The Ivory Child

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE EMBASSY

  The ceremonies were over and the priests, with the exception of Harutand two who remained to attend upon him, vanished, probably to informthe male and female hierophants of their result, and through these thewhole people of the White Kendah. Old Harut stared at us for a littlewhile, then said in English, which he always liked to talk when Ragnallwas present, perhaps for the sake of practice:

  "What you like do now, eh? P'r'aps wish fly back to Town of Child, forsuppose this how you come. If so, please take me with you, because thatsave long ride."

  "Oh! no," I answered. "We walked here through that hole where lived theFather of Snakes who died of fear when he saw us, and just mixed withthe rest of you in the court of the temple."

  "Good lie," said Harut admiringly, "very first-class lie! Wonder howyou kill great snake, which we all think never die, for he live therehundred, hundred years; our people find him there when first they cometo this country, and make him kind of god. Well, he nasty beast and bestdead. I say, you like see Child? If so, come, for you our brothers now,only please take off hat and not speak."

  I intimated that we should "like see Child," and led by Harut we enteredthe little sanctuary which was barely large enough to hold all of us.In a niche of the end wall stood the sacred effigy which Ragnall and Iexamined with a kind of reverent interest. It proved to be the statue ofan infant about two feet high, cut, I imagine, from the base of a singlebut very large elephant's tusk, so ancient that the yellowish ivory hadbecome rotten and was covered with a multitude of tiny fissures. Indeed,for its appearance I made up my mind that several thousands of yearsmust have passed since the beast died from which this ivory was taken,especially as it had, I presume, always been carefully preserved undercover.

  The workmanship of the object was excellent, that of a fine artist who,I should think, had taken some living infant for his model, perhaps achild of the Pharaoh of the day. Here I may say at once that there couldbe no doubt of its Egyptian origin, since on one side of the head was asingle lock of hair, while the fourth finger of the right hand washeld before the lips as though to enjoin silence. Both of thesepeculiarities, it will be remembered, are characteristic of the infantHorus, the child of Osiris and Isis, as portrayed in bronzes and templecarvings. So at least Ragnall, who recently had studied many sucheffigies in Egypt, informed me later. There was nothing else in theplace except an ancient, string-seated chair of ebony, adorned withinlaid ivory patterns; an effigy of a snake in porcelain, showing thatserpent worship was in some way mixed up with their religion; and tworolls of papyrus, at least that is what they looked like, which werelaid in the niche with the statue. These rolls, to my disappointment,Harut refused to allow us to examine or even to touch.

  After we had left the sanctuary I asked Harut when this figure wasbrought to their land. He replied that it came when they came, at whatdate he could not tell us as it was so long ago, and that with it camethe worship and the ceremonies of their religion.

  In answer to further questions he added that this figure, which seemedto be of ivory, contained the spirits which ruled the sun and the moon,and through them the world. This, said Ragnall, was just a piece ofEgyptian theology, preserved down to our own times in a remote cornerof Africa, doubtless by descendants of dwellers on the Nile who had beendriven thence in some national catastrophe, and brought away with themtheir faith and one of the effigies of their gods. Perhaps they fled atthe time of the Persian invasion by Cambyses.

  After we had emerged from this deeply interesting shrine, which waslocked behind us, Harut led us, not through the passage connecting itwith the stone house that we knew was occupied by Ragnall's wife in hercapacity as Guardian of the Child, or a latter-day personification ofIsis, Lady of the Moon, at which house he cast many longing glances, butback through the two courts and the pylon to the gateway of the temple.Here on the road by which we had entered the place, a fact which we didnot mention to him, he paused and addressed us.

  "Lords," he said, "now you and the People of the White Kendah are one;your ends are their ends, your fate is their fate, their secrets areyour secrets. You, Lord Igeza, work for a reward, namely the person ofthat lady whom we took from you on the Nile."

  "How did you do that?" interrupted Ragnall when I had interpreted.

  "Lord, we watched you. We knew when you came to Egypt; we followed youin Egypt, whither we had journeyed on our road to England once more toseek our Oracles, till the day of our opportunity dawned. Then at nightwe called her and she obeyed the call, as she must do whose mind we havetaken away--ask me not how--and brought her to dwell with us, she whois marked from her birth with the holy sign and wears upon her breastcertain charmed stones and a symbol that for thousands of years haveadorned the body of the Child and those of its Oracles. Do you remembera company of Arabs whom you saw riding on the banks of the Great Riveron the day before the night when she was lost to you? We were with thatcompany and on our camels we bore her thence, happy and unharmed to thisour land, as I trust, when all is done, we shall bear her back again andyou with her."

  "I trust so also, for you have wrought me a great wrong," said Ragnallbriefly, "perhaps a greater wrong than I know at present, for how cameit that my boy was killed by an elephant?"

  "Ask that question of Jana and not of me," Harut answered darkly. Thenhe went on: "You also, Lord Macumazana, work for a reward, the countlessstore of ivory which your eyes have beheld lying in the burial place ofelephants beyond the Tava River. When you have slain Jana who watchesthe store, and defeated the Black Kendah who serve him, it is yours andwe will give you camels to bear it, or some of it, for all cannot becarried, to the sea where it can be taken away in ships. As for theyellow man, I think that he seeks no reward who soon will inherit allthings."

  "The old witch-doctor means that I am going to die," remarked Hansexpectorating reflectively. "Well, Baas, I am quite ready, if only Janaand certain others die first. Indeed I grow too old to fight and travelas I used to do, and therefore shall be glad to pass to some land whereI become young again."

  "Stuff and rubbish!" I exclaimed, then turned and listened to Harut who,not understanding our Dutch conversation, was speaking once more.

  "Lords," he said, "these paths which run east and west are the realapproach to the mountain top and the temple, not that which, as Isuppose, led you through the cave of the old serpent. The road tothe west, which wanders round the base of the hill to a pass in thosedistant mountains and thence across the deserts to the north, is so easyto stop that by it we need fear no attack. With this eastern road thecase is, however, different, as I shall now show you, if you will ridewith me."

  Then he gave some orders to two attendant priests who departed at a runand presently reappeared at the head of a small train of camels whichhad been hidden, I know not where. We mounted and, following the roadacross a flat piece of ground, found that not more than half a mile awaywas another precipitous ridge of rock which had presumably once formedthe lip of an outer crater. This ridge, however, was broken away for awidth of two or three hundred yards, perhaps by some outrush of lava,the road running through the centre of the gap on which schanzes hadbeen built here and there for purposes of defence. Looking at these Isaw that they were very old and inefficient and asked when they had beenerected. Harut replied about a century before when the last war tookplace with the Black Kendah, who had been finally driven off at thisspot, for then the White Kendah were more numerous than at present.

  "So Simba knows this road?" I said.

  "Yes, Lord, and Jana knows it also, for he fought in that war and stillat times visits us here and kills any whom he may meet. Only to thetemple he has never dared to come."

  Now I wondered whether we had really seen Jana in the forest on theprevious night, but coming to the conclusion that it was useless toinvestigate the matter, made no inquiries, especially as these wouldhave revealed to Harut the route by which we approached the temple. OnlyI pointed out to him that proper defe
nces should be put up here withoutdelay, that is if they meant to make a stronghold of the mountain.

  "We do, Lord," he answered, "since we are not strong enough to attackthe Black Kendah in their own country or to meet them in pitched battleon the plain. Here and in no other place must be fought the last fightbetween Jana and the Child. Therefore it will be your task to buildwalls cunningly, so that when they come we may defeat Jana and the hostsof the Black Kendah."

  "Do you mean that this elephant will accompany Simba and his soldiers,Harut?"

  "Without doubt, Lord, since he has always done so from the beginning.Jana is tame to the king and certain priests of the Black Kendah, whoseforefathers have fed him for generations, and will obey their orders.Also he can think for himself, being an evil spirit and invulnerable."

  "His left eye and the tip of his trunk are not invulnerable," Iremarked, "though from what I saw of him I should say there is no doubtabout his being able to think for himself. Well, I am glad the brute iscoming as I have an account to settle with him."

  "As he, Lord, who does not forget, has an account to settle with you andyour servant, Light-in-Darkness," commented Harut in an unpleasant andsuggestive tone.

  Then after we had taken a few measurements and Ragnall, who understandssuch matters, had drawn a rough sketch of the place in his pocket-bookto serve as data for our proposed scheme of fortifications, we pursuedour journey back to the town, where we had left all our stores and therewere many things to be arranged. It proved to be quite a long ride, downthe eastern slope of the mountain which was easy to negotiate, althoughlike the rest of this strange hill it was covered with dense cedarforests that also seemed to me to have defensive possibilities. Reachingits foot at length we were obliged to make a detour by certain windingpaths to avoid ground that was too rough for the camels, so that in theend we did not come to our own house in the Town of the Child till aboutmidday.

  Glad enough were we to reach it, since all three of us were tired outwith our terrible night journey and the anxious emotions that we hadundergone. Indeed, after we had eaten we lay down and I rejoiced tosee that, notwithstanding the state of mental excitement into which thediscovery of his wife had plunged him, Ragnall was the first of us tofall asleep.

  About five o'clock we were awakened by a messenger from Harut,who requested our attendance on important business at a kind ofmeeting-house which stood at a little distance on an open place wherethe White Kendah bartered produce. Here we found Harut and about twentyof the headmen seated in the shade of a thatched roof, while behindthem, at a respectful distance, stood quite a hundred of the WhiteKendah. Most of these, however, were women and children, for as I havesaid the greater part of the male population was absent from the townbecause of the commencement of the harvest.

  We were conducted to chairs, or rather stools of honour, and when we twohad seated ourselves, Hans taking his stand behind us, Harut rose andinformed us that an embassy had arrived from the Black Kendah which wasabout to be admitted.

  Presently they came, five of them, great, truculent-looking fellows ofa surprising blackness, unarmed, for they had not been allowed to bringtheir weapons in to the town, but adorned with the usual silver chainsacross their breasts to show their rank, and other savage finery. In theman who was their leader I recognized one of those messengers who hadaccosted us when first we entered their territory on our way from thesouth, before that fight in which I was taken prisoner. Stepping forwardand addressing himself to Harut, he said:

  "A while ago, O Prophet of the Child, I, the messenger of the god Jana,speaking through the mouth of Simba the King, gave to you and yourbrother Marut a certain warning to which you did not listen. Now Janahas Marut, and again I come to warn you, Harut."

  "If I remember right," interrupted Harut blandly, "I think that on thatoccasion two of you delivered the message and that the Child marked oneof you upon the brow. If Jana has my brother, say, where is yours?"

  "We warned you," went on the messenger, "and you cursed us in the nameof the Child."

  "Yes," interrupted Harut again, "we cursed you with three curses. Thefirst was the curse of Heaven by storm or drought, which has fallen uponyou. The second was the curse of famine, which is falling upon you; andthe third was the curse of war, which is yet to fall on you."

  "It is of war that we come to speak," replied the messenger,diplomatically avoiding the other two topics which perhaps he found itawkward to discuss.

  "That is foolish of you," replied the bland Harut, "seeing that theother day you matched yourselves against us with but small success. Manyof you were killed but only a very few of us, and the white lord whomyou took captive escaped out of your hands and from the tusks of Janawho, I think, now lacks an eye. If he is a god, how comes it that helacks an eye and could not kill an unarmed white man?"

  "Let Jana answer for himself, as he will do ere long, O Harut.Meanwhile, these are the words of Jana spoken through the mouth of Simbathe King: The Child has destroyed my harvest and therefore I demand thisof the people of the Child--that they give me three-fourths of theirharvest, reaping the same and delivering it on the south bank of theRiver Tava. That they give me the two white lords to be sacrificed tome. That they give the white lady who is Guardian of the Child to be awife of Simba the King, and with her a hundred virgins of your people.That the image of the Child be brought to the god Jana in the presenceof his priests and Simba the King. These are the demands of Jana spokenthrough the mouth of Simba the King."

  Watching, I saw a thrill of horror shake the forms of Harut and ofall those with him as the full meaning of these, to them, most impiousrequests sank into their minds. But he only asked very quietly:

  "And if we refuse the demands, what then?"

  "Then," shouted the messenger insolently, "then Jana declares war uponyou, the last war of all, war till every one of your men be dead and theChild you worship is burnt to grey ashes with fire. War till your womenare taken as slaves and the corn which you refuse is stored in our grainpits and your land is a waste and your name forgotten. Already the hostsof Jana are gathered and the trumpet of Jana calls them to the fight.To-morrow or the next day they advance upon you, and ere the moon isfull not one of you will be left to look upon her."

  Harut rose, and walking from under the shed, turned his back upon theenvoys and stared at the distant line of great mountains which stood outfar away against the sky. Out of curiosity I followed him and observedthat these mountains were no longer visible. Where they had been wasnothing but a line of black and heavy cloud. After looking for a whilehe returned and addressing the envoys, said quite casually:

  "If you will be advised by me, friends, you will ride hard for theriver. There is such rain upon the mountains as I have never seenbefore, and you will be fortunate if you cross it before the flood comesdown, the greatest flood that has happened in our day."

  This intelligence seemed to disturb the messengers, for they too steppedout of the shed and stared at the mountains, muttering to each othersomething that I could not understand. Then they returned and with afine appearance of indifference demanded an immediate answer to theirchallenge.

  "Can you not guess it?" answered Harut. Then changing his tone he drewhimself to his full height and thundered out at them: "Get you backto your evil spirit of a god that hides in the shape of a beast of theforest and to his slave who calls himself a king, and say to them: 'Thusspeaks the Child to his rebellious servants, the Black Kendah dogs: Swimmy river when you can, which will not be yet, and come up against mewhen you will; for whenever you come I shall be ready for you. You arealready dead, O Jana. You are already dead, O Simba the slave. You arescattered and lost, O dogs of the Black Kendah, and the home of suchof you as remain shall be far away in a barren land, where you must digdeep for water and live upon the wild game because there little cornwill grow.' Now begone, and swiftly, lest you stop here for ever."

  So they turned and went, leaving me full of admiration for thehistrionic powers of Harut.

 
I must add, however, that being without doubt a keen observer of theweather conditions of the neighbourhood, he was quite right aboutthe rain upon the mountains, which by the way never extended to theterritory of the People of the Child. As we heard afterwards, the floodcame down just as the envoys reached the river; indeed, one of them wasdrowned in attempting its crossing, and for fourteen days after this itremained impassable to an army.