CHAPTER XXIV
OLFAN TELLS OF THE RUBIES
It was at this juncture that Francisco recovered his senses. "Oh!" hegasped, opening his eyes and sitting up, "is it done, and am I dead?"
"No, no, you are alive and safe," answered Leonard. "Stay where you areand don't look over the edge, or you will faint again. Here, take myhand. Now, you brute," and he made energetic motions to the survivingpriest, indicating that he must lead them back along the path by whichthey had come, at the same time tapping his rifle significantly.
The man understood and started down the darksome tunnel as though hewere glad to go, Leonard holding his robe with one hand, while with theother he pressed the muzzle of the loaded rifle against the back of hisneck. Francisco followed, leaning on Leonard's shoulder, for he couldnot walk alone.
As they had come so they returned. They passed down the steps of stonewhich were hollowed in the body of the colossus; they traversed the longunderground tunnel, and at length, to their intense relief, once morethey stood upon the solid ground and in the open air. Now that the moonwas up, and the mist which had darkened the night had melted, they couldsee their whereabouts. They had emerged upon a platform of rock withina bowshot of the great gates of the palace, from whence the secretsubterranean passage used by the priests was gained, its opening beinghidden cunningly among the stone-work of the temple.
"I wonder where the others are," asked Leonard anxiously of Francisco.
As he spoke, Juanna, wrapped in her dark cloak, appeared, apparentlyout of the stones of the wall, and with her Otter, the Settlement menbearing their dead companion, and a considerable company of priests,among whom, however, Nam was not to be seen.
"Oh, is that you, Leonard?" said Juanna in English, and in a voicebroken with fear. "Thank Heaven that you are safe!"
"Thank Heaven that we are all safe," he answered. "Come, let us get on.No, we can walk, thank you," and he waved away the priests, who producedthe litters from where they had hidden them under the wall.
The men fell back and they walked on. At the gate of the palace awelcome sight met their eyes, for here stood Olfan, and with him atleast a hundred captains and soldiers, who lifted their spears in saluteas they advanced.
"Olfan, hear our bidding," said Juanna. "Suffer no priest of the Snaketo enter the palace gates. We give you command over them, even to death.Set guards at every doorway and come with us."
The ex-king bowed and issued some orders, in obedience to which thesullen priests fell back murmuring. Then they all passed the gates,crossed the courtyard, and presently stood in the torch-lit throne-room,where Juanna had slept on the previous night. Here food had beenprepared for them by Soa, who looked at them curiously, especially atLeonard and Francisco, as though, indeed, she had never expected to seethem again.
"Hearken, Olfan," said Juanna, "we have saved your life to-night and youhave sworn fealty to us; is it not so?"
"It is so, Queen," the warrior answered. "And I will be faithful tomy oath. This heart, that but for you had now been cold, beats for youalone. The life you gave back to me is yours, and for you I live anddie."
As he spoke he glanced at her with an expression in which, as itseemed to Juanna, human feeling was mixed with supernatural awe. Was itpossible, she wondered with a thrill of fear, that this savage king wasmingling his worship of the goddess with admiration of the woman? Anddid he begin to suspect that she was no goddess after all? Time wouldshow, but at least the look in his eyes alarmed her.
"Fear not," he went on; "a thousand men shall guard you night and day.The power of Nam is broken for a while, and now all this company maysleep in peace."
"It is well, Olfan. To-morrow morning, after we have eaten, we will talkwith you again, for we have much to say. Till then, watch!"
The great man bowed and went, and at last they were alone.
"Let us eat," said Leonard. "What is this? Spirit, or a very goodimitation of it. Well, I never wanted a glass of brandy more in mylife."
When they had finished their meal, at the request of Leonard Juannatranslated all that had been said in the temple, and among her listenersthere was none more interested than Soa.
"Say, Soa," said Leonard, when she had finished, "you did not expect tosee us come back alive, did you? Is that why you stayed away?"
"No, Deliverer," she answered. "I thought that you would be killed,every one of you. And so it must have come about, had it not been forthe Shepherdess. Also, I stayed away because those who have looked uponthe Snake once do not desire to see him again. Many years ago I wasbride to the Snake, Deliverer, and, had I not fled, my fate would havebeen the fate of her who died this night."
"Well, I do not wonder that you chose to go," said Leonard.
"Oh, Baas," broke in Otter, "why did you not shoot that old medicine-manas I told you? It would have been easy when you were about it, Baas, andnow he would have been broken like an eggshell thrown from a house-top,and not alive and full of the meat of malice. He is mad with rage andwickedness, and I say that he will kill us all if he can."
"I rather wish I had," said Leonard, pulling his beard. "I thought ofit, but could not do everything; and on future occasions, Otter, willyou remember that your name is Silence? Luckily, these people do notunderstand you: if they did you would ruin us all. What is the matter,Soa?"
"Nothing, Deliverer," she answered; "only I was thinking that Nam is myfather, and I am glad that you did not shoot him, as this black dog, whois named a god, suggests."
"Of gods I know nothing, you old cow," answered Otter angrily; "theyare a far-off people, though it seems that I am one of them, at any rateamong these fools, your kinsmen. But of dogs I can tell you something,and it is that they bite."
"Yes, and cows toss dogs," said Soa, showing her teeth.
"Here is another complication," thought Leonard to himself; "one daythis woman will make friends with her venerable parent and betray us,and then where shall we be? Well, among so many dangers an extra onedoes not matter."
"I must go to bed," said Juanna faintly; "my head is swimming. I cannotforget those horrors and that giddy place. When first I saw where I was,I nearly fainted and fell, but after a while I grew more used to it.Indeed, while I was speaking to the people I quite forgot my fear, andthe height seemed to exhilarate me. What a sight it was! When allis said and done, it is a grand thing to have lived through such anexperience. I wonder if anyone has ever seen its like."
"You are a marvellous woman, Juanna," said Leonard, with admiration. "Weowe our lives to your wit and courage."
"You see I was right in insisting on coming with you," she answeredsomewhat aggressively.
"For our sakes, yes; for your own I am not so sure. To tell you thetruth, I think that we should have done better never to have started onthis mad expedition. However, things look a little more promising now,though Nam and his company have still to be reckoned with, and we don'tseem much nearer the rubies, which are our main object."
"No," said Juanna, "they are gone, and we shall be lucky if we do notfollow them into the home of that hideous snake. Good night."
"Francisco," said Leonard, as he rolled himself up in his blanket, "youhad a narrow escape to-night. If I had missed my hold!"
"Yes, Outram, it was lucky for me that your arm is strong and your mindquick. Ah, I am a dreadful coward, and I can see the place now;" and heshuddered. "Always from a child I have believed that I shall die by afall from some height, and to-night I thought that my hour had come. Atfirst I did not understand, for I was watching the Senora's face in themoonlight, and to me she looked like an angel. Then I saw, and my sensesleft me. It was as though hands were stretched up from the blacknessto drag me down--yes, I saw the hands. But you saved me, Outram, thoughthat will not help me, for I shall perish in some such way at last. Sobe it. It is best that I should die, who cannot conquer the evil of myheart."
"Nonsense, my friend," said Leonard; "don't talk like that about dying.We can none of us afford to die just at present--
that is, unless we areobliged to do so. Your nerves are upset, and no wonder! As for 'the evilof your heart,' I wish that most men had as little--the world would bebetter. Come, go to sleep; you will feel very differently to-morrow."
Francisco smiled sadly and shook his head, then he knelt and began tosay his prayers. The last thing that Leonard saw before his eyes closedin sleep was the rapt girlish face of the priest, round which the lightof the taper fell like an aureole, as he knelt muttering prayer afterprayer with his pale lips.
It was nine o'clock before Leonard awoke next morning--for they had notslept till nearly four--to find Francisco already up, dressed, and, asusual, praying. When Leonard was ready they adjourned to Juanna's room,where breakfast was prepared for them. Here they found Otter, lookingsomewhat disturbed.
"Baas, Baas," he said, "they have come and will not go away!"
"Who?" asked Leonard.
"The woman, Baas: she who was given to me to wife, and many otherwomen--her servants--with her. There are more than twenty of themoutside, Baas, and all of them very big. Now, what shall I do withher, Baas? I came here to serve you and to seek the red stones that youdesire, and not a woman tall enough to be my grandmother."
"I really don't know and don't care," answered Leonard. "If you will bea god you must take the consequences. Only beware, Otter: lock up yourtongue, for this woman will teach you to speak her language, and she maybe a spy."
"Yes, Baas, I will see to that. Is not my name Silence, and shall womenmake me talk--me, who have always hated them? But--the Baas would notlike to marry her himself? I am a god, as you say, though it was you whomade me one, Baas, not I, and my heart is large; I will give her to you,Baas."
"Certainly not," answered Leonard decidedly. "See if the breakfast isready. No, I forgot, you are a god, so climb up into the throne and lookthe part, if you can."
As he spoke, Juanna came from her room, looking a little pale, andthey sat down to breakfast. Before they had finished their meal, Soaannounced that Olfan was waiting without. Juanna ordered him to beadmitted, and presently he entered.
"Is all well, Olfan?" asked Juanna.
"All is well, Queen," he answered. "Nam and three hundred of hisfollowing held council at dawn in the house of the priests yonder. Thereis much stir and talk in the city, but the hearts of the people arelight because their ancient gods have come back to us, bringing peacewith them."
"Good," said Juanna. Then she began to question him artfully on manythings, and by degrees they learnt more of the People of the Mist.
It seemed, as Leonard had already guessed, that they were a very ancientrace, having existed for countless generations on the same misty uplandplains. They were not, however, altogether isolated, for occasionallythey made war with other savage tribes. But they never intermarriedwith these tribes, all the captives taken in their wars being offeredin sacrifice at the religious festivals. The real governing power in thecommunity was the Society of the Priests of the Snake, who held theiroffice by hereditary tenure, outsiders being admitted to their body onlyunder very exceptional circumtances. The council of this society chosethe kings, and when they were weary of one of them, they sacrificed himand chose another, either from among his issue or elsewhere. This beingthe custom, as may be imagined, the relations between church and statewere much strained, but hitherto, as Olfan explained with suppressedrage, the church had been supreme.
Indeed, the king for the time being was only its mouthpiece, orexecutive officer. He led the armies, but the superstitions of thepeople, and even of the soldiers themselves, prevented him from wieldingany real power; and, unless he chanced to die naturally, his end wasnearly always the same: to be sacrificed when the seasons were bad or"Jal was angry."
The country was large but sparsely populated, the fighting men numberednot more than four thousand, of whom about half lived in the great city,the rest occupying villages here and there on the mountain slopes. As arule the people were monogamous, except the priests. It was the customof sacrifice which kept down the population to its low level, made thepower of the priests absolute, and their wealth greater than that of allthe other inhabitants of the country put together, for they chose thevictims that had offended against Jal or against the mother-goddess, andconfiscated their possessions to "the service of the temple." Thus thegreat herds of half-wild cattle which the travellers had seen on theplains belonged to the priests, and the priests took a fourth of theproduce of every man's field and garden--that is, when they did not takeit all, and his life with it.
Twice in every year great festivals were held in the temple of Jal,at the beginning of the spring season and in the autumn after theingathering of the crops. At each of these festivals many victims wereoffered in sacrifice, some upon the stone and some by being hurled intothe boiling pool beneath the statue, there to be consumed by the Snakeor swept down the secret course of the underground river. The feastcelebrated in the spring was sacred to Jal, and that in the autumn tothe mother-goddess. But there was this difference between them--thatat the spring ceremony female victims only were sacrificed to Jal topropitiate him and to avert his evil influence, while at the autumncelebration males alone were offered up to the mother-goddess ingratitude for her gifts of plenty. Also criminals were occasionallythrown to the Snake that his hunger might be satisfied. The priests hadother rites, Olfan added, and these they would have an opportunity ofwitnessing if the spring festival, which should be celebrated on thesecond day from that date, were held according to custom.
"It shall not be celebrated," said Juanna, almost fiercely.
Then Leonard, who had hitherto listened in silence, asked a questionthrough Juanna. "How is it," he said, "that Nam and his fellows, beingalready in absolute power, were so willing to accept the gods Jal andAca when they appeared in person, seeing that henceforth they must obey,not rule?"
"For two reasons, lord," Olfan answered; "first, because the gods aregods, and their servants know them; and secondly, because Nam has oflate stood in danger of losing his authority. Of all the chief prieststhat have been told of, Nam is the most cruel and the most greedy. Forthree years he has doubled the tale of sacrifices, and though the peoplelove these sights of death, they murmur, for none know upon whom theknife shall fall. Therefore he was glad to greet the gods come back,since he thought that they would confirm his power, and set him higherthan he sat before. Now he is astonished because they proclaim peaceand will have none of the sacrifice of men, for Nam does not love suchgentle gods."
"Yet he shall obey them," said Otter, speaking for the first time by themouth of Juanna, who all this while was acting as interpreter, "or drinkhis own medicine, for I myself will sacrifice him to myself."
When Juanna had translated the dwarf's bloodthirsty threat, Olfan bowedhis head meekly and smiled; clearly the prospect of Nam's removal didnot cause him unmixed grief. It was curious to see this stately warriorchief humbling his pride before the misshapen, knob-nosed Kaffir.
"Say, Olfan," asked Leonard, "who cut from the rock the great statue onwhich we sat last night, and what is that reptile we saw when the womanwas thrown into the pool of troubled waters?"
"Ask the Water-dweller of the water-dweller, the Snake of the snake, andthe Dwarf of his image," answered Olfan, nodding towards Otter. "Howcan I, who am but a man, tell of such things, lord? I only know thatthe statue was fashioned in the far past, when we, who are now but aremnant, were a great people; and as for the Snake, he has always livedthere in his holy place. Our grandfather's grandfathers knew him, andsince that day he has not changed."
"Interesting fact in natural history," said Leonard; "I wish I could gethim home alive to the Zoological Gardens."
Then he asked another question. "Tell me, Olfan, what became of the redstones yesterday, and of him who offended in offering them to the godyonder?"
"The most of them were cast into the pit of waters, lord, there to behidden for ever. There were three hide sacks full."
"Oh, heavens!" groaned Leonard when Juanna ha
d translated this. "Otter,you have something to answer for!"
"But the choicest," went on Olfan, "were put in a smaller bag, and tiedabout the neck of the man who had sinned. There were not many, but amongthem were the largest stones, that until yesterday shone in the eyesof the idol, stones blue and red together. Also, there was that stone,shaped like a human heart, which hitherto has been worn by the highpriest on the days of sacrifice, and with it the image of the Dwarffashioned from a single gem, and that of the Water-dweller cut from thegreat blue stone, and other smaller ones chosen because of their beautyand also because they have been known for long in the land. For althoughmany of these pebbles are found where the priests dig for them, but feware large and perfect, and the art of shaping them is lost."
"And what became of the man?" Leonard asked, speaking as quietly as hecould, for his excitement was great.
"Nay, I do not know," answered Olfan. "I only know that he was let downwith ropes into the home of the Snake, and that he gained that holyplace, for it was told to me that he dragged rope after him, perhaps ashe fled before the Snake.
"Now it was promised to the man that when he had laid the bag of stonesin the place of the Snake, for the Snake to guard for ever, his sinswould be purged, and, if it pleased the Water-dweller to spare him, thathe should be drawn up again. Thus Nam swore to him, but he did not keephis oath, for when the man had entered the cave he bade those who heldthe ropes to cast them loose, and I know not what happened to him, butdoubtless he is food for the Snake. None who look upon that holy placemay live to see the sun again."
"I only hope that the brute did not swallow the rubies as well as theirbearer," said Leonard to Juanna; "not that there is much chance of ourgetting them, anyway."
Then Olfan went, nor did he return till the afternoon, when he announcedthat Nam and his two principal priests waited without to speak withthem. Juanna ordered that they should be admitted, and presently theycame in. Their air was humble, and their heads were bowed; but Leonardsaw fury gleaming in their sombre eyes, and was not deceived by thismask of humility.
"We come, O ye gods," said Nam, addressing Juanna and Otter, who satside by side on the throne-like chairs: "we come to ask your will, forye have laid down a new law which we do not understand. On the thirdday from now is the feast of Jal, and fifty women are made ready to beoffered to Jal that his wrath may be appeased with their blood, and thathe may number their spirits among his servants, and withhold his angerfrom the People of the Mist, giving them a good season. This has beenthe custom of the land for many a generation, and whenever that customwas broken then the sun has not shone, nor the corn grown, nor have thecattle and the goats multiplied after their kind. But now, O ye gods, yehave proclaimed a new law, and I, who am yet your servant, come hitherto ask your will. How shall the feast go, and what sacrifice shall beoffered unto you?"
"The feast shall go thus," answered Juanna. "Ye shall offer us asacrifice indeed; to each of us shall ye offer an ox and a goat, andthe ox and the goat shall be given to the Snake to feed him, but not theflesh of men; moreover, the feast shall be held at noon and not in thenight-time."
"An ox and a goat--to each an ox and a goat!" said Nam humbly, but ina voice of bitterest sarcasm. "As ye will so let it be, O yegentle-hearted gods. And the festival shall be held at noon, and not inthe night season as of old. As ye will, O ye kind gods. Your word is mylaw, O Aca, and O Jal;" and bowing to the ground the aged man withdrewhimself, followed by his satellites.
"That devilish priest makes my flesh creep," said Juanna, when she hadtranslated his words.
"Oh! Baas, Baas," echoed Otter, "why did you not shoot him while youmight? Now he will surely live to throw us to the Snake."
As he spoke Soa advanced from behind the thrones where she had takenrefuge when Nam entered.
"It is not well for a dog who gives himself out as a god to threatenthe life of one whom he has tricked," said she meaningly. "Perchance thehour shall come when the true god will avenge himself on the false, andby the hand of his faithful servant, whom you would do to death, youbase-born dwarf." And before anyone could answer she left the chamber,casting a malevolent look at Otter as she went.
"That servant of yours makes _my_ flesh creep, Juanna," said Leonard."One thing is clear enough, we must not allow her to overhear any moreof our plans; she knows a great deal too much already."
"I cannot understand what has happened to Soa," said Juanna; "she seemsso changed."
"You made that remark before, Juanna; but for my part I don't think sheis changed. The sight of her amiable parent has developed her hiddenvirtues, that is all."