CHAPTER XXVIII
FOR AURORA
Felix now began to find out for himself the ancient truth, thatdifficulties always confront man. Success only changes them, andincreases their number. Difficulties faced him in every direction; athome it had seemed impossible for him to do anything. Now that successseemed to smile on him and he had become a power, instead of everythingbeing smooth and easy, new difficulties sprang up for solution at everypoint. He wished to continue his journey, but he feared that he wouldnot be permitted to depart. He would have to start away in the night, inwhich case he could hardly return to them again, and yet he wished toreturn to these, the first friends he had had, and amongst whom he hopedto found a city.
Another week slipped away, and Felix was meditating his escape, when oneafternoon a deputation of ten spearmen arrived from a distant tribe, whohad nominated him their king, and sent their principal men to convey theintelligence. Fame is always greatest at a distance, and this tribe inthe mountains of the east had actually chosen him as king, and declaredthat they would obey him whether he took up his residence with them ornot. Felix was naturally greatly pleased; how delighted Aurora would be!but he was in perplexity what to do, for he could not tell whether theWolfstead people would be favourably inclined or would resent hisselection.
He had not long to consider. There was an assembly of the tribe, andthey, too, chose him by common consent as their king. Secretly they wereannoyed that another tribe had been more forward than themselves, andwere anxious that Felix should not leave them. Felix declined thehonour; in spite of his refusal, he was treated as if he were the mostdespotic monarch. Four days afterwards two other tribes joined themovement, and sent their acceptance of him as their monarch. Othersfollowed, and so quickly now that a day never passed without anothertribe sending a deputation.
Felix thought deeply on the matter. He was, of course, flattered, andready to accept the dignity, but he was alive to considerations ofpolicy. He resolved that he would not use the title, nor exercise thefunctions of a king as usually understood. He explained his plan to thechiefs; it was that he should be called simply "Leader", the Leader ofthe War; that he should only assume royal authority in time of war; thatthe present chiefs should retain their authority, and each govern asbefore, in accordance with ancient custom. He proposed to be king onlyduring war-time. He would, if they liked, write out their laws for themin a book, and so give their customs cohesion and shape. To this planthe tribes readily agreed; it retained all the former customs, it leftthe chiefs their simple patriarchal authority, and it gave all of themthe advantage of combination in war. As the Leader, Felix was henceforthknown.
In the course of a fortnight, upwards of six thousand men had joined theConfederacy, and Felix wrote down the names of twenty tribes on a sheetof parchment which he took from his chest. A hut had long since beenbuilt for him; but he received all the deputations, and held theassemblies which were necessary, in the circular fort. He was so pressedto visit the tribes that he could not refuse to go to the nearest, andthus his journey was again postponed. During this progress from tribalcamp to tribal camp, Felix gained the adhesion of twelve more, making atotal of thirty-two names of camps, representing about eight thousandspearmen. With pride Felix reflected that he commanded a far larger armythan the Prince of Ponze. But he was not happy.
Months had now elapsed since he had parted from Aurora. There were nomeans of communicating with her. A letter could be conveyed only by aspecial messenger; he could not get a messenger, and even if one hadbeen forthcoming, he could not instruct him how to reach Thyma Castle.He did not know himself; the country was entirely unexplored. Exceptthat the direction was west, he had no knowledge whatever. He had ofteninquired of the shepherds, but they were perfectly ignorant. Anker'sGate was the most westerly of all their settlements, which chieflyextended eastwards. Beyond Anker's Gate was the trackless forest, ofwhich none but the Bushmen knew anything. They did not understand whathe meant by a map; all they could tell him was that the range ofmountainous hills continued westerly and southerly for an unascertaineddistance, and that the country was uninhabited except by wandering gipsytribes.
South was the sea, the salt water; but they never went down to it, ornear it, because there was no sustenance for their flocks and herds.Till now, Felix did not know that he was near the sea; he resolved atonce to visit it. As nearly as he could discover, the great fresh waterLake did not reach any farther south; Wolfstead was not far from itssouthern margin. He concluded, therefore, that the shore of the Lakemust run continually westward, and that if he followed it he shouldultimately reach the very creek from which he had started in his canoe.How far it was he could not reckon.
There were none of the shepherds who could be sent with a letter; theywere not hunters, and were unused to woodcraft; there was not onecapable of the journey. Unless he went himself he could not communicatewith Aurora. Two routes were open to him; one straight through theforest on foot, the other by water, which latter entailed theconstruction of another canoe. Journey by water, too, he had found wassubject to unforeseen risks. Till he could train some of the younger mento row a galley, he decided not to attempt the voyage. There was but theforest route left, and that he resolved to attempt; but when? And how,without offending his friends?
Meantime, while he revolved the subject in his mind, he visited theriver and the shore of the great Lake, this time accompanied by tenspears. The second visit only increased his admiration of the place andhis desire to take possession of it. He ascended a tall larch, fromwhose boughs he had a view out over the Lake; the shore seemed to goalmost directly west. There were no islands, and no land in sight; thewater was open and clear. Next day he started for the sea; he wished tosee it for its own sake, and, secondly, because if he could trace thetrend of the shore, he would perhaps be able to put together a mentalmap of the country, and so assure himself of the right route to pursuewhen he started for Thyma Castle.
His guides took him directly south, and in three marches (three days)brought him to the strand. This journey was not in a straight line; theyconsidered it was about five-and-thirty or forty miles to the sea, butthe country was covered with almost impenetrable forests, whichcompelled a circuitous path. They had also to avoid a great ridge ofhills, and to slip through a pass or river valley, because these hillswere frequently traversed by the gipsies who were said, indeed, totravel along them for hundreds of miles. Through the river valley,therefore, which wound between the hills, they approached the sea, somuch on a level with it that Felix did not catch a distant glimpse.
In the afternoon of the third day they heard a low murmur, and soonafterwards came out from the forest itself upon a wide bed of shingle,thinly bordered with scattered bushes on the inland side. Climbing overthis, Felix saw the green line of the sea rise and extend itself oneither hand; in the glory of the scene he forgot his anxieties and hishopes, they fell from him together, leaving the mind alone with itselfand love. For the memory of Aurora rendered the beauty before him stillmore beautiful; love, like the sunshine, threw a glamour over the waves.His old and highest thoughts returned to him in all their strength. Hemust follow them, he could not help himself. Standing where the foamcame nearly to his feet, the resolution to pursue his aspirations tookpossession of him as strong as the sea. When he turned from it, he saidto himself, "This is the first step homewards to her; this is the firststep of my renewed labour." To fulfil his love and his ambition was oneand the same thing. He must see her, and then again endeavour with allhis abilities to make himself a position which she could share.
Towards the evening, leaving his escort, he partly ascended the nearestslope of the hills to ascertain more perfectly than was possible at alower level the direction in which the shore trended. It was nearly eastand west, and as the shore of the inland lake ran west, it appeared thatbetween them there was a broad belt of forest. Through this he mustpass, and he thought if he continued due west he should cross animaginary line drawn south from his own home through
Thyma Castle; thenby turning to the north he should presently reach that settlement. Butwhen he should cross this line, how many days' travelling it would needto reach it, was a matter of conjecture, and he must be guided bycircumstances, the appearance of the country, and his hunter's instinct.
On the way back to Wolfstead Felix was occupied in considering how hecould leave his friends, and yet be able to return to them and resumehis position. His general idea was to build a fortified house or castleat the spot which had so pleased him, and to bring Aurora to it. Hecould then devote himself to increasing and consolidating his rule overthese people, and perhaps in time organize a kingdom. But without Aurorathe time it would require would be unendurable; by some means he mustbring her. The whole day long as he walked he thought and thought,trying to discover some means by which he could accomplish these things;yet the more he considered the more difficult they appeared to him.There seemed no plan that promised success; all he could do would be torisk the attempt.
But two days after returning from the sea it chanced towards theafternoon he fell asleep, and on awakening found his mind full of ideaswhich he felt sure would succeed if anything would. The question hadsolved itself during sleep; the mind, like a wearied limb, strained bytoo much effort, had recovered its elasticity and freshness, and he sawclearly what he ought to do.
He convened an assembly of the chief men of the nearest tribes, andaddressed them in the circular fort. He asked them if they could placesufficient confidence in him to assist him in carrying out certainplans, although he should not be able to altogether disclose the objecthe had in view.
They replied as one man that they had perfect confidence in him, andwould implicitly obey.
He then said that the first thing he wished was the clearing of the landby the river in order that he might erect a fortified dwelling suitableto his position as their Leader in war. Next he desired their permissionto leave them for two months, at the end of which he would return. Hecould not at that time explain the reasons, but until his journey hadbeen made he could not finally settle among them.
To this announcement they listened in profound silence. It was evidentthat they disliked him leaving them, yet did not wish to seemdistrustful by expressing the feeling.
Thirdly, he continued, he wanted them to clear a path through theforest, commencing at Anker's Gate and proceeding exactly west. Thetrack to be thirty yards wide in order that the undergrowth might notencroach upon it, and to be carried on straight to the westward untilhis return. The distance to which this path was cleared he should takeas the measure of their loyalty to him.
They immediately promised to fulfil this desire, but added that therewas no necessity to wait till he left them, it should be commenced thevery next morning. To his reiterated request for leave of absence theypreserved an ominous silence, and as he had no more to say, the assemblythen broke up.
It was afternoon, and Felix, as he watched the departing chiefs,reflected that these men would certainly set a watch upon him to preventhis escape. Without another moment's delay he entered his hut, and tookfrom their hiding-place the diamond bracelet, the turquoise ring, andother presents for Aurora. He also secured some provisions, and put twospare bowstrings in his pocket. His bow of course he carried.
Telling the people about that he was going to the next settlement,Bedeston, and was anxious to overtake the chief from that place who hadattended the assembly, he started. So soon as he knew he could not beseen from the settlement he quitted the trail, and made a wide circuittill he faced westwards. Anker's Gate was a small outlying post, themost westerly from Wolfstead; he went near it to get a true direction,but not sufficiently near to be observed. This was on the fourth ofSeptember. The sun was declining as he finally left the country of hisfriends, and entered the immense forest which lay between him andAurora. Not only was there no track, but no one had ever traversed it,unless, indeed, it were Bushmen, who to all intents might be confusedwith the wild animals which it contained.
Yet his heart rose as he walked rapidly among the oaks; already he sawher, he felt the welcoming touch of her hand; the danger of Bushman orgipsy was nothing. The forest at the commencement consisted chiefly ofoaks, trees which do not grow close together, and so permitted of quickwalking. Felix pushed on, absorbed in thought. The sun sank; stillonward; and as the dusk fell he was still moving rapidly westwards.
The End
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