Noot had lived and died. But now a fresh terror stared us in the face. It will be remembered thatowing to Job's fear and awkwardness, the plank upon which we had crossedfrom the huge spur to the rocking-stone had been whirled off into thetremendous gulf below. How were we to cross without the plank? There was only one answer--we must try and _jump_ it, or else stop theretill we starved. The distance in itself was not so very great, betweeneleven and twelve feet I should think, and I have seen Leo jump overtwenty when he was a young fellow at collage; but then, think of theconditions. Two weary, worn-out men, one of them on the wrong side offorty, a rocking-stone to take off from, a trembling point of rock somefew feet across to land upon, and a bottomless gulf to be cleared in araging gale! It was bad enough, God knows, but when I pointed out thesethings to Leo, he put the whole matter in a nutshell, by replying that, merciless as the choice was, we must choose between the certainty of alingering death in the chamber and the risk of a swift one in the air. Of course, there was no arguing against this, but one thing was clear, we could not attempt that leap in the dark; the only thing to do was towait for the ray of light which pierced through the gulf at sunset. How near to or how far from sunset we might be, neither of us had thefaintest notion; all we did know was, that when at last the light cameit would not endure more than a couple of minutes at the outside, sothat we must be prepared to meet it. Accordingly, we made up our mindsto creep on to the top of the rocking-stone and lie there in readiness. We were the more easily reconciled to this course by the fact that ourlamps were once more nearly exhausted--indeed, one had gone out bodily, and the other was jumping up and down as the flame of a lamp does whenthe oil is done. So, by the aid of its dying light, we hastened to crawlout of the little chamber and clamber up the side of the great stone. As we did so the light went out. The difference in our position was a sufficiently remarkable one. Below, in the little chamber, we had only heard the roaring of thegale overhead--here, lying on our faces on the swinging stone, we wereexposed to its full force and fury, as the great draught drew first fromthis direction and then from that, howling against the mighty precipiceand through the rocky cliffs like ten thousand despairing souls. We laythere hour after hour in terror and misery of mind so deep that I willnot attempt to describe it, and listened to the wild storm-voicesof that Tartarus, as, set to the deep undertone of the spur oppositeagainst which the wind hummed like some awful harp, they called to eachother from precipice to precipice. No nightmare dreamed by man, no wildinvention of the romancer, can ever equal the living horror of thatplace, and the weird crying of those voices of the night, as we clunglike shipwrecked mariners to a raft, and tossed on the black, unfathomedwilderness of air. Fortunately the temperature was not a low one;indeed, the wind was warm, or we should have perished. So we clung andlistened, and while we were stretched out upon the rock a thing happenedwhich was so curious and suggestive in itself, though doubtless a merecoincidence, that, if anything, it added to, rather than deducted from, the burden on our nerves. It will be remembered that when Ayesha was standing on the spur, beforewe crossed to the stone, the wind tore her cloak from her, and whirledit away into the darkness of the gulf, we could not see whither. Well--Ihardly like to tell the story; it is so strange. As we lay there uponthe rocking-stone, this very cloak came floating out of the black space, like a memory from the dead, and fell on Leo--so that it covered himnearly from head to foot. We could not at first make out what it was, but soon discovered by its feel, and then poor Leo, for the first time, gave way, and I heard him sobbing there upon the stone. No doubt thecloak had been caught upon some pinnacle of the cliff, and was thenceblown hither by a chance gust; but still, it was a most curious andtouching incident. Shortly after this, suddenly, without the slightest previous warning, the great red knife of light came stabbing the darkness through andthrough--struck the swaying stone on which we were, and rested its sharppoint upon the spur opposite. "Now for it, " said Leo, "now or never. " We rose and stretched ourselves, and looked at the cloud-wreaths stainedthe colour of blood by that red ray as they tore through the sickeningdepths beneath, and then at the empty space between the swaying stoneand the quivering rock, and, in our hearts, despaired, and prepared fordeath. Surely we could not clear it--desperate though we were. "Who is to go first?" said I. "Do you, old fellow, " answered Leo. "I will sit upon the other side ofthe stone to steady it. You must take as much run as you can, and jumphigh; and God have mercy on us, say I. " I acquiesced with a nod, and then I did a thing I had never done sinceLeo was a little boy. I turned and put my arm round him, and kissed himon the forehead. It sounds rather French, but as a fact I was taking mylast farewell of a man whom I could not have loved more if he had beenmy own son twice over. "Good-bye, my boy, " I said, "I hope that we shall meet again, whereverit is that we go to. " The fact was I did not expect to live another two minutes. Next I retreated to the far side of the rock, and waited till one of thechopping gusts of wind got behind me, and then I ran the length of thehuge stone, some three or four and thirty feet, and sprang wildly outinto the dizzy air. Oh! the sickening terrors that I felt as I launchedmyself at that little point of rock, and the horrible sense of despairthat shot through my brain as I realised that I had _jumped short!_ butso it was, my feet never touched the point, they went down into space, only my hands and body came in contact with it. I gripped at it witha yell, but one hand slipped, and I swung right round, holding by theother, so that I faced the stone from which I had sprung. Wildly Istretched up with my left hand, and this time managed to grasp a knob ofrock, and there I hung in the fierce red light, with thousands of feetof empty air beneath me. My hands were holding to either side ofthe under part of the spur, so that its point was touching my head. Therefore, even if I could have found the strength, I could not pullmyself up. The most that I could do would be to hang for about a minute, and then drop down, down into the bottomless pit. If any man can imaginea more hideous position, let him speak! All I know is that the tortureof that half-minute nearly turned my brain. I heard Leo give a cry, and then suddenly saw him in mid air springingup and out like a chamois. It was a splendid leap that he took under theinfluence of his terror and despair, clearing the horrible gulf as if itwere nothing, and, landing well on to the rocky point, he threw himselfupon his face, to prevent his pitching off into the depths. I felt thespur above me shake beneath the shock of his impact, and as it did so Isaw the huge rocking-stone, that had been violently depressed by him ashe sprang, fly back when relieved of his weight till, for the first timeduring all these centuries, it got beyond its balance, fell with amost awful crash right into the rocky chamber which had once served thephilosopher Noot for a hermitage, and, I have no doubt, for ever sealedthe passage that leads to the Place of Life with some hundreds of tonsof rock. All this happened in a second, and curiously enough, notwithstanding myterrible position, I noted it involuntarily, as it were. I even rememberthinking that no human being would go down that dread path again. Next instant I felt Leo seize me by the right wrist with both hands. Bylying flat on the point of rock he could just reach me. "You must let go and swing yourself clear, " he said in a calm andcollected voice, "and then I will try and pull you up, or we will bothgo together. Are you ready?" By way of answer I let go, first with my left hand and then with theright, and, as a consequence, swayed out clear of the overshadowingrock, my weight hanging upon Leo's arms. It was a dreadful moment. Hewas a very powerful man, I knew, but would his strength be equal tolifting me up till I could get a hold on the top of the spur, when owingto his position he had so little purchase? For a few seconds I swung to and fro, while he gathered himself for theeffort, and then I heard his sinews cracking above me, and felt myselflifted up as though I were a little child, till I got my left arm roundthe rock, and my chest was resting on it. The rest was easy; in two orthree more seconds I was up, and we were lying panting side by side, trembling like leaves, and with the cold perspiration of terror pouringfrom our skins. And then, as before, the light went out like a lamp. For some half-hour we lay thus without speaking a word, and then atlength began to creep along the great spur as best we might in the densegloom. As we drew towards the face of the cliff, however, from which thespur sprang out like a spike from a wall, the light increased, thoughonly a very little, for it was night overhead. After that the gusts ofwind decreased, and we got along rather better, and at last reached themouth of the first cave or tunnel. But now a fresh trouble stared asin the face: our oil was gone, and the lamps were, no doubt, crushed topowder beneath the fallen rocking-stone. We were even without a drop ofwater to stay our thirst, for we had drunk the last in the chamberof Noot. How were we to see to make our way through this lastboulder-strewn tunnel? Clearly all that we could do was to trust to our sense of feeling, andattempt the passage in the dark, so in we crept, fearing that ifwe delayed to do so our exhaustion would overcome us, and we shouldprobably lie down and die where we were. Oh, the horrors of that last tunnel! The place was strewn with rocks, and we fell over them, and knocked ourselves up against them till wewere bleeding from a score of wounds. Our only guide was the side ofthe cavern, which we kept touching, and so bewildered did we grow in thedarkness that we were several times seized with the terrifying thoughtthat we had turned, and were travelling the wrong way. On we went, feebly, and still more feebly, for hour after hour, stopping every fewminutes to rest, for our strength was spent. Once we fell asleep, and, Ithink, must have slept for some hours, for, when we woke, our limbs werequite stiff, and the blood from our blows and scratches had caked, andwas hard and dry upon our skin. Then we dragged ourselves on again, tillat last, when despair was entering into our hearts, we once more saw thelight of day, and found ourselves outside the tunnel in the rocky foldon the outer surface of the cliff that, it will be remembered, led intoit. It was early morning--that we could tell by the feel of the sweet airand the look of the blessed sky, which we had never hoped to see again. It was, so near as we knew, an hour after sunset when we entered thetunnel, so it followed that it had taken us the entire night to crawlthrough that dreadful place. "One more effort, Leo, " I gasped, "and we shall reach the slope whereBillali is, if he hasn't gone. Come, don't give way, " for he had casthimself upon his face. He rose, and, leaning on each other, we got downthat fifty feet or so of cliff--somehow, I have not the least notionhow. I only remember that we found ourselves lying in a heap at thebottom, and then once more began to drag ourselves along on our handsand knees towards the grove where _She_ had told Billali to wait herre-arrival, for we could not walk another foot. We had not gone fiftyyards in this fashion when suddenly one of the mutes emerged fromthe trees on our left, through which, I presume, he had been taking amorning stroll, and came running up to see what sort of strange animalswe were. He stared, and stared, and then held up his hands in horror, and nearly fell to the ground. Next, he started off as hard as hecould for the grove some two hundred yards away. No wonder that he washorrified at our appearance, for we must have been a shocking sight. To begin, Leo, with his golden curls turned a snowy white, his clothesnearly rent from his body, his worn face and his hands a mass ofbruises, cuts, and blood-encrusted filth, was a sufficiently alarmingspectacle, as he painfully dragged himself along the ground, and Ihave no doubt that I was little better to look on. I know that two daysafterwards when I inspected my face in some water I scarcely recognisedmyself. I have never been famous for beauty, but there was somethingbeside ugliness stamped upon my features that I have never got ridof until this day, something resembling that wild look with which astartled person wakes from deep sleep more than anything else that I canthink of. And really it is not to be wondered at. What I do wonder at isthat we escaped at all with our reason. Presently, to my intense relief, I saw old Billali hurrying towardsus, and even then I could scarcely help smiling at the expression ofconsternation on his dignified countenance. "Oh, my Baboon! my Baboon!" he cried, "my dear son, is it indeed theeand the Lion? Why, his mane that was ripe as corn is white likethe snow. Whence come ye? and where is the Pig, and where too_She-who-must-be-obeyed_?" "Dead, both dead, " I answered; "but ask no questions; help us, and giveus food and water, or we too shall die before thine eyes. Seest thou notthat our tongues are black for want of water? How, then, can we talk?" "Dead!" he gasped. "Impossible. _She_ who never dies--dead, how can itbe?" and then, perceiving, I think, that his face was being watched bythe mutes who had come running up, he checked himself, and motioned tothem to carry us to the camp, which they did. Fortunately when we arrived some broth was boiling on the fire, and withthis Billali fed us, for we were too weak to feed ourselves, therebyI firmly believe saving us from death by exhaustion. Then he bade themutes wash the blood and grime from us with wet cloths, and after thatwe were laid down upon piles of aromatic grass, and instantly fell intothe dead sleep of absolute exhaustion of mind and body. XXVIII OVER THE MOUNTAIN The next thing I recollect is a feeling of the most dreadful stiffness, and a sort of vague idea passing through my half-awakened brain that Iwas a carpet that had just been beaten. I opened my eyes, and the firstthing they fell on was the venerable countenance of our old friendBillali, who was seated by the side of the improvised bed upon which Iwas sleeping, and thoughtfully stroking his long beard. The sight ofhim at once brought back to my mind a recollection of all that we hadrecently passed through, which was accentuated by the vision of poorLeo lying opposite to me, his face knocked almost to a jelly, and hisbeautiful crowd of curls turned from yellow to white, [*] and I shut myeyes again and groaned. [*] Curiously enough, Leo's hair has lately been to some extent regaining its colour--that is to say, it is now a yellowish grey, and I am not without hopes that it will in time come quite right. --L. H. H. "Thou hast slept long, my Baboon, " said old Billali. "How long, my father?" I asked. "A round of the sun and a round of the moon, a day and a night hast thouslept, and the Lion also. See, he sleepeth yet. " "Blessed is sleep, " I answered, "for it swallows up recollection. " "Tell me, " he said, "what hath befallen you, and what is this strangestory of the death of Her who dieth not. Bethink thee, my son: if thisbe true, then is thy danger and the danger of the Lion very great--nay, almost is the pot red wherewith ye shall be potted, and the stomachs ofthose who shall eat ye are already hungry for the feast. Knowest thounot that these Amahagger, my children, these dwellers in the caves, hate ye? They hate ye as strangers, they hate ye more because of theirbrethren whom _She_ put to the torment for your sake. Assuredly, if oncethey learn that there is naught to fear from Hiya, from the terribleOne-who-must-be-obeyed, they will slay ye by the pot. But let me hearthy tale, my poor Baboon. " This adjured, I set to work and told him--not everything, indeed, forI did not think it desirable to do so, but sufficient for my purpose, which was to make him understand that _She_ was really no more, havingfallen into some fire, and, as I put it--for the real thing would havebeen incomprehensible to him--been burnt up. I also told him some of thehorrors we had undergone in effecting our escape, and these produced agreat impression on him. But I clearly saw that he did not believe inthe report of Ayesha's death. He believed indeed that we thoughtthat she was dead, but his explanation was that it had suited her todisappear for a while. Once, he said, in his father's time, she had doneso for twelve years, and there was a tradition in the country that manycenturies back no one had seen her for a whole generation, when shesuddenly reappeared, and destroyed a woman who had assumed the positionof Queen. I said nothing to this, but only shook my head sadly. Alas!I knew too well that Ayesha would appear no more, or at any rate thatBillali would never see her again. "And now, " concluded Billali, "what wouldst thou do, my Baboon?" "Nay, " I said, "I know not, my father. Can we not escape from thiscountry?" He shook his head. "It is very difficult. By Kôr ye cannot pass, for ye would be seen, and as soon as those fierce ones found that ye were alone, well, " andhe smiled significantly, and made a movement as though he were placing ahat on his head. "But there is a way over the cliff whereof I once spaketo thee, where they drive the cattle out to pasture. Then beyond thepastures are three days' journey through the marshes, and after thatI know not, but I have heard that seven days' journey from thence isa mighty river, which floweth to the black water. If ye could comethither, perchance ye might escape, but how can ye come thither?" "Billali, " I said, "once, thou knowest, I did save thy life. Now payback the debt, my father, and save me mine and my friend's, the Lion's. It shall be a pleasant thing for thee to think of when thine hour comes, and something to set in the scale against the evil doing of thy days, ifperchance thou hast done any evil. Also, if thou be right, and if _She_doth but hide herself, surely when she comes again she shall rewardthee. " "My son the Baboon, " answered the old man, "think not that I have anungrateful heart. Well do I remember how thou didst rescue me when thosedogs stood by to see me drown. Measure for measure will I give thee, and if thou canst be saved, surely I will save thee. Listen: by dawnto-morrow be prepared, for litters shall be here to bear ye away acrossthe mountains, and through the marshes beyond. This will I do, sayingthat it is the word of _She_ that it be done, and he who obeyeth not theword of _She_ food is he for the hyænas. Then when ye have crossed themarshes, ye must strike with your own hands, so that perchance, if goodfortune go with you, ye may live to come to that black water whereof yetold me. And now, see, the Lion wakes, and ye must eat the food I havemade ready for you. " Leo's condition when once he was fairly aroused proved not to be sobad as might have been expected from his appearance, and we both of usmanaged to eat a hearty meal, which indeed we needed sadly enough. Afterthis we limped down to the spring and bathed, and then came back andslept again till evening, when we once more ate enough for five. Billaliwas away all that day, no doubt making arrangements about litters andbearers, for we were awakened in the middle of the night by the arrivalof a considerable number of men in the little camp. At dawn the old man himself appeared, and told us that he had by using_She's_ dreadful name, though with some difficulty, succeeded in gettingthe necessary men and two guides to conduct us across the swamps, andthat he urged us to start at once, at the same time announcing hisintention of accompanying us so as to protect us against treachery. Iwas much touched by this act of kindness on the part of that wily oldbarbarian towards two utterly defenceless strangers. A three--or inhis case, for he would have to return, six--days' journey through thosedeadly swamps was no light undertaking for a man of his age, but heconsented to do it cheerfully in order to promote our safety. It showsthat even among those dreadful Amahagger--who are certainly with theirgloom and their devilish and ferocious rites by far the most terriblesavages that I ever heard of--there are people with kindly hearts. Ofcourse, self-interest may have had something to do with it. He may havethought that _She_ would suddenly reappear and demand an account of usat his hands, but still, allowing for all deductions, it was a greatdeal more than we could expect under the circumstances, and I can onlysay that I shall for as long as I live cherish a most affectionateremembrance of my nominal parent, old Billali. Accordingly, after swallowing some food, we started in the litters, feeling, so far as our bodies went, wonderfully like our old selvesafter our long rest and sleep. I must leave the condition of our mindsto the imagination. Then came a terrible pull up the cliff. Sometimes the ascent was morenatural, more often it was a zig-zag roadway cut, no doubt, in the firstinstance by the old inhabitants of Kôr. The Amahagger say they drivetheir spare cattle over it once a year to pasture outside; all I know isthat those cattle must be uncommonly active on their feet. Of course thelitters were useless here, so we had to walk. By midday, however, we reached the great flat top of that mighty wall ofrock, and grand enough the view was from it, with the plain of Kôr, inthe centre of which we could clearly make out the pillared ruins of theTemple of Truth to the one side, and the boundless and melancholy marshon the other. This wall of rock, which had no doubt once formed the lipof the crater, was about a mile and a half thick, and still covered withclinker. Nothing grew there, and the only thing to relieve our eyes wereoccasional pools of rain-water (for rain had lately fallen) whereverthere was a little hollow. Over the flat crest of this mighty rampart wewent, and then came the descent, which, if not so difficult a matteras the getting up, was still sufficiently break-neck, and took us tillsunset. That night, however, we camped in safety upon the mighty slopesthat rolled away to the marsh beneath. On the following morning, about eleven o'clock, began our dreary journeyacross those awful seas of swamps which I have already described. For three whole days, through stench and mire, and the all-prevailingflavour of fear, did our bearers struggle along, till at length we cameto open rolling ground quite uncultivated, and mostly treeless, butcovered with game of all sorts, which lies beyond that most desolate, and without guides utterly impracticable, district. And here on thefollowing morning we bade farewell, not without some regret, to oldBillali, who stroked his white beard and solemnly blessed us. "Farewell, my son the Baboon, " he said, "and farewell to thee too, ohLion. I can do no more to help you. But if ever ye come to your country, be advised, and venture no more into lands that ye know not, lest yecome back no more, but leave your white bones to mark the limit of yourjourneyings. Farewell once more; often shall I think of you, nor wiltthou forget me, my Baboon, for though thy face is ugly thy heart istrue. " And then he turned and went, and with him went the tall andsullen-looking bearers, and that was the last that we saw of theAmahagger. We watched them winding away with the empty litters like aprocession bearing dead men from a battle, till the mists from the marshgathered round them and hid them, and then, left utterly desolate in thevast wilderness, we turned and gazed round us and at each other. Three weeks or so before four men had entered the marshes of Kôr, andnow two of us were dead, and the other two had gone through adventuresand experiences so strange and terrible that death himself hath not amore fearful countenance. Three weeks--and only three weeks! Truly timeshould be measured by events, and not by the lapse of hours. It seemedlike thirty years since we saw the last of our whale-boat. "We must strike out for the Zambesi, Leo, " I said, "but God knows if weshall ever get there. " Leo nodded. He had become very silent of late, and we started withnothing but the clothes we stood in, a compass, our revolvers andexpress rifles, and about two hundred rounds of ammunition, and so endedthe history of our visit to the ancient ruins of mighty and imperialKôr. As for the adventures that subsequently befell us, strange and variedas they were, I have, after deliberation, determined not to record themhere. In these pages I have only tried to give a short and clear accountof an occurrence which I believe to be unprecedented, and this I havedone, not with a view to immediate publication, but merely to puton paper while they are yet fresh in our memories the details of ourjourney and its result, which will, I believe, prove interesting tothe world if ever we determine to make them public. This, as at presentadvised, we do not intend should be done during our joint lives. For the rest, it is of no public interest, resembling as it does theexperience of more than one Central African traveller. Suffice it tosay, that we did, after incredible hardships and privations, reach theZambesi, which proved to be about a hundred and seventy miles southof where Billali left us. There we were for six months imprisoned bya savage tribe, who believed us to be supernatural beings, chiefly onaccount of Leo's youthful face and snow-white hair. From these people weultimately escaped, and, crossing the Zambesi, wandered off southwards, where, when on the point of starvation, we were sufficiently fortunateto fall in with a half-cast Portuguese elephant-hunter who had followeda troop of elephants farther inland than he had ever been before. Thisman treated us most hospitably, and ultimately through his assistancewe, after innumerable sufferings and adventures, reached Delagoa Bay, more than eighteen months from the time when we emerged from the marshesof Kôr, and the very next day managed to catch one of the steamboatsthat run round the Cape to England. Our journey home was a prosperousone, and we set our foot on the quay at Southampton exactly two yearsfrom the date of our departure upon our wild and seemingly ridiculousquest, and I now write these last words with Leo leaning over myshoulder in my old room in my college, the very same into which sometwo-and-twenty years ago my poor friend Vincey came stumbling on thememorable night of his death, bearing the iron chest with him. And that is the end of this history so far as it concerns science andthe outside world. What its end will be as regards Leo and myself ismore than I can guess at. But we feel that is not reached yet. A storythat began more than two thousand years ago may stretch a long way intothe dim and distant future. Is Leo really a reincarnation of the ancient Kallikrates of whom theinscription tells? Or was Ayesha deceived by some strange hereditaryresemblance? The reader must form his own opinion on this as on manyother matters. I have mine, which is that she made no such mistake. Often I sit alone at night, staring with the eyes of the mind into theblackness of unborn time, and wondering in what shape and form the greatdrama will be finally developed, and where the scene of its next actwill be laid. And when that _final_ development ultimately occurs, as Ihave no doubt it must and will occur, in obedience to a fate that neverswerves and a purpose that cannot be altered, what will be the partplayed therein by that beautiful Egyptian Amenartas, the Princess of theroyal race of the Pharaohs, for the love of whom the Priest Kallikratesbroke his vows to Isis, and, pursued by the inexorable vengeance of theoutraged Goddess, fled down the coast of Libya to meet his doom at Kôr?