CHAPTER XX
THE COMING OF ACA
Leonard turned and looked at his companions with something like dismaywritten on his face.
"What is to be done now?" he said.
"We must wait for them until they come near," answered Juanna, "thenOtter and I are to meet them alone, and I will sing the song whichSoa has taught me. Do not be afraid, I have learned my lesson, and, ifthings go right, they will think that we are their lost gods; or, atleast, so Soa says."
"Yes, _if_ things go right. But if they don't?"
"Then good-bye," answered Juanna, with a shrug of her shoulders. "At anyrate, I must get ready for the experiment. Come, Soa, bring the bundleto those rocks over there--quick! Stop a minute--I forgot, Mr. Outram,you must lend me that ruby. I have to make use of it."
Leonard handed over the ruby, reflecting that he would probably neversee it again, since it seemed almost certain that one of the GreatPeople would steal it. However, at the moment he was thinking of thatwhich was far above rubies, namely, of what chance they had of escapingwith their lives.
So soon as she had possession of the stone, Juanna ran to a little ringof boulders that were scattered on the plain about fifty paces fromthem, followed by Soa, who carried a bundle in her hand.
Ten minutes passed, and Soa appeared from behind the shelter of thestones and beckoned to them. Advancing in obedience to her summons,they saw a curious sight. Standing in the ring of rocks was Juanna,but Juanna transformed. She wore a white robe cut low upon the neck andshoulders; indeed, it was the Arab dress in which she had escaped fromthe slave camp, that Soa had brought with them in preparation for thismoment of trial. Nor was this all; for Juanna had loosened her darkhair--which was of great length and unusual beauty--so that it hungabout her almost to her knees, and upon her forehead, gleaming like ared eye, was set the great ruby, ingeniously fastened thereto by Soa ina band of linen pierced in its centre to the size of the stone.
"Behold the goddess and do homage," said Juanna with mock solemnity,although Leonard could see that she was trembling with excitement.
"I do not quite understand what you are going to do, but you look thepart well," he answered shortly. And, indeed, until that moment he hadnever known how beautiful she was.
Juanna blushed a little at the evident admiration in his eyes; then,turning to the dwarf, she said:
"Now, Otter, you must make ready too. And remember what Soa told you.Whatever you see or hear, you are not to open your mouth. Walk side byside with me and do as I do, that is all."
Otter grunted in assent, and proceeded to "make ready." The process wassimple, consisting only in the shedding of his coat and trousers--an oldpair of Leonard's, very much cut down--which left him naked, except fora _moocha_ that he wore beneath them in accordance with native custom.
"What does all this mean?" asked the headman Peter, who, like hiscompanions, was trembling with fear.
"It means," said Juanna, "that Otter and I are impersonating the gods ofthis people, Peter. If they receive us as gods, it is well; if not, weare doomed. Be careful, should we be so received, lest any of you betraythe trick. Be wise and silent, I say, and do what we shall tell you fromtime to time, if you would live to look upon the sun."
Peter fell back astonished, while Leonard and Francisco turned theirattention to the approaching soldiers of the People of the Mist.
They advanced slowly and in silence, but their measured tread shookthe earth. At last they halted about a hundred and fifty yards away,presenting a truly terrifying spectacle to the little band among therocks. So far as Leonard could see, there was not a man among themwho stood less than six feet in height, and they were broad inproportion--hugely made. In appearance they were neither handsome norrepulsive, but solemn-looking, large-eyed, thick-haired--between blackand yellow in hue--and wearing an expression of dreadful calm, likethe calm of an archaic statue. For the rest they seemed to be welldisciplined, each company being under the command of a captain, who,in addition to his arms, carried a trumpet fashioned from a wild bull'shorn.
The regiment stood silent, gazing at the group of strangers, or, rather,at the boulders behind which they were concealed. In the centre of theirhollow square was a knot of men, one of them young, and huge even incomparison with his companions. This man Leonard took to be a chief orking. Behind were orderlies and counsellors, and before him three agedpersons of stately appearance and a cruel cast of countenance. These menwere naked to the waist and unarmed, except for a knife or hanger fixedat the girdle. On their broad breasts, covering more than half theskin-surface, the head of a huge snake was tattooed in vivid blue.Evidently they were medicine-men or priests.
While the adventurers watched and wondered, the king or chief issued anorder to his attendants, who ran to the corners of the square and calledit aloud. Then he raised his great spear, and every captain blew uponhis horn, making a deafening sound.
Now the enemy stood still for a while, staring towards the stones,and the three medicine-men drew near to the chief in the centre of thesquare and talked with him, as though debating what should be done.
"This is our chance," said Juanna excitedly. "If once they attack us itwill be all over; a single volley of arrows would kill every one of us.Come, Otter."
"No, no!" said Leonard. "I am afraid of your venturing yourself amongthose savages. The danger is too great."
"Danger! Can the danger be more than it is here? In a minute we may allbe dead. Nonsense! I _will_ go! I know what to do and have made up mymind to it. Do not fear for me. Remember that, if the worst comes to theworst, I have the means to protect myself. You are not afraid to come,are you, Otter?"
"No, Shepherdess," said the dwarf. "Here all roads are alike."
Leonard thought awhile. Bitterly did he reproach himself in that he hadbeen the cause of leading his ward into such a position. But nowthere was no help for it--she must go. And after all it could make nodifference if she were killed or captured five minutes hence or half anhour later. But Francisco, who could not take such a philosophical viewof the situation, implored her not to venture herself alone among thosehorrible savages.
"Go if you like, Juanna," said Leonard, not heeding the priest'simportunities. "If anything happens I will try to avenge you before Ifollow. Go, but forgive me."
"What have I to forgive?" she said, looking at him with shining eyes."Did you not once dare a greater danger for me?"
"Yes, go, Shepherdess," said Soa, who till now had been staring with allher eyes at the three aged men in the centre of the square; "there islittle to fear, if this fool of a dwarf will but keep his tongue silent.I know my people, and I tell you that if you sing that song, and saythe words which I have taught you, you and the black one here shall beproclaimed gods of the land. But be swift, for the soldiers are about toshoot."
As Soa spoke, Leonard saw that the conference in the square had come toan end. The messengers were calling commands to the captains, which thecaptains repeated to the soldiers, and then followed a mighty rattlingof quivers. Another instant and the light shone upon many hundreds ofarrow-heads, every one of which was pointed towards them.
Juanna saw also, and springing forward on to a rock, stood there for amoment in the full glare of the sun. Instantly a murmur went up from thehost; a great voice called a command; the barbs of steel flickered likeinnumerable stars, and sank downwards.
Now Otter, naked except for his _moocha_, sprang on to the rock byJuanna's side, and the murmur of the soldiers of the Great People grewinto a hoarse roar of astonishment and dismay. Wonder had turned tofear, though why this multitude of warriors should fear a lovely whitegirl and a black dwarf was not apparent.
For a moment the ill-assorted pair stood together on the rock; thenJuanna leapt to the plain, Otter following her. For twenty yards or soshe walked in silence, holding the dwarf by the hand; then suddenly sheburst into singing wild and sweet. This was the refrain of the sacredsong which she sang in the ancient language of the People of the Mist,th
e tongue that Soa had taught her as a child:
"I do but sleep. Have ye wept for me awhile? Hush! I did but sleep. I shall awake, my people! I am not dead, nor can I ever die. See, I have but slept! See, I come again, made beautiful! Have ye not seen me in the faces of the children? Have ye not heard me in the voices of the children? Look on me now, the sleeper arisen; Look on me, who wandered, whose name is the Dawning! Why have ye mourned me, the sleeper awakened?"
Thus she sang, ever more sweetly and louder, till her voice rangthrough the still air like the song of a bird in winter. Hushed were thecompanies of the Great Men as she drew towards them with slow glidingsteps--hushed with fear and wonder, as though her presence awoke amemory or fulfilled a promise.
Now she was in front of their foremost rank, and, halting there, wassilent for a moment. Then she changed her song.
"Will ye not greet me, children of my children? Have ye forgotten the promise of the dead? Shall I return to the dream-land whence I wander? Will ye refuse me, the Mother of the Snake?"
The soldiers looked upon one another and murmured each to each. Now shesaw that they understood her words and were terror-stricken by them.For another moment there was silence, then suddenly the three priests ormedicine-men, who had drawn near together, passed through the ranks andstood before her, accompanied by the warrior-chief.
Then one of them, the most aged, a man who must have numbered ninetyyears, spoke in the midst of an intense silence. To Juanna's joy, asthey had understood her, so she understood him, for his language was thesame that Soa taught her many years before, and in which, for the sakeof practice, they had always conversed together for the last two months.
"Art thou woman, or spirit?" asked the ancient priest.
"I am both woman and spirit," she answered.
"And he with thee, he whom we know of"--went on the priest, pointingtremblingly to Otter--"is he god or man?"
"He is both god and man," she answered.
"And those yonder; who are they?"
"They are our ministers and servants, white for the white, and black forthe black, the companions of our wanderings, men and not spirits."
The three priests consulted together, while the chief looked on Juanna'sbeauty with wondering eyes. Then the oldest of them spoke again:
"Thou tellest us in our own tongue of things that have long been hidden,though perchance they are remembered. Either, O Beautiful, thou hastlearned these things and liest to us, and then food are ye all for theSnake against whom thou dost blaspheme, or ye are gods indeed, andas gods ye shall be worshipped. Tell us now thy name, and the name ofyonder dwarf, of whom we know."
"I am named the Shepherdess of Heaven among men. He is named Otter,Dweller in the Waters, among men. Once we had other names."
"Tell us the other names, O Shepherdess."
"Once in the far past I was named Brightness, I was named Dawn, I wasnamed Daylight. Once in the far past he was named Silence, he was namedTerror, he was named Darkness. Yet at the beginning we had other names.Perchance ye know them, Ministers of the Snake."
"Perchance we know them, O thou who art named Shepherdess of Heaven, Othou who wert named Brightness, and Dawn, and Daylight; O thou who artnamed Dweller in the Waters, and wert named Silence, and Terror, andDarkness! Perchance we know them, although they be known to few, and arenever spoken, save in utter gloom and with hidden head. But do yeknow them, those names of the beginning? For if ye know them not, OBeautiful, ye lie and ye blaspheme, and ye are food for the Snake."
"Seldom through all the years have those holy names been spoken save inutter darkness and with covered heads," Juanna answered boldly; "but nowis the new hour, the hour of the coming, and now they shall be calledaloud in the light of day from open lips and with uplifted eyes.Hearken, Children of the Snake, these are the names by which we wereknown in the beginning: _Aca_ is my name, the Mother of the Snake. _Jal_is he named, who is the Snake. Say, do ye know us now?"
As these words rang on her lips a groan of terror burst from every manwho heard them. Then the aged priest cried aloud: "Down upon your faces,ye Children of the Snake; Worship, all ye People of the Spear, Dwellersin the Mist! Aca, the Queen immortal, has come home again: Jal, the god,has put on the flesh of men. Olfan, lay down thy kingship, it is his: yepriests, throw wide the temples, they are theirs. Worship the Mother, dohonour to the god!"
The multitude heard and prostrated themselves like a single man, everyone of them crying in a shout of thunder:
"Aca, the Queen of life, has come; Jal, the doom-god, has put on flesh.Worship the Mother, do honour to the god!"
It was as though the army had suddenly been smitten with death, and ofthe hundreds there, Juanna and Otter alone were left standing. Therewas one exception, however, and that was Olfan, the warrior chief, whoremained upon his feet, not seeming to relish the command to abdicatehis authority thus brusquely in favour of a dwarf, were he god or man.
Otter, who was utterly bewildered, not comprehending a word of whathad been said, and being unable to fathom the meaning of these strangeantics, pointed at the chief with his spear by way of calling Juanna'sattention to the fact that he was still standing. But the great maninterpreted the action otherwise; evidently he thought that the newlyarrived god was invoking destruction on him. His pride yielded to hissuperstition, and he sank to his knees also.
When the sound of the worshipping had passed away Juanna spoke again,addressing the old priest.
"Rise, my child," she said--he might well have been hergreat-grandfather--"and rise all ye, soldiers of the Spear and servantsof the Snake, and hear my words. Ye know me now, ye know me by the holyname, ye know me by the fashion of my face, and by the red stone thatgleams upon my brow. In the beginning my blood fell yonder and wasfrozen into such gems as these, which to-day ye offer yearly to him whois my child, and slew me. Now the fate is accomplished and his reign isfinished. I come with him indeed, and he is still a god, but he loves meas a son again, and bows the knee to me in service.
"Enough, ye know the ancient tale that is fulfilled this day. Nowwe pass on towards our city, there to sojourn with you awhile and toproclaim the law of the Ending, and we pass alone. There, in our city,let a place be made ready for us, a place apart, but nigh to the temple;and let food be brought to the place, that my servants may eat. At thegates of the city also let men be waiting to bear us to that dwelling.Let none spy upon us, lest an evil fate attend you all; and let none bedisobedient, lest we pass from you back to the land of Death and Dreams.Perchance we shall not tarry here for long, perchance we come to bring ablessing and to depart again. Therefore hasten to do our bidding, and doit all. For this time farewell, my servants."
Having spoken thus with much dignity, accompanied by Otter, whose handshe held as before, Juanna withdrew herself, stepping backwards veryslowly towards the circle of rocks, and singing as she went.