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.