CHAPTER XXXIV. PREPARATION
Victory thus gained, the woman of Bulika began to speak about the city,and talked much of its defenceless condition, of the wickedness ofits princess, of the cowardice of its inhabitants. In a few days thechildren chattered of nothing but Bulika, although indeed they had notthe least notion of what a city was. Then first I became aware of thedesign of the woman, although not yet of its motive.
The idea of taking possession of the place, recommended itself greatlyto Lona--and to me also. The children were now so rapidly developingfaculty, that I could see no serious obstacle to the success of theenterprise. For the terrible Lilith--woman or leopardess, I knew her onevulnerable point, her doom through her daughter, and the influencethe ancient prophecy had upon the citizens: surely whatever in theenterprise could be called risk, was worth taking! Successful,--and whocould doubt their success?--must not the Little Ones, from a crowdof children, speedily become a youthful people, whose government andinfluence would be all for righteousness? Ruling the wicked with a rodof iron, would they not be the redemption of the nation?
At the same time, I have to confess that I was not without views ofpersonal advantage, not without ambition in the undertaking. It wasjust, it seemed to me, that Lona should take her seat on the thronethat had been her mother's, and natural that she should make of me herconsort and minister. For me, I would spend my life in her service; andbetween us, what might we not do, with such a core to it as the LittleOnes, for the development of a noble state?
I confess also to an altogether foolish dream of opening a commerce ingems between the two worlds--happily impossible, for it could have donenothing but harm to both.
Calling to mind the appeal of Adam, I suggested to Lona that to findthem water might perhaps expedite the growth of the Little Ones. Shejudged it prudent, however, to leave that alone for the present, as wedid not know what its first consequences might be; while, in the courseof time, it would almost certainly subject them to a new necessity.
"They are what they are without it!" she said: "when we have the city,we will search for water!"
We began, therefore, and pushed forward our preparations, constantlyreviewing the merry troops and companies. Lona gave her attentionchiefly to the commissariat, while I drilled the little soldiers,exercised them in stone-throwing, taught them the use of some otherweapons, and did all I could to make warriors of them. The maindifficulty was to get them to rally to their flag the instant the callwas sounded. Most of them were armed with slings, some of the biggerboys with bows and arrows. The bigger girls carried aloe-spikes,strong as steel and sharp as needles, fitted to longish shafts--ratherformidable weapons. Their sole duty was the charge of such as were toosmall to fight.
Lona had herself grown a good deal, but did not seem aware of it:she had always been, as she still was, the tallest! Her hair wasmuch longer, and she was become almost a woman, but not one beauty ofchildhood had she outgrown. When first we met after our long separation,she laid down her infant, put her arms round my neck, and clung to mesilent, her face glowing with gladness: the child whimpered; shesprang to him, and had him in her bosom instantly. To see her withany thoughtless, obstinate, or irritable little one, was to think ofa tender grandmother. I seemed to have known her for ages--foralways--from before time began! I hardly remembered my mother, but in mymind's eye she now looked like Lona; and if I imagined sister or child,invariably she had the face of Lona! My every imagination flew to her;she was my heart's wife! She hardly ever sought me, but was almostalways within sound of my voice. What I did or thought, I referredconstantly to her, and rejoiced to believe that, while doing her work inabsolute independence, she was most at home by my side. Never for me didshe neglect the smallest child, and my love only quickened my senseof duty. To love her and to do my duty, seemed, not indeed one, butinseparable. She might suggest something I should do; she might ask mewhat she ought to do; but she never seemed to suppose that I, any morethan she, would like to do, or could care about anything except whatmust be done. Her love overflowed upon me--not in caresses, but in acloseness of recognition which I can compare to nothing but the devotionof a divine animal.
I never told her anything about her mother.
The wood was full of birds, the splendour of whose plumage, while ittook nothing from their song, seemed almost to make up for the lack offlowers--which, apparently, could not grow without water. Their gloriousfeathers being everywhere about in the forest, it came into my heart tomake from them a garment for Lona. While I gathered, and bound them inoverlapping rows, she watched me with evident appreciation of my choiceand arrangement, never asking what I was fashioning, but evidentlywaiting expectant the result of my work. In a week or two it wasfinished--a long loose mantle, to fasten at the throat and waist, withopenings for the arms.
I rose and put it on her. She rose, took it off, and laid it at myfeet--I imagine from a sense of propriety. I put it again on hershoulders, and showed her where to put her arms through. She smiled,looked at the feathers a little and stroked them--again took it off andlaid it down, this time by her side. When she left me, she carried itwith her, and I saw no more of it for some days. At length she came tome one morning wearing it, and carrying another garment which she hadfashioned similarly, but of the dried leaves of a tough evergreen. Ithad the strength almost of leather, and the appearance of scale-armour.I put it on at once, and we always thereafter wore those garments whenon horseback.
For, on the outskirts of the forest, had appeared one day a troop offull-grown horses, with which, as they were nowise alarmed at creaturesof a shape so different from their own, I had soon made friends, and twoof the finest I had trained for Lona and myself. Already accustomed toride a small one, her delight was great when first she looked down fromthe back of an animal of the giant kind; and the horse showed himselfproud of the burden he bore. We exercised them every day until they hadsuch confidence in us as to obey instantly and fear nothing; after whichwe always rode them at parade and on the march.
The undertaking did indeed at times appear to me a foolhardy one,but the confidence of the woman of Bulika, real or simulated, alwaysovercame my hesitancy. The princess's magic, she insisted, would provepowerless against the children; and as to any force she might muster,our animal-allies alone would assure our superiority: she was herself,she said, ready, with a good stick, to encounter any two men of Bulika.She confessed to not a little fear of the leopardess, but I was myselfready for her. I shrank, however, from carrying ALL the children withus.
"Would it not be better," I said, "that you remained in the forest withyour baby and the smallest of the Little Ones?"
She answered that she greatly relied on the impression the sight of themwould make on the women, especially the mothers.
"When they see the darlings," she said, "their hearts will be taken bystorm; and I must be there encouraging them to make a stand! If there bea remnant of hardihood in the place, it will be found among the women!"
"YOU must not encumber yourself," I said to Lona, "with any of thechildren; you will be wanted everywhere!"
For there were two babies besides the woman's, and even on horseback shehad almost always one in her arms.
"I do not remember ever being without a child to take care of," sheanswered; "but when we reach the city, it shall be as you wish!"
Her confidence in one who had failed so unworthily, shamed me. Butneither had I initiated the movement, nor had I any ground for opposingit; I had no choice, but must give it the best help I could! For myself,I was ready to live or die with Lona. Her humility as well as her trusthumbled me, and I gave myself heartily to her purposes.
Our way lying across a grassy plain, there was no need to take food forthe horses, or the two cows which would accompany us for the infants;but the elephants had to be provided for. True, the grass was as goodfor them as for those other animals, but it was short, and with theirone-fingered long noses, they could not pick enough for a single meal.We had, therefore, set the whole
colony to gather grass and make hay, ofwhich the elephants themselves could carry a quantity sufficient to lastthem several days, with the supplement of what we would gather freshevery time we halted. For the bears we stored nuts, and for ourselvesdried plenty of fruits. We had caught and tamed several more of thebig horses, and now having loaded them and the elephants with theseprovisions, we were prepared to set out.
Then Lona and I held a general review, and I made them a little speech.I began by telling them that I had learned a good deal about them, andknew now where they came from. "We did not come from anywhere," theycried, interrupting me; "we are here!"
I told them that every one of them had a mother of his own, like themother of the last baby; that I believed they had all been brought fromBulika when they were so small that they could not now remember it; thatthe wicked princess there was so afraid of babies, and so determined todestroy them, that their mothers had to carry them away and leave themwhere she could not find them; and that now we were going to Bulika, tofind their mothers, and deliver them from the bad giantess.
"But I must tell you," I continued, "that there is danger before us,for, as you know, we may have to fight hard to take the city."
"We can fight! we are ready!" cried the boys.
"Yes, you can," I returned, "and I know you will: mothers are worthfighting for! Only mind, you must all keep together."
"Yes, yes; we'll take care of each other," they answered. "Nobody shalltouch one of us but his own mother!"
"You must mind, every one, to do immediately what your officers tellyou!"
"We will, we will!--Now we're quite ready! Let us go!"
"Another thing you must not forget," I went on: "when you strike, besure you make it a downright swinging blow; when you shoot an arrow,draw it to the head; when you sling a stone, sling it strong andstraight."
"That we will!" they cried with jubilant, fearless shout.
"Perhaps you will be hurt!"
"We don't mind that!--Do we, boys?"
"Not a bit!"
"Some of you may very possibly be killed!" I said.
"I don't mind being killed!" cried one of the finest of the smallerboys: he rode a beautiful little bull, which galloped and jumped like ahorse.
"I don't either! I don't either!" came from all sides.
Then Lona, queen and mother and sister of them all, spoke from her bighorse by my side:
"I would give my life," she said, "to have my mother! She might kill meif she liked! I should just kiss her and die!"
"Come along, boys!" cried a girl. "We're going to our mothers!"
A pang went through my heart.--But I could not draw back; it would bemoral ruin to the Little Ones!