CHAPTER XXIX - AZRAEL.
To detain as a captive and a culprit, thus converting my own houseinto a prison, my would-be murderess and former plaything, wasintolerably painful. To leave her at large was to incur danger such asI had no right to bring on others. To dismiss her was less perilousthan the one course, less painful than the other, but combined periland pain in a degree which rendered both Eveena and myself mostreluctant to adopt it. From words of Esmo's, and from other sources, Igathered that the usual course under such circumstances would havebeen to keep the culprit under no other restraint than thatconfinement to the house which is too common to be remarkable,trusting to the terror which punishment inflicted and menaced bydomestic authority would inspire. But Eive now understood the limitswhich conscience or feeling imposed on the use of an otherwiseunlimited power. She knew very nearly how much she could have to fear;and, timid as she was, would not be cowed or controlled byapprehensions so defined and bounded. Eveena herself naturallyresented the peril, and was revolted by the treason even moreintensely than myself; and was for once hardly content that so heinousa crime should be so lightly visited. In interposing "between theculprit and the horrors of the law, she had taken for granted thestrenuous exertion of a domestic jurisdiction almost as absolute underthe circumstances as that of ancient Rome.
"What suggested to you," I asked one day of Eveena, "the suspicionthat so narrowly saved my life?"
"The carefully steadied hand--you have teased her so often forspilling everything it carried--and the unsteady eyes. But," she addedreluctantly, "I never liked to watch her--no, not lest you shouldnotice it--but because she did not seem true in her ways with you; andI should have missed those signs but for a strange warning." ... Shepaused.
"_I_ would not be warned," I answered with a bitter sigh. "Tell me,Madonna."
"It was when you left me in this room alone," she said, her exquisitedelicacy rendering her averse to recal, not the coercion she hadsuffered, but the pain she knew I felt in so coercing her. "Dearest,"she added with a sudden effort, "let me speak frankly, and dispel thepain you feel while you think over it in silence."
I kissed the hand that clasped my own, and she went on, speaking withintentional levity.
"Had a Chief forgotten?" tracing the outline of a star upon her bosom."Or did you think Clavelta's daughter had no share in the hereditarygifts of her family?"
"But how did you unlock the springs?"
"Ah! those might have baffled me if you had trusted to them. You madea double mistake when you left Enva on guard.... You don't think Itempted her to disobey? Eager as I was for release, I could not havebeen so doubly false. She did it unconsciously. It is time to put herout of pain."
"Does she know me so little as to think I could mean to torture her bysuspense? Besides, even she must have seen that you had secured herpardon."
"Or my own punishment," Eveena answered.
"Spare me such words, Eveena, unless you mean to make me yet moreashamed of the compulsion I did employ. I never spoke, I neverthought"----
"Forgive me, dearest. Will it vex you to find how clearly yourflower-bird has learned to read your will through your eyes? When Irefused to obey, and you felt yourself obliged to compel, your firstmomentary thought was to threaten, your next that I should not believeyou. When you laid your hand upon my shoulder, thus, it was no gestureof anger or menace. You thought of the only promise I must believe,and you dropped the thought as quickly as your hand. You would notspeak the word you might have to keep. Nay, dearest, what pains youso? You gave me no pain, even when you called another to enforce yourcommand. Yet surely you know that _that_ must have tried my spirit farmore than anything else you could do. You did well. Do you think thatI did not appreciate your imperious anxiety for me; that I did notrespect your resolution to do what you thought right, or feel how muchit cost you? If anything in the ways of love like yours could pain me,it would be the sort of reserved tenderness that never treats me asfrankly and simply as" ... "There was no need to name either of thoseso dearly loved, so lately--and, alas! so differently--lost. Trustingthe loyalty of my love so absolutely in all else, can you not trust itto accept willingly the enforcement of your will ... as you haveenforced it on all others you have ruled, from the soldiers of yourown world to the rest of your household? Ah! the light breaks throughthe mist. Before you gave Enva her charge you said to me in herpresence, 'Forgive me what you force upon me;' as if I, above all,were not your own to deal with as you will. Dearest, do you so wrongher who loves you, and is honoured by your love, as to fancy that anyexertion of your authority could make her feel humbled in your eyes orher own?"
It was impossible to answer. Nothing would have more deeply woundedher simple humility, so free from self-consciousness, as the plaintruth; that as her character unfolded, the infinite superiority of hernature almost awed me as something--save for the intense andoccasionally passionate tenderness of her love--less like a woman thanan angel.
"I was absorbed," she continued, "in the effort that had thrown Envainto the slumber of obedience. I did not know or feel where I was orwhat I had next to do. My thought, still concentrated, had forgottenits accomplished purpose, and was bent on your danger. Somehow on thecushioned pile I seemed to see a figure, strange to me, but which Ishall never forget. It was a young girl, very slight, pale, sickly,with dark circles round the closed eyes, slumbering like Enva, but ineverything else Enva's very opposite. I suppose I was myself entrancedor dreaming, conscious only of my anxiety for you, so that it seemednatural that everything should concern you. I remember nothing of mydream but the words which, when I came to myself in the peristyle,alone, were as clear in my memory as they are now:--
"'Watch the hand and read the eyes; On his breast the danger lies-- Strength is weak and childhood wise.
"'Fail the bowl, and--'ware the knife! Rests on him the Sovereign's life, Rests the husband's on the wife.
"'They that would his power command Know who holds his heart in hand: Silken tress is surest band.
"'Well they judge Kargynda's mood, Steel to peril, pain, and blood, Surely through his mate subdued.
"'Love can make the strong a slave, Fool the wise and quell the brave ... Love by sacrifice can save.'"
"She again!" I exclaimed involuntarily.
"You hear," murmured Eveena. "In kindness to me heed my warning, ifyou have neglected all others. Do not break my heart in your mercy toanother. Eive"----
"_Eive_!--The prophetess knows me better than you do! The warningmeans that they now desire my secret before my life, and scheme tomake your safety the price of my dishonour. It is the Devil'sthought--or the Regent's!"
As I could not decide to send Eive forth without home, protection, orcontrol, and Eveena could suggest no other course, the days wore onunder a domestic thunder-cloud which rendered the least sensitiveamong us uncomfortable and unhappy, and deprived three at least of theparty of appetite, of ease, and almost of sleep, till two alarmingincidents broke the painful stagnation.
I had just left Eive's prison one morning when Eveena, who washabitually entrusted with the charge of these communications, put intomy hands two slips of tafroo. The one had been given her by an amba,and came from Davilo's substitute on the estate. It said simply: "Youand you alone were recognised among the rescuers of your friend.Before two days have passed an attempt will be made to arrest you."The other came from Esmo, and Eveena had brought it to me unread, aswas indeed her practice. I could not bear to look at her, though Iheld her closely, as I read aloud the brief message which announcedthe death, by the sting of two dragons (evidently launched by someassassin's hand, but under circumstances that rendered detection byordinary means hopeless for the moment), of her brother and Esmo'sson, Kevima; and invited us to a funeral ceremony peculiar to theZinta. I need not speak of the painful minutes that followed, duringwhich Eveena strove to suppress for my sake at once her tears for herloss and her renewed and intensified terror on my own account. It wassuddenly an
nounced by the usual signs of the mute messenger that avisitor awaited me in the hall. Ergimo brought a message from theCampta, which ran as follows:--
"Aware that their treachery is suspected, the enemy now seek yoursecret first, and then your life. Guard both for a very short time.Your fate, your friends', and my own are staked on the issue. The sameCouncil that sends the traitors to the rack will see the lawrepealed."
I questioned Ergimo as to his knowledge of the situation.
"The enemy," he said, "must have changed their plan. One among them,at least, is probably aware that his treason is suspected both by hisSovereign and by the Order. This will drive him desperate; and if hecan capture you and extort your secret, he will think he can use it toeffect his purpose, or at least to ensure his escape. He may thinkopen rebellion, desperate as it is, safer than waiting for the firstblow to come from the Zinta or from the Palace."
My resolve was speedily taken. At the same moment came the necessityfor escape, and the opportunity and excuse. I sought out the writer ofthe first message, who entirely concurred with me in the propriety ofthe step I was about to take; only recommending me to apply personallyfor a passport from the Campta, such as would override any attempt todetain me even by legal warrant. He undertook to care for those I leftbehind; to release and provide for Eive, and to see, in case I shouldnot return, that full justice was done to the interests of the others,as well as to their claim to release from contracts which my departurefrom their world ought, like death itself, to cancel. The royalpassport came ere I was ready to depart, expressed in the fullest,clearest language, and such as none, but an officer prepared instantlyto rebel against the authority which gave it, dared defy. During thelast preparations, Velna and Eveena were closeted together in thechamber of the former; nor did I care to interrupt a parting the mostpainful, save one, of those that had this day to be undergone. I wentmyself to Eive.
"I leave you," I said, "a prisoner, not, I hope, for long. If I returnin safety, I will then consider in what manner the termination of yourconfinement can be reconciled with what is due to myself and others.If not, you will be yet more certainly and more speedily released. Andnow, child whom I once loved, to whom I thought I had been especiallygentle and indulgent, was the miserable reward offered you the solemotive that raised your hand against my life? Poison, I have alwayssaid, is the protection of the household slave against the domestictyrant. If I had ever been harsh or unjust to you, if I had made yourlife unhappy by caprice or by severity, I could understand. But you ofall have had least reason to complain. Not Enva's jealous temper, notLeenoo's spite, ever suggested to them the idea which came so easilyand was so long and deliberately cherished in your breast."
She rose and faced me, and there was something of contempt in the eyesthat answered mine for this once with the old fearless frankness.
"I had no reason to hate you? Not certainly for the kind of injurywhich commonly provokes women to risk the lives their masters havemade intolerable. That your discipline was the lightest ever known ina household, I need not tell you. That it fell more lightly, ifsomewhat oftener, on me than on others, you know as well as I. Put allthe correction or reproof I ever received from you into one, andrepeat it daily, and never should I have complained, much less dreamedof revenge. You think Enva or Leenoo might less unnaturally, lessunreasonably, have turned upon you, because your measure to theirfaults was somewhat harder and your heart colder to them! You did notscruple to make a favourite of me after a fashion, as you would neverhave done even of Eunane. You could pet and play with me, check andpunish me, as a child who would not 'sicken at the sweets, or behumbled by the sandal.' You forbore longer, you dealt more sternlywith them, because, forsooth, they were women and I a baby. I, who wasnot less clever than Eunane, not less capable of love, perhaps ofdevotion to you, than Eveena, _I_ might rest my head on your knee whenshe was by, I might listen to your talk when others were sent away; Iwas too much the child, too little the woman, to excite your distrustor her jealousy. Do you suppose I think better of you, or feel themore kindly towards you, that you have not taken vengeance? No! stillyou have dealt with me as a child; so untaught yet by that lastlesson, that even a woman's revenge cannot make you treat me as awoman! Clasfempta! you bear, I believe, outside, the fame of a wiseand a firm man; but in these little hands you have been as weak a foolas the veriest dotard might have been;--and may be yet."
"As you will," I answered, stung into an anger which at any ratequelled the worst pain I had felt when I entered the room. "Fool orsage, Eive, I was your fellow-creature, your protector, and yourfriend. When bitter trouble befals you in life, or when, alone, youfind yourself face to face with death, you may think of what haspassed to-day. Then remember, for your comfort, my last words--Iforgive you, and I wish you happy."
To Velna I could not speak. Sure that Eveena had told her all shecould wish to know or all it was safe to tell, a long embrace spoke myfarewell to her who had shared with me the first part of the longwatch of the death-chamber. Enva and her companions had gathered, notfrom words, that this journey was more than an ordinary absence. Someinstinct or presentiment suggested to them that it might, possibly atleast, be a final parting; and I was touched as much as surprised bythe tears and broken words with which they assured me that, greatly asthey had vexed my home life, conscious as they were that they hadcontributed to it no element but bitterness and trouble, they feltthat they had been treated with unfailing justice and almost unfailingkindness. Then, turning to Eveena, Enva spoke for the rest--
"We should have treated you less ill if we could at all haveunderstood you. We understand you just as little now. Clasfempta isman after all, bridling his own temper as a strong man rules a largehousehold of women or a herd of _ambau_. But you are not woman likeother women; and yet, in so far as women are or think they are softeror gentler than men, so far, twelvefold twelve times told, are yousofter, tenderer, gentler than woman."
Eveena struggled hard so far to suppress her sobs as to give ananswer. But, abandoning the effort, she only kissed warmly the lips,and clasped long and tenderly the hands, that had never spoken a kindword or done a kind act for her. At the very last moment she falteredout a few words which were not for them.
"Tell Eive," she said, "I wish her well; and wishing her well, Icannot wish her happy--_yet_."
We embarked in the balloon, attended as on our last journey by two ofthe brethren in my employment, both, I noticed, armed with thelightning gun. I myself trusted as usual to the sword, strong,straight, heavy, with two edges sharp as razors, that had enabled myhand so often to guard my head; and the air-gun that reminded me of somany days of sport, the more enjoyed for the peril that attended it.Screened from observation, both reclining in our own compartment ofthe car, Eveena and I spent the long undisturbed hours of the firstthree days and nights of our journey in silent interchange of thoughtand feeling that seldom needed or was interrupted by words. Her familyaffections were very strong. Her brother had deserved and won herlove; but conscious so long of a peril surrounding myself, fearfullyimpressed by the incident which showed how close that peril had come,her thought and feeling were absorbed in me. So, could they have knownthe present and foreseen the future, even those who loved her best andmost prized her love for them would have wished it to be. As wecrossed, at the height of a thousand feet, the river dividing thatcontinent between east and west which marks the frontier of Elcavoo, aslight marked movement of agitation, a few eager whispers ofconsultation, in the other compartment called my attention.As I parted the screen, the elder of the attendant brethren addressedme--
"There is danger," he said in a low tone, not low enough to escapeEveena's quick ear when my safety was in question. "Another balloon issteering right across our path, and one in it bears, as we see throughthe _pavlo_ (the spectacle-like double field-glass of Mars), the sashof a Regent, while his attendants wear the uniform of scarlet andgrey" (that of Endo Zampta). "Take, I beg you, this lightning-piece.Will you take command, or shall we act fo
r you?"
Parting slightly the fold of the mantle I wore, for at that height,save immediately under the rays of the sun, the atmosphere is cold, Ianswered by showing the golden sash of my rank. We went on steadily,taking no note whatever of the hostile vessel till it came withinhailing distance.
"Keep your guns steadily pointed," I said, "happen what may. If youhave to fire, fire one at any who is ready to fire at us, the other atthe balloon itself."
A little below but beside us Endo Zampta hailed. "I arrest you," hesaid, addressing me by name, "on behalf of the Arch-Court and by theirwarrant. Drop your weapons or we fire."
"And I," I said, "by virtue of the Campta's sign and signet attachedto this," and Eveena held forth the paper, while my weapon covered theRegent, "forbid you to interrupt or delay my voyage for a moment."
I allowed the hostile vessel to close so nearly that Endo could readthrough his glass the characters--purposely, I thought, made unusuallylarge--of his Sovereign's peremptory passport. To do so he had droppedhis weapon, and his men, naturally expecting a peaceable terminationto the interview, had laid down theirs. Mine had obeyed my order, andwe were masters of the situation, when, with a sudden turn of thescrew, throwing his vessel into an almost horizontal position, Endobrought his car into collision with ours and endeavoured to seizeEveena's person, as she leaned over with the paper in her hand. Shewas too quick for him, and I called out at once, "Down, or we fire."His men, about to grasp their pieces, saw that one of ours waslevelled at the balloon, and that before they could fire, a singleshot from us must send them earthwards, to be crushed into oneshapeless mass by the fall. Endo saw that he had no choice but to obeyor affect obedience, and, turning the tap that let out the gas by apipe passing through the car, sent his vessel rapidly downward, aswith a formal salute he affected to accept the command of his Prince.Instantly grasping, not the lightning gun, which, if it struck theirballoon, must destroy their whole party in an instant, but my air-gun,which, by making a small hole in the vast surface, would allow them todescend alive though with unpleasant and perilous rapidity, I fired,and by so doing prevented the use of an asphyxiator concealed in thecar, which the treacherous Regent was rapidly arranging for use.
The success of these manoeuvres delighted my attendants, and gave thema confidence they had not yet felt in my appreciation of Martialperils and resources. We reached Ecasfe and Esmo's house withoutfurther molestation, and a party of the Zinta watched the balloonwhile Eveena and I passed into the dwelling.
Preserved from corruption by the cold which Martial chemistry appliesat pleasure, the corpse of Kevima looked as the living man looked insleep, but calmer and with features more perfectly composed. Quietly,gravely, with streaming tears, but with self-command which dispelledmy fear of evil consequences to her, Eveena kissed the lips that wereso soon to exist no longer. From the actual process by which the bodyis destroyed, the taste and feeling of the Zinta exclude the immediaterelatives of the dead; and not till the golden chest with itsinscription was placed in Esmo's hands did we take further part in theproceeding. Then the symbolic confession of faith, by which thebrethren attest and proclaim their confidence in the universalall-pervading rule of the Giver of life and in the permanence of Hisgift, was chanted. A Chief of the Order pronounced a brief buttouching eulogy on the deceased. Another expressed on behalf of alltheir sympathy with the bereaved father and family. Consigned to theircare, the case that contained all that now remained to us of the lastmale heir of the Founder's house was removed for conveyance to themortuary chamber of the subterrene Temple. But ere those so chargedhad turned to leave the chamber in which the ceremony had passed, aflash so bright as at noonday to light up the entire peristyle and thechambers opening on it, startled us all; and a sentinel, entering inhaste and consternation, announced the destruction of our balloon by alightning flash from the weapon of some concealed enemy. Esmo, at thisalarming incident, displayed his usual calm resolve. He ordered thatcarriages sufficient to convey some twenty-four of the brethren shouldbe instantly collected, and announced his resolve to escort us at onceto the Astronaut. Before five minutes had elapsed from the destructionof the balloon, Zulve and the rest of the family had taken leave ofEveena and myself. Attended by the party mustered, occupying acarriage in the centre of the procession, we left the gate of theenclosure. I observed, what seemed to escape even Esmo's attention,that angry looks were bent upon us from many a roof, and that here andthere groups were gathered in the enclosures and on the road, amongwhom I saw not a few weapons. I was glad to remember that a party ofthe Zveltau still awaited Esmo's return at his own residence. We droveas fast as the electric speed would carry us along the road I hadtraversed once before in the company of her who was now my wife--tobe, I hoped, for the future my sole wife--and of him who had been eversince our mortal enemy. Where the carriages could proceed no furtherwe dismounted, and Esmo mustered the party in order. All were armedwith the spear and lightning gun. Placing Eveena in the centre of asolid square, Esmo directed me to take my place beside her. Iexpostulated--
"Clavelta, it is impossible for me to take the place of safety, whenothers who owe me nothing may be about to risk life on my behalf.Eveena, as woman and as descendant of the Founder, may well claimtheir protection. It is for me to share in her defence, not in hersafety."
He raised the arm that bore the Signet, and looked at me with the calmcommanding glance that never failed to enforce his will. "Take yourplace," he said; and recalled to the instincts of the camp, I raisedmy hand in the military salute so long disused, and obeyed in silence.
"Strike promptly, strike hard, and strike home," said Esmo to hislittle party. "The danger that may threaten us is not from the law orfrom the State, but from an attempt at murder through a perversion ofthe law and in the name of the Sovereign. Those who threaten us aimalso at the Campta's life, and those we may meet are his foes as wellas ours. Conquered here, they can hardly assail us again. Victorious,they will destroy us, not leave us an appeal to the law or to thethrone."
Placing himself a little in front of the troop, our Chief gave thesignal to advance, and we moved forward. It seemed to me a fatal errorthat no scout preceded us, no flanking party was thrown out. Thisneglect reminded me that, my comrades and commander were devoid ofmilitary experience, and I was about to remonstrate when, suddenlywheeling on the rocky platform on which I had first paused in mydescent from the summit, and facing towards the latter, we encountereda force outnumbering our own as two to one and wearing the colours ofthe Regent. The front ranks quailed, as men always quailed underEsmo's steady gaze, and lost nerve and order as they fell back toright and left; a movement intended to give play to the asphyxiatorthey had brought with them. Their strategy was no less ridiculous thanour own. Devoid for ages of all experience in conflict, both leadersmight have learned better from the conduct of the theme at bay. Theenemy were drawn up so near the turn that there was no room for theuse of their most destructive engine; and, had we been betterprepared, neither this nor their lightning guns would have been quickenough to anticipate a charge that would have brought us hand to hand.Even had they been steady and prompt, the suffocating shell wouldprobably have annihilated both parties, and the discharge wouldcertainly have been as dangerous to them as to us. In another instanta flash from several of our weapons, simultaneously levelled,shattered the instrument to fragments. We advanced at a run, and theenemy would have given way at once but that their retreat lay up sosteep an incline, and neither to right nor left could they welldisperse, being hemmed in by a rocky wall on one side and aprecipitous descent on the other. From our right rear, however, wherethe ground would have concealed a numerous ambush, I apprehended anattack which must have been fatal; but even so simple and decisive ameasure had never occurred to the Regent's military ignorance.
At this critical moment a flash from a thicket revealed the weapon ofsome hidden enemy, who thus escaped facing the gaze that none couldencounter; and Esmo fell, struck dead at once by the lightning-shot.The assassin s
prang up, and I recognised the features of Endo Zampta.Confounded and amazed, the Zveltau broke and fell backward, hurryingEveena away with them. Enabled by size and strength to extricatemyself at once, I stood at bay with my back against the rocks on ourleft, a projection rising as high as my knee assisting to hinder theenemy from entirely and closely surrounding me. I had thrown aside atthe moment of the attack the mantle that concealed my sash and star;and I observed that another Chief had done the same. It was he who,occupying at the trial the seat on Esmo's left, had shown thestrongest disposition to mercy, and now displayed the coolest courageamid confusion and danger.
"Rally them," I cried to him, "and trust the crimson blade [coldsteel]. These hounds will never face that."
The enemy had rushed forward as our men fell back, and I was almost intheir midst, thus protected to a considerable extent from thelightning projectile, against which alone I had no defence. Hand tohand I was a match for more than one or two of my assailants, thoughon this occasion I wore no defensive armour, and they were clad inshirts of woven wire almost absolutely proof against the spear inhands like theirs.
To die thus, to die for her under her eyes, leaving to her widowedlife a living token of our love--what more could Allah grant, whatbetter could a lover and a soldier desire? There was no honour, andlittle to satisfy even the passion of vengeance, in the sword-strokesthat clove one enemy from the shoulder to the waist, smote halfthrough the neck of a second, and laid two or three more dead or dyingat my feet. If the weight of the sword were lighter here than onEarth, the arm that wielded it had been trained in very differentwarfare, and possessed a strength which made the combat so unequalthat, had no other life hung on my blows, I should have been ashamedto strike. As I paused for a moment under this feeling, I noted that,outside the space half cleared by slaughter and by terror, the bearersof the lightning gun were forming a sort of semicircle, embarrassed bythe comrades driven back upon them, but drawing momentarily nearer,and seeking to enclose before firing the object of their aim. Theywould have shattered my heart and head in another instant butthat--springing on the projecting stone of which I have spoken, whichraised her to my level--Eveena had flung her arms around me, andsheltered my person with her own. This, and the confusion,disconcerted the aim of most of the assailants. The roar and flashhalf stunned me for a moment;--then, as I caught her in my left arm, Ibecame aware that it was but her lifeless form that I clasped to mybreast. Giving her life for mine, she had made mine worse thanworthless. My sword fell for a moment from my hand, retained only bythe wrist-knot, as I placed her gently and tenderly on the ground,resting against the stone which had enabled her to effect thesacrifice I as little desired as deserved. Then, grasping my weaponagain, and shouting instinctively the war-cry of another world, Isprang into the midst of the enemy. At the same moment, "_Ent anClazinta_" (To me the Zinta), cried the Chief behind; and havingrallied the broken ranks, even before the sight of Eveena's fall hadinspired reckless fury in the place of panic confusion, he led on theZveltau, the spear in hand elevated over their heads, and pointed atthe unprotected faces of the enemy. Exposed to the cold steel or itsMartial equivalent, the latter, as I had predicted, broke at once. Mysword did its part in the fray. They scarcely fought, neither did theyfling down their weapons. But in that moment neither force norsurrender would have availed them. We gave no quarter to wounded orunwounded foe. When, for lack of objects, I dropped the point of mystreaming sword, I saw Endo Zampta alive and unwounded in the hands ofthe victors.
"Coward, scoundrel, murderer!" I cried. "You shall die a more terribledeath than that which your own savage law prescribes for crimes likeyours. Bind him; he shall hang from my vessel in the air till I seefit to let him fall! For the rest, see that none are left alive toboast what they have done this day."
Struggling and screaming, the Regent was dragged to the summit, andhung by the waist, as I had threatened, from the entrance window ofthe Astronaut. Esmo's body and those of the other slain among theZveltau had been raised, and our comrades were about to carry them tothe carriages and remove them homeward. From the wardrobe of theAstronaut, furnished anew for our voyage, I brought a long softtherne-cloak, intended for Eveena's comfort; and wrapped in it allthat was left to us of the loveliest form and the noblest heart thatin two worlds ever belonged to woman. I shred one long soft tress ofmingled gold and brown from those with which my hand had played; Ikissed for the last time the lips that had so often counselled,pleaded, soothed, and never spoken a word that had better been leftunsaid. Then, veiling face and form in the soft down, I called aroundme again the brethren who had fallen back out of sight of my lastfarewell, and gave the corpse into their charge. Turning with restlesseagerness from the agony, which even the sudden shock that rendered mehalf insensible could not deaden into endurable pain, to the passionof revenge, I led two or three of our party to the foot of the ladderbeneath the entrance window of my vessel, and was about in theirpresence to explain his fate more fully to the struggling, howlingvictim, half mad with protracted terror. But at that moment my purposewas arrested. I had often repeated to Eveena passages from thoseTerrestrial works whose purport most resembled that of the mysticlessons she so deeply prized; and words, on which in life she hadespecially dwelt, seemed now to be whispered in my ear or my heart bythe voice which with bodily sense I could never hear again:--"Vengeance is Mine; I will repay." The absolute control of my will andconscience, won by her perfect purity and unfailing rectitude,outlasted Eveena's life. Turning to her murderer--
"You shall die," I said, "but you shall die not by revenge but by thelaw; and not by your own law, but by that which, forbidding thattorture shall add to the sting of death, commands that 'Whoso sheddethman's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' Yet I cannot give you asoldier's death," as my men levelled their weapons. Cutting the cordthat bound him, and grasping him from behind, I flung the wretch forthfrom the summit far into the air; well assured that he would neverfeel the blow that would dismiss his soul to its last account, beforethat Tribunal to whose judgment his victim had appealed. Then Ientered the vessel, waved my hand in farewell to my comrades, and,putting the machinery in action, rose from the surface and prepared toquit a world which now held nothing that could detain or recal me.
CHAPTER XXX - FAREWELL!
My task was not quite done. It was well for me in the first moments ofthis new solitude, of this maddening agony, that there was instantwork imperatively demanding the attention of the mind as well as theexercise of the body. I had first, by means of the air pump, to fillthe vessel with an atmosphere as dense as that in which I had beenborn and lived so long; then to close the entrance window and seal ithermetically, and then to arrange the steering gear. To complete thefirst task more easily, I arrested the motion of the vessel till sherose only a few feet per minute. Whilst employed on the air pump, Ibecame suddenly aware, by that instinct by which most men have been atone time or another warned of the unexpected proximity of friend orfoe, that I was not alone. Turning and looking in the direction of theentrance, I saw, or thought I saw, once more the Presence beheld inthe Hall of the Zinta. But commanding, enthralling as were those eyes,they could not now retain my attention; for beside that figureappeared one whose presence in life or death left me no thought foraught beside. I sprang forward, seemed to touch her hand, to clasp herform, to reach the lips I bent my head to meet:--and then, in themidst of the bright sunlight, a momentary darkness veiled all from myeyes. Lifting my head, however, my glance fell, through the window towhich the Vision had drawn me, directly upon Ecasfe and upon the homefrom which I had taken her whose remains were now being carried backthither. Snatching up my field-glass, I scanned the scene of which Ihad thus caught a momentary and confused glimpse. The roof wasoccupied by a score of men armed with the lightning weapon, and amongthem glanced the familiar badge--the band and silver star. Clamberingover the walls of the wide enclosure, and threatening to storm thehouse, were a mob perhaps a thousand in number, many of them similarlyarmed, the rest with
staves, spears, or such rude weapons as chancemight afford. Two minutes brought me immediately over them. Inanother, I was descending more rapidly than prudence would havesuggested. The strife seemed for a moment to cease, as one of thecrowd pointed, not to the impending destruction overhead, but to someobject apparently at an equal elevation to westward. A shout ofwelcome from the remaining defenders of the house called right upwardthe eyes of their assailants. For an instant they felt the bitternessof death; a cry of agony and terror that pierced even the thick wallsand windows of the Astronaut reached my ears. Then a violent shockthrew me from my feet. Springing up, I knew what wholesale slaughterhad avenged Eveena and her father, preserved her family, and given alast victory to the Symbol she so revered. In another instant I was onthe roof, and my hands clasped in Zulve's.
"We know," she said. "Our darling's _esve_ brought us a line that toldall; and what is left of those who were all to me, of her who was somuch to you, will now be returned to us almost at once."
We were interrupted. A cry drew my eyes to the right, where, springingfrom a balloon to the car of which was attached a huge flag emblazonedwith the crimson and silver colours of the Suzerain, Ergimo stoodbefore us.
"I am too late," he said, "to save life; in time only to put an end torebellion and avert murder. The Prince has fulfilled his promise toyou; has repealed the law that was to be a weapon in the hands thataimed at his life and throne, as at the Star and its children. Thetraitors, save one, the worst, have met by this time their just doom.That one I am here to arrest. But where is our Chief? And," noticingfor the first time the group of women, who in the violence of alarmand agony of sorrow had burst for once unconsciously the restraints ofa lifetime--"where ... Are you alone?"
"Alone for ever," I said; and as I spoke the procession that with bareand bent heads carried two veiled forms into the peristyle below toldall he sought to know. I need not dwell on the scene that followed. Iscarcely remember anything, till a chest of gold, bearing the cipherwhich though seldom seen I knew so well, was placed in my hands. Iturned to Zulve, and to Ergimo, who stood beside her.
"Have you need of me?" I said. "If I can serve her house I will remainwillingly, and as long as I can help or comfort."
"No," replied Ergimo; for Zulve could not speak. "The household ofClavelta are safe and honoured henceforth as no other in the land.Something we must ask of him who is, at any rate for the present, thehead of this household, and the representative of the Founder'slineage. It may be," he whispered, "that another" (and his eyes fellon the veiled forms whose pink robes covered with dark crimson gauzeindicated the younger matrons of the family) "may yet give to theChildren of the Star that natural heir to the Signet we had hoped fromyour own household. But the Order cannot remain headless."
Here Zulve, approaching, gave into my hand the Signet unclasped fromher husband's arm ere the coffer was closed upon his form. I understoodher meaning; and, as for the time the sole male representative of thehouse, I clasped it on the arm of the Chief who succeeded to Esmo'srank, and to whom I felt the care of Esmo's house might be safelyleft. The due honour paid to his new office, I turned to depart. Thenfor the first time my eyes fell on the unveiled countenance anddrooping form of one unlike, yet so like Eveena--her favourite andnearest sister, Zevle. I held out my hand; but, emotion overcoming thehabits of reserve, she threw herself into my arms, and her tears fellon my bosom, hardly faster than my own as I stooped and kissed herbrow. I had no voice to speak my farewell. But as the Astronaut rosefor the last time from the ground, the voices of my brethren chantedin adieu the last few lines of the familiar formula--
"Peace be yours no force can break, Peace not Death hath power to shake;"
* * * * *
"Peace from peril, fear, and pain; Peace--until we meet again! Not before the sculptured stone, But the All-Commander's Throne."
[Footnote 1: Qy. [GREEK: apo], from, [GREEK: ergos], work--asen-ergy?]
[Footnote 2: The chemical notation of the MS. is unfortunatelydifferent from any known to any chemist of my acquaintance, andutterly undecipherable.]
[Footnote 3: Last figures illegible: the year is probably 183.]
[Footnote 4: These distances are given in Roman measures and roundnumbers not easy of exact rendering.]
[Footnote 5: In 1830 or thereabouts.--ED.]
[Footnote 6: The Martial year is 687 of our days, and eight Martialyears are nearly equivalent to fifteen Terrestrial. Roughly, and inround numbers, the time figures given may be multiplied by two toreduce them to Terrestrial periods.--ED.]
[Footnote 7: Say fifty-sixth; in effect, fiftieth.--Narrator.]
[Footnote 8: Equivalent in time to ninety-three and forty-seven withus; in effect corresponding to eighty and forty.]
[Footnote 9: About ninety; in time, one hundred and six.]
[Footnote 10: Seventy; in time, eighty-three.--_Narrator_.]
[Footnote 11: The centuries, hundreds, thousands, etc., appear torepresent multiples of twelve, not ten.--ED.]
[Footnote 12: Aluminium?--ED.]
[Footnote 13: Here, and here only, the name is written in full; butthe first part is blurred. It may be Alius (Ali), Julius (Jules),Elias, or may represent any one of a dozen English surnames. Thesingle cipher, employed elsewhere throws no light on it.--ED.]
[Transcriber's Notes: A page was torn in our print copy, causinga few lines in Chapter I to be illegible. The missing words havebeen indicated with [***]. Also, "authypnotism" was corrected to"autohypnotism."]
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