Allan Quatermain

  It was a week after Nyleptha's visit, when I had begun to get abouta little in the middle of the day, that a message came to me from SirHenry to say that Sorais would be brought before them in the Queen'sfirst antechamber at midday, and requesting my attendance if possible.Accordingly, greatly drawn by curiosity to see this unhappy woman oncemore, I made shift, with the help of that kind little fellow Alphonse,who is a perfect treasure to me, and that of another waiting-man, toreach the antechamber. I got there, indeed, before anybody else, excepta few of the great Court officials who had been bidden to be present,but I had scarcely seated myself before Sorais was brought in by a partyof guards, looking as beautiful and defiant as ever, but with a wornexpression on her proud face. She was, as usual, dressed in her royal'kaf', emblazoned with the emblem of the Sun, and in her right hand shestill held the toy spear of silver. A pang of admiration and pity wentthrough me as I looked at her, and struggling to my feet I bowed deeply,at the same time expressing my sorrow that I was not able, owing to mycondition, to remain standing before her.

  She coloured a little and then laughed bitterly. 'Thou dost forget,Macumazahn,' she said, 'I am no more a Queen, save in blood; I am anoutcast and a prisoner, one whom all men should scorn, and none showdeference to.'

  'At least,' I replied, 'thou art still a lady, and therefore one to whomdeference is due. Also, thou art in an evil case, and therefore it isdoubly due.'

  'Ah!' she answered, with a little laugh, 'thou dost forget that Iwould have wrapped thee in a sheet of gold and hung thee to the angel'strumpet at the topmost pinnacle of the Temple.'

  'No,' I answered, 'I assure thee that I forgot it not; indeed, I oftenthought of it when it seemed to me that the battle of the Pass wasturning against us; but the trumpet is there, and I am still here,though perchance not for long, so why talk of it now?'

  'Ah!' she went on, 'the battle! the battle! Oh, would that I were oncemore a Queen, if only for one little hour, and I would take such avengeance on those accursed jackals who deserted me in my need; that itshould only be spoken of in whispers; those woman, those pigeon-heartedhalf-breeds who suffered themselves to be overcome!' and she choked inher wrath.

  'Ay, and that little coward beside thee,' she went on, pointing atAlphonse with the silver spear, whereat he looked very uncomfortable;'he escaped and betrayed my plans. I tried to make a general of him,telling the soldiers it was Bougwan, and to scourge valour into him'(here Alphonse shivered at some unhappy recollection), 'but it was of noavail. He hid beneath a banner in my tent and thus overheard my plans. Iwould that I had slain him, but, alas! I held my hand.

  'And thou, Macumazahn, I have heard of what thou didst; thou art brave,and hast a loyal heart. And the black one too, ah, he was a _man_. Iwould fain have seen him hurl Nasta from the stairway.'

  'Thou art a strange woman, Sorais,' I said; 'I pray thee now plead withthe Queen Nyleptha, that perchance she may show mercy unto thee.'

  She laughed out loud. 'I plead for mercy!' she said and at that momentthe Queen entered, accompanied by Sir Henry and Good, and took her seatwith an impassive face. As for poor Good, he looked intensely ill atease.

  'Greeting, Sorais!' said Nyleptha, after a short pause. 'Thou hast rentthe kingdom like a rag, thou hast put thousands of my people to thesword, thou hast twice basely plotted to destroy my life by murder, thouhast sworn to slay my lord and his companions and to hurl me from theStairway. What hast thou to say why thou shouldst not die? Speak, OSorais!'

  'Methinks my sister the Queen hath forgotten the chief count of theindictment,' answered Sorais in her slow musical tones. 'It runs thus:"Thou didst strive to win the love of my lord Incubu." It is for thiscrime that my sister will slay me, not because I levied war. It isperchance happy for thee, Nyleptha, that I fixed my mind upon his lovetoo late.

  'Listen,' she went on, raising her voice. 'I have nought to say savethat I would I had won instead of lost. Do thou with me even asthou wilt, O Queen, and let my lord the King there' (pointing to SirHenry)--'for now will he be King--carry out the sentence, as it is meethe should, for as he is the beginning of the evil, let him also be theend.' And she drew herself up and shot one angry glance at him from herdeep fringed eyes, and then began to toy with her spear.

  Sir Henry bent towards Nyleptha and whispered something that I could notcatch, and then the Queen spoke.

  'Sorais, ever have I been a good sister to thee. When our father died,and there was much talk in the land as to whether thou shouldst situpon the throne with me, I being the elder, I gave my voice for thee andsaid, "Nay, let her sit. She is twin with me; we were born at a birth;wherefore should the one be preferred before the other?" And so has itever been 'twixt thee and me, my sister. But now thou knowest in whatsort thou hast repaid me, but I have prevailed, and thy life is forfeit,Sorais. And yet art thou my sister, born at a birth with me, and weplayed together when we were little and loved each other much, and atnight we slept in the same cot with our arms each around the other'sneck, and therefore even now does my heart go out to thee, Sorais.

  'But not for that would I spare thy life, for thy offence has been tooheavy; it doth drag down the wide wings of my mercy even to the ground.Also, while thou dost live the land will never be at peace.

  'Yet shalt thou not die, Sorais, because my dear lord here hath beggedthy life of me as a boon; therefore as a boon and as a marriage giftgive I it to him, to do with even as he wills, knowing that, thoughthou dost love him, he loves thee not, Sorais, for all thy beauty. Nay,though thou art lovely as the night in all her stars, O Lady of theNight, yet it is me his wife whom he loves, and not thee, and thereforedo I give thy life to him.'

  Sorais flushed up to her eyes and said nothing, and I do not think thatI ever saw a man look more miserable than did Sir Henry at that moment.Somehow, Nyleptha's way of putting the thing, though true and forcibleenough, was not altogether pleasant.

  'I understand,' stammered Curtis, looking at Good, 'I understood that hewere attached--eh--attached to--to the Queen Sorais. I am--eh--not awarewhat the--in short, the state of your feelings may be just now; but ifthey happened to be that way inclined, it has struck me that--in short,it might put a satisfactory end to an unpleasant business. The lady alsohas ample private estates, where I am sure she would be at liberty tolive unmolested as far as we are concerned, eh, Nyleptha? Of course, Ionly suggest.'

  'So far as I am concerned,' said Good, colouring up, 'I am quite willingto forget the past; and if the Lady of the Night thinks me worth thetaking I will marry her tomorrow, or when she likes, and try to make hera good husband.'

  All eyes were now turned to Sorais, who stood with that same slow smileupon her beautiful face which I had noticed the first time that I eversaw her. She paused a little while, and cleared her throat, and thenthrice she curtseyed low, once to Nyleptha, once to Curtis, and once toGood, and began to speak in measured tones.

  'I thank thee, most gracious Queen and royal sister, for theloving-kindness thou hast shown me from my youth up, and especially inthat thou hast been pleased to give my person and my fate as a giftto the Lord Incubu--the King that is to be. May prosperity, peace andplenty deck the life-path of one so merciful and so tender, even asflowers do. Long mayst thou reign, O great and glorious Queen, and holdthy husband's love in both thy hands, and many be the sons and daughtersof thy beauty. And I thank thee, my Lord Incubu--the King that is tobe--I thank thee a thousand times in that thou hast been pleased toaccept that gracious gift, and to pass it on to thy comrade in armsand in adventure, the Lord Bougwan. Surely the act is worthy of thygreatness, my Lord Incubu. And now, lastly, I thank thee also, my LordBougwan, who in thy turn hast deigned to accept me and my poor beauty.I thank thee a thousand times, and I will add that thou art a good andhonest man, and I put my hand upon my heart and swear that I would thatI could say thee "yea". And now that I have rendered thanks to all inturn'--and again she smiled--'I will add one short word.

  'Little can you understand of me, Queen Nyleptha and my lords, if ye
know not that for me there is no middle path; that I scorn your pity andhate you for it; that I cast off your forgiveness as though it were aserpent's sting; and that standing here, betrayed, deserted, insulted,and alone, I yet triumph over you, mock you, and defy you, one and all,and _thus_ I answer you.' And then, of a sudden, before anybody guessedwhat she intended to do, she drove the little silver spear she carriedin her hand into her side with such a strong and steady aim that thekeen point projected through her back, and she fell prone upon thepavement.

  Nyleptha shrieked, and poor Good almost fainted at the sight, while therest of us rushed towards her. But Sorais of the Night lifted herselfupon her hand, and for a moment fixed her glorious eyes intently onCurtis' face, as though there were some message in the glance, thendropped her head and sighed, and with a sob her dark but splendid spiritpassed.

  Well, they gave her a royal funeral, and there was an end of her.

  It was a month after the last act of the Sorais tragedy that a greatceremony was held in the Flower Temple, and Curtis was formally declaredKing-Consort of Zu-Vendis. I was too ill to go myself; and indeed, Ihate all that sort of thing, with the crowds and the trumpet-blowing andbanner-waving; but Good, who was there (in his full-dress uniform), cameback much impressed, and told me that Nyleptha had looked lovely, andCurtis had borne himself in a right royal fashion, and had been receivedwith acclamations that left no doubt as to his popularity. Also he toldme that when the horse Daylight was led along in the procession, thepopulace had shouted '_Macumazahn, Macumazahn!_' till they were hoarse,and would only be appeased when he, Good, rose in his chariot and toldthem that I was too ill to be present.

  Afterwards, too, Sir Henry, or rather the King, came to see me, lookingvery tired, and vowing that he had never been so bored in his life;but I dare say that that was a slight exaggeration. It is not in humannature that a man should be altogether bored on such an extraordinaryoccasion; and, indeed, as I pointed out to him, it was a marvellousthing that a man, who but little more than one short year before hadentered a great country as an unknown wanderer, should today bemarried to its beautiful and beloved Queen, and lifted, amidst publicrejoicings, to its throne. I even went the length to exhort him in thefuture not to be carried away by the pride and pomp of absolutepower, but always to strive to remember that he was first a Christiangentleman, and next a public servant, called by Providence to a greatand almost unprecedented trust. These remarks, which he might fairlyhave resented, he was so good as to receive with patience, and even tothank me for making them.

  It was immediately after this ceremony that I caused myself to be movedto the house where I am now writing. It is a very pleasant country seat,situated about two miles from the Frowning City, on to which it looks.That was five months ago, during the whole of which time I have, beingconfined to a kind of couch, employed my leisure in compiling thishistory of our wanderings from my journal and from our joint memories.It is probable that it will never be read, but it does not much matterwhether it is or not; at any rate, it has served to while away manyhours of suffering, for I have suffered a deal of pain lately. ThankGod, however, there will not be much more of it.

  It is a week since I wrote the above, and now I take up my pen for thelast time, for I know that the end is at hand. My brain is still clearand I can manage to write, though with difficulty. The pain in my lung,which has been very bad during the last week, has suddenly quite leftme, and been succeeded by a feeling of numbness of which I cannotmistake the meaning. And just as the pain has gone, so with it all fearof that end has departed, and I feel only as though I were going to sinkinto the arms of an unutterable rest. Happily, contentedly, and with thesame sense of security with which an infant lays itself to sleep in itsmother's arms, do I lay myself down in the arms of the Angel Death. Allthe tremors, all the heart-shaking fears which have haunted me througha life that seems long as I looked back upon it, have left me now; thestorms have passed, and the Star of our Eternal Hope shines clear andsteady on the horizon that seems so far from man, and yet is so verynear to me tonight.

  And so this is the end of it--a brief space of troubling, a fewrestless, fevered, anguished years, and then the arms of that greatAngel Death. Many times have I been near to them, and now it is my turnat last, and it is well. Twenty-four hours more and the world will begone from me, and with it all its hopes and all its fears. The air willclose in over the space that my form filled and my place know me nomore; for the dull breath of the world's forgetfulness will first dimthe brightness of my memory, and then blot it out for ever, and of atruth I shall be dead. So is it with us all. How many millions have lainas I lie, and thought these thoughts and been forgotten!--thousands uponthousands of years ago they thought them, those dying men of the dimpast; and thousands on thousands of years hence will their descendantsthink them and be in their turn forgotten. 'As the breath of the oxenin winter, as the quick star that runs along the sky, as a little shadowthat loses itself at sunset,' as I once heard a Zulu called Ignosi putit, such is the order of our life, the order that passeth away.

  Well, it is not a good world--nobody can say that it is, save those whowilfully blind themselves to facts. How can a world be good in whichMoney is the moving power, and Self-interest the guiding star? Thewonder is not that it is so bad, but that there should be any good leftin it.

  Still, now that my life is over, I am glad to have lived, glad to haveknown the dear breath of woman's love, and that true friendship whichcan even surpass the love of woman, glad to have heard the laughter oflittle children, to have seen the sun and the moon and the stars, tohave felt the kiss of the salt sea on my face, and watched the wild gametrek down to the water in the moonlight. But I should not wish to liveagain!

  Everything is changing to me. The darkness draws near, and the lightdeparts. And yet it seems to me that through that darkness I can alreadysee the shining welcome of many a long-lost face. Harry is there, andothers; one above all, to my mind the sweetest and most perfect womanthat ever gladdened this grey earth. But of her I have already writtenelsewhere, and at length, so why speak of her now? Why speak of herafter this long silence, now that she is again so near to me, now that Igo where she has gone?

  The sinking sun is turning the golden roof of the great Temple to afiery flame, and my fingers tire.

  So to all who have known me, or known of me, to all who can think onekindly thought of the old hunter, I stretch out my hand from the far-offshore and bid a long farewell.

  And now into the hands of Almighty God, who sent it, do I commit myspirit.

  '_I have spoken,_' as the Zulus say.