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_ "He is gone," I panted, "and the world hasn't lost much."
"Well, it didn't give him much, did it, poor devil, so don't let's
speak ill of him," answered Leo, who had thrown himself exhausted to
the ground. "Perhaps he was all right before they made him mad. At any
rate he had pluck, for I don't want to tackle such another."
"How did you manage it?" I asked.
"Dodged in beneath his sword, closed with him, threw him and smashed
him up over that lump of stone. Sheer strength, that's all. A cruel
business, but it was his life or mine, and there you are. It's lucky I
finished it in time to help you before that oven-mouthed brute tore
your throat out. Did you ever see such a dog? It looks as large as a
young donkey. Are you much hurt, Horace?"
"Oh, my forearm is chewed to a pulp, but nothing else, I think. Let us
get down to the water; if I can't drink soon I shall faint. Also the
rest of the pack is somewhere about, fifty or more of them."
"I don't think they will trouble us, they have got the horses, poor
beasts. Wait a minute and I will come."
Then he rose, found the Khan's sword, a beautiful and ancient weapon,
and with a single cut of its keen edge, killed the second dog that I
had wounded, which was still yowling and snarling at us. After this he
collected the two spears and my knife, saying that they might be
useful, and without trouble caught the Khan's horse, which stood with
hanging head close by, so tired that even this desperate fight had not
frightened it away.
"Now," he said, "up you go, old fellow. You are not fit to walk any
farther;" and with his help I climbed into the saddle.
Then slipping the rein over his arm he led the horse, which walked
stiffly, on to the river, that ran within a quarter of a mile of us,
though to me, tortured as I was by pain and half delirious with
exhaustion, the journey seemed long enough.
Still we came there somehow, and, forgetting my wounds, I tumbled from
the horse, threw myself flat and drank and drank, more, I think, than
ever I did before. Not in all my life have I tasted anything so
delicious as was that long draught of water. When I had satisfied my
thirst, I dipped my head and made shift to jerk my wounded arm into
it, for its coolness seemed to still the pain. Presently Leo rose, the
water running from his face and beard, and said--
"What shall we do now? The river seems to be wide, over a hundred
yards, and it is low, but there may be deep water in the middle. Shall
we try to cross, in which case we might drown, or stop where we are
till daylight and take our chance of the death-hounds?"
"I can't go another foot," I murmured faintly, "much less try to ford
an unknown river."
Now, about thirty yards from the shore was an island covered with
reeds and grasses.
"Perhaps we could reach that," he said. "Come, get on to my back, and
we will try."
I obeyed with difficulty, and we set out, he feeling his way with the
handle of the spear. The water proved to be quite shallow; indeed, it
never came much above his knees, so that we reached the island without
trouble. Here Leo laid me down on the soft rushes, and, returning to
the mainland, brought over the black horse and the remaining weapons,
and having unsaddled the beast, knee-haltered and turned it loose,
whereon it immediately lay down, for it was too spent to feed.
Then he set to work to doctor my wounds. Well it proved for me that
the sleeve of my garment was so thick, for even through it the flesh
of my forearm was torn to ribbons, moreover a bone seemed to be
broken. Leo collected a double handful of some soft wet moss and,
having washed the arm, wrapped it round with a handkerchief, over
which he laid the moss. Then with a second handkerchief and some
strips of linen torn from our undergarments he fastened a couple of
split reeds to serve as rough splints to the wounded limb. While he
was doing this I suppose that I slept or swooned. At any rate, I
remember no more.
Sometime during that night Leo had a strange dream, of which he told
me the next morning. I suppose that it must have been a dream as
certainly I saw or was aware of nothing. Well, he dreamed--I use his
own words as nearly as possible--that again he heard those accursed
death-hounds in full cry. Nearer and nearer they came, following our
spoor to the edge of the river--all the pack that had run down the
horses. At the water's brink they halted and were mute. Then suddenly
a puff of wind brought the scent of us upon the island to one of them
which lifted up its head and uttered a single bay. The rest clustered
about it, and all at once they made a dash at the water.
Leo could see and hear everything. He felt that after all our doom was
now at hand, and yet, held in the grip of nightmare, if nightmare it
were, he was quite unable to stir or even to cry out to wake and warn
me.
Now followed the marvel of this vision. Giving tongue as they came,
half swimming and half plunging, the hounds drew near to the island
where we slept. Then, suddenly Leo saw that we were no longer alone.
In front of us, on the brink of the water, stood the figure of a woman
clad in some dark garment. He could not describe her face or
appearance, for her back was towards him.
All he knew was that she stood there, like a guard, holding some
object in her raised hand, and that suddenly the advancing hounds
caught sight of her. In an instant it was as though they were
paralysed by fear--for their bays turned to fearful howlings. One or
two of those that were nearest to the island seemed to lose their
footing and be swept away by the stream. The rest struggled back to
the bank, and fled wildly like whipped curs.
Then the dark, commanding figure, which in his dream Leo took to be
the guardian Spirit of the Mountain, vanished. That it left no
footprints behind it I can vouch, for in the morning we looked to see.
When, awakened by the sharp pangs in my arm, I opened my eyes again,
the dawn was breaking. A thin mist hung over the river and the island,
and through it I could see Leo sleeping heavily at my side and the
shape of the black horse, which had risen and was grazing close at
hand. I lay still for a while remembering all that we had undergone
and wondering that I should live to wake, till presently above the
murmuring of the water I heard a sound which terrified me, the sound
of voices. I sat up and peered through the reeds, and there upon the
bank, looking enormous in the mist, I saw two figures mounted upon
horses, those of a woman and a man.
They were pointing to the ground as though they examined spoor in the
sand. I heard the man say something about the dogs not daring to enter
the territory of the Mountain, a remark which came back to my mind
again after Leo had told me his dream. Then I remembered how we were
placed.
"Wake!" I whispered to Leo. "Wake, we are pursued."
He sprang to his feet, rubbing his eyes and snatching at a spear. Now
those upon the bank saw him, and a sweet voice spoke through the mist,
saying--
"Lay down that weapon, my guest, for we are not come to harm you."
It was the voice of the Khania Atene, and the man with her was the old
Shaman Simbri.
"What shall we do now, Horace?" asked Leo with something like a groan,
for in the whole world there were no two people whom he less wished to
see.
"Nothing," I answered, "it is for them to play."
"Come to us," called the Khania across the water. "I swear that we
mean no harm. Are we not alone?"
"I do not know," answered Leo, "but it seems unlikely. Where we are we
stop until we are ready to march again."
Atene spoke to Simbri. What she said we could not hear, for she
whispered, but she appeared to be arguing with him and persuading him
to some course of which he strongly disapproved. Then suddenly both of
them put their horses at the water and rode to us through the
shallows. Reaching the island, they dismounted, and we stood staring
at each other. The old man seemed very weary in body and oppressed in
mind, but the Khania was strong and beautiful as ever, nor had passion
and fatigue left any trace upon her inscrutable face. It was she who
broke the silence, saying--
"You have ridden fast and far since last we met, my guests, and left
an evil token to mark the path you took. Yonder among the rocks one
lies dead. Say, how came he to his end, who has no wound upon him?"
"By these," answered Leo, stretching out his hands.
"I knew it," she answered, "and I blame you not, for fate decreed that
death for him, and now it is fulfilled. Still, there are those to whom
you must answer for his blood, and I only can protect you from them."
"Or betray me to them," said Leo. "Khania, what do you seek?"
"That answer which you should have given me this twelve hours gone.
Remember, before you speak, that I alone can save your life--aye, and
will do it and clothe you with that dead madman's crown and mantle."
"You shall have your answer on yonder Mountain," said Leo, pointing to
the peak above us, "where I seek mine."
She paled a little and replied, "To find that it is death, for, as I
have told you, the place is guarded by savage folk who know no pity."
"So be it. Then Death is the answer that we seek. Come, Horace, let us
go to meet him."
"I swear to you," she broke in, "that there dwells not the woman of
your dreams. I am that woman, yes, even I, as you are the man of
mine."
"Then, lady, prove it yonder upon the Mountain," Leo answered.
"There dwells there no woman," Atene went on hurriedly, "nothing
dwells there. It is the home of fire and--a Voice."
"What voice?"
"The Voice of the Oracle that speaks from the fire. The Voice of a
Spirit whom no man has ever seen, or shall see."
"Come, Horace," said Leo, and he moved towards the horse.
"Men," broke in the old Shaman, "would you rush upon your doom?
Listen; I have visited yonder haunted place, for it was I who
according to custom brought thither the body of the Khan Atene's
father for burial, and I warn you to set no foot within its temples."
"Which your mistress said that we should never reach," I commented,
but Leo only answered--
"We thank you for your warning," and added, "Horace, watch them while
I saddle the horse, lest they do us a mischief."
So I took the spear in my uninjured hand and stood ready. But they
made no attempt to hurt us, only fell back a little and began to talk
in hurried whispers. It was evident to me that they were much
perturbed. In a few minutes the horse was saddled and Leo assisted me
to mount it. Then he said--
"We go to accomplish our fate, whatever it may be, but before we part,
Khania, I thank you for the kindness you have shown us, and pray you
to be wise and forget that we have ever been. Through no will of mine
your husband's blood is on my hands, and that alone must separate us
for ever. We are divided by the doors of death and destiny. Go back to
your people, and pardon me if most unwillingly I have brought you
doubt and trouble. Farewell."
She listened with bowed head, then replied, very sadly--
"I thank you for your gentle words, but, Leo Vincey, we do not part
thus easily. You have summoned me to the Mountain, and even to the
Mountain I shall follow you. Aye, and there I will meet its Spirit, as
I have always known I must and as the Shaman here has always known I
must. Yes, I will match my strength and magic against hers, as it is
decreed that I shall do. To the victor be that crown for which we have
warred for ages."
Then suddenly Atene sprang to her saddle, and turning her horse's head
rode it back through the water to the shore, followed by old Simbri,
who lifted up his crooked hands as though in woe and fear, muttering
as he went--
"You have entered the forbidden river and now, Atene, the day of
decision is upon us all--upon us and her--that predestined day of ruin
and of war."
"What do they mean?" asked Leo of me.
"I don't know," I answered; "but I have no doubt we shall find out
soon enough and that it will be something unpleasant. Now for this
river."
Before we had struggled through it I thought more than once that the
day of drowning was upon us also, for in places there were deep rapids
which nearly swept us away. But Leo, who waded, leading the Khan's
horse by the bridle, felt his path and supported himself with the
spear shaft, so that in the end we reached the other bank safely.
Beyond it lay a breadth of marshy lands, that doubtless were
overflowed when the torrent was in flood. Through these we pushed our
way as fast as we could, for we feared lest the Khania had gone to
fetch her escort, which we thought she might have left behind the
rise, and would return with it presently to hunt us down. At that time
we did not know what we learned afterwards, that with its bordering
river the soil of the Mountain was absolutely sacred and, in practice,
inviolable. True, it had been invaded by the people of Kaloon in
several wars, but on each occasion their army was destroyed or met
with terrible disaster. Little wonder then they had come to believe
that the House of Fire was under the protection of some unconquerable
Spirit.
Leaving the marsh, we reached a bare, rising plain, which led to the
first slope of the Mountain three or four miles away. Here we expected
every moment to be attacked by the savages of whom we had heard so
much, but no living creature did we see. The place was a desert
streaked with veins of rock that once had been molten lava. /I/ do not
remember much else about it; indeed, the pain in my arm was so sharp
that I had no eyes for physical features. At length the rise ended in
a bare, broad donga, quite destitute of vegetation, of which the
bottom was buried in lava and a debris of rocks washed down by the
rain or melting snows from slopes above. This donga was bordered on
the farther side by a cliff, perhaps fifty feet in height, in which we
could see no opening.
Still we descended the place, that was dark and rugged; pervaded,
moreover, by an extraordinary gloom, and as we went perceived that its
lava floor was sprinkled over with a multitude of white objects. Soon
we came to the first of these and found that it was the skeleton of a
human being. Here was a veritable Valley of Dead Bones, thousands upon
thousands of them; a gigantic graveyard. It seemed as though some
great army had perished here.
Indeed, we found afterwards that this was the case, for on one of
those occasions in the far past when the people of Kaloon had attacked
the Mountain tribes, they were trapped and slaughtered in this gully,
leaving their bones as a warning and a token. Among these sad
skeletons we wandered disconsolately, seeking a path up the opposing
cliff, and finding none, until at length we came to a halt, not
knowing which way to turn. Then it was that we met with our first
strange experience on the Mountain.
The gulf and its mouldering relics depressed us, so that for awhile we
were silent, and, to tell the truth, somewhat afraid. Yes, even the
horse seemed afraid, for it snorted a little, hung its head and
shivered. Close by us lay a pile of bones, the remains evidently of a
number of wretched creatures that, dead or living, had been hurled
down from the cliff above, and on the top of the pile was a little
huddled heap, which we took for more bones.
"Unless we can find a way out of this accursed charnel-house before
long, I think that we shall add to its company," I said, staring round
me.
As the words left my lips it seemed to me that from the corner of my
eye I saw the heap on the top of the bones stir. I looked round. Yes,
it was stirring. It rose, it stood up, a human figure, apparently that
of a woman--but of this I could not be sure--wrapped from head to foot
in white and wearing a hanging veil over its face, or rather a mask
with cut eye-holes. It advanced towards us while we stared at it, till
the horse, catching sight of the thing, shied violently and nearly
threw me. When at a distance of about ten paces it paused and beckoned
with its hand, that was also swathed in white like the arm of a mummy.
"What the devil are you?" shouted Leo, and his voice echoed drearily
among those naked rocks. But the creature did not answer, it only
continued to beckon.
Leo walked up to it to assure himself that we were not the victims of
some hallucination. As he came it glided back to its heap of bones and
stood there like a ghost of one dead arisen from amidst these grinning
evidences of death, or rather a swathed corpse, for that is what it
resembled. Leo followed with the intention of touching it to assure
himself of its reality, whereon it lifted its white-wrapped arm and
struck him lightly on the breast. Then as he recoiled it pointed with
its hand, first upwards as though to the Peak or the sky, and next at
the wall of rock which faced us.
He returned to me saying, "What shall we do?"
"Follow, I suppose. It may be a messenger from above," and I nodded
toward the mountain crest.
"From below, more likely," Leo muttered, "for I don't like the look of
this guide."
Still he motioned with his hand to the creature to proceed. Apparently
it understood, for it turned to the left and began to pick its way
amongst the stones and skeletons swiftly and without noise. We
followed for several hundred yards till it reached a shallow cleft in
the rock. This cleft we had seen already, but as it appeared to end at
a depth of about thirty feet, we passed on. The figure entered here
and vanished.
"It must be a shadow," said Leo doubtfully.
"Nonsense," I answered, "shadows don't strike one. Go on."
So he led the horse up the cleft, to find that at the end it turned
sharply to the right and that the form was standing there awaiting us.
Forward it went again and we after it down a little gorge that grew
ever gloomier till it terminated in what might have been a cave, or a
gallery cut in the rock.
Here our guide came back to us apparently with the intention of taking
the horse by the bridle, but at this nearer sight of it the brute
snorted and reared up, so that it almost fell backwards upon me. As it
found its feet again the figure struck it on the head in the same
passionless, inhuman way that it had struck Leo, whereon the horse
trembled and burst into a sweat as though with fear, making no further
attempt to escape or to disobey. Then it took one side of the bridle
in its swathed hand and, Leo clinging to the other, we plunged into
the tunnel.
Our position was not pleasant, for we knew not whither we were being
led by this horrible conductor, and suspected that it might be to meet
our deaths in the darkness. Moreover, I guessed that the path was
narrow and bordered by some gulf, for as we went I heard stones fall,
apparently to a considerable depth, while the poor horse lifted its
feet gingerly and snorted in abject fear. At length we saw daylight,
and never was I more glad of its advent, although it showed us that
there /was/ a gulf on our right, and that the path we travelled could
not measure more than ten feet in width.
Now we were out of the tunnel, that evidently had saved us a wide
detour, and standing for the first time upon the actual slope of the
Mountain, which stretched upwards for a great number of miles till it
reached the snow-line above. Here also we saw evidences of human life,
for the ground was cultivated in patches and herds of mountain sheep
and cattle were visible in the distance.
Presently we entered a gully, following a rough path that led along
the edge of a raging torrent. It was a desolate place, half a mile
wide or more, having hundreds of fantastic lava boulders strewn about
its slopes. Before we had gone a mile I heard a shrill whistle, and
suddenly from behind these boulders sprang a number of men, quite
fifty of them. All we could note at the time was that they were
brawny, savage-looking fellows, for the most part red haired and
bearded, although their complexions were rather dark, who wore cloaks
of white goat skins and carried spears and shields. I should imagine
that they were not unlike the ancient Picts and Scots as they appeared
to the invading Romans. At us they came uttering their shrill,
whistling cries, evidently with the intention of spearing us on the
spot.
"Now for it," said Leo, drawing his sword, for escape was impossible;
they were all round us. "Good-bye, Horace."
"Good-bye," I answered rather faintly, understanding what the Khania
and the old Shaman had meant when they said that we should be killed
before we ascended the first slope of the Mountain.
Meanwhile our ghastly-looking guide had slipped behind a great
boulder, and even then it occurred to me that her part in the tragedy
being played, she, if it were a woman at all, was withdrawing herself
while we met our miserable fate. But here I did her injustice, for she
had, I suppose, come to save us from this very fate which without her
presence we must most certainly have suffered. When the savages were
within a few yards suddenly she appeared on the top of the boulder,
looking like a second Witch of Endor, and stretched out her arm. Not a
word did she speak, only stretched out her draped arm, but the effect
was remarkable and instantaneous.
At the sight of her down on to their faces went those wild men, every
one of them, as though a lightning stroke had in an instant swept them
out of existence. Then she let her arm fall and beckoned, whereon a
great fellow who, I suppose, was the leader of the band, rose and
crept towards her with bowed head, submissive as a beaten dog. To him
she made signs, pointing to us, pointing to the far-off Peak, crossing
and uncrossing her white-wrapped arms, but so far as I could hear,
speaking no word. It was evident that the chief understood her,
however, for he said something in a guttural language. Then he uttered
his shrill whistle, whereon the band rose and departed thence at full
speed, this way and the other, so that in another minute they had
vanished as quickly as they came.
Now our guide motioned to us to proceed, and led the way upward as
calmly as though nothing had happened.
For over /two/ hours we went on thus till our path brought us from the
ravine on to a grassy declivity, across which it wound its way. Here,
to our astonishment, we found a fire burning, and hanging above the
fire an earthenware pot, which was on the boil, although we could see
no man tending it. The figure signalled to me to dismount, pointing to
the pot in token that we were to eat the food which doubtless she had
ordered the wild men to prepare for us, and very glad was /I/ to obey
her. Provision had been made for the horse also, for near the fire lay
a great bundle of green forage.
While Leo off-saddled the beast and spread the provender for it,
taking with me a spare earthen vessel that lay ready, I went to the
edge of the torrent to drink and steep my wounded arm in its ice-cold
stream. This relieved it greatly, though by now I was sure from
various symptoms that the brute Master's fangs had fortunately only
broken or injured the small bone, a discovery for which I was thankful
enough. Having finished attending to it as well as I was able, I
filled the jar with water.
On my way back a thought struck me, and going to where our mysterious
guide stood still as Lot's wife after she had been turned into a
pillar of salt, I offered it to her, hoping that she would unveil her
face and drink. Then for the first time she showed some sign of being
human, or so I thought, for it seemed to me that she bowed ever so
little in acknowledgment of the courtesy. If so--and I may have been
mistaken--this was all, for the next instant she turned her back on me
to show that it was declined. So she would not, or for aught I knew,
could not drink. Neither would she eat, for when Leo tried her
afterwards with food she refused it in like fashion.
Meanwhile he had taken the pot off the fire, and as soon as its
contents grew cool enough we fell on them eagerly, for we were
starving. After we had eaten and drunk, Leo re-dressed my arm as best
he could and we rested awhile. Indeed, I think that, being very tired,
we began to doze, for I was awakened by a shadow falling on us and
looked up to see our corpse-like guide standing close by and pointing
first to the sun, then at the horse, as though to show us that we had
far to travel. So we saddled up and went on again somewhat refreshed,
for at least we were no longer ravenous.
All the rest of that day we journeyed on up the grassy slopes, seeing
no man, although occasionally we heard the wild whistle which told us
that we were being watched by the Mountain savages. By sundown the
character of the country had changed, for the grass was replaced with
rocks, amongst which grew stunted firs. We had left the lower slopes
and were beginning to climb the Mountain itself.
The sun sank and we went on through the twilight. The twilight died
and we went on through the dark, our path lit only by the stars and
the faint radiance of the glowing pillar of smoke above the Peak,
which was reflected on to us from the mighty mantle of its snows.
Forward we toiled, whilst a few paces ahead of us walked our
unwearying guide. If she had seemed weird and inhuman before, now she
appeared a very ghost, as, clad in her graveyard white, upon which the
faint light shimmered, never speaking, never looking back, she glided
on noiselessly between the black rocks and the twisted, dark-green
firs and junipers.
Soon we lost all count of the road. We turned this way and turned that
way, we passed an open patch and through the shadows of a grove, till
at length as the moon rose we entered a ravine, and following a path
that ran down it, came to a place which is best described as a large
amphitheatre cut by the hand of nature out of the rock of the
Mountain. Evidently it was chosen as a place of defence, for its
entrance was narrow and tortuous, built up at the end also, so that
only one person could pass its gateway at a time. Within an open space
and at its farther side stood low, stone houses built against the
rock. In front of these houses, the moonlight shining full upon them,
were gathered several hundred men and women arranged in a semicircle
and in alternate companies, who appeared to be engaged in the
celebration of some rite.
It was wild enough. In front of them, and in the exact centre of the
semi-circle, stood a gigantic, red-bearded man, who was naked except
for a skin girdle about his loins. He was swinging himself backwards
and forwards, his hands resting upon his hips, and as he swung,
shouting something like "/Ho, haha, ho!/" When he bent towards the
audience it bent towards him, and every time he straightened himself
it echoed his final shout of "/Ho!/" in a volume of sound that made
the precipices ring. Nor was this all, for perched upon his hairy
head, with arched back and waving tail, stood a great white cat.
Anything stranger, and indeed more fantastic than the general effect
of this scene, lit by the bright moonlight and set in that wild arena,
it was never my lot to witness. The red-haired, half-naked men and
women, the gigantic priest, the mystical white cat, that, gripping his
scalp with its claws, waved its tail and seemed to take a part in the
performance; the unholy chant and its volleying chorus, all helped to
make it extraordinarily impressive. This struck us the more, perhaps,
because at the time we could not in the least guess its significance,
though we imagined that it must be preliminary to some sacrifice or
offering. It was like the fragment of a nightmare preserved by the
awakened senses in all its mad, meaningless reality.
Now round the open space where these savages were celebrating their
worship, or whatever it might be, ran a rough stone wall about six
feet in height, in which wall was a gateway. Towards this we advanced
quite unseen, for upon our side of the wall grew many stunted pines.
Through these pines our guide led us, till in the thickest of them,
some few yards from the open gateway and a little to the right of it,
she motioned to us to stop.
Then she went to a low place in the wall and stood there as though she
were considering the scene beyond. It seemed to us, indeed, that she
saw what she had not expected and was thereby perplexed or angered.
Presently she appeared to make up her mind, for again she motioned to
us to remain where we were, enjoining silence upon us by placing her
swathed hand upon the mask that hid her face. Next moment she was
gone. How she went, or whither, I cannot say; all we knew was that she
was no longer there.
"What shall we do now?" whispered Leo to me.
"Stay where we are till she comes back again or something happens," I
answered.
So there being nothing else to be done, we stayed, hoping that the
horse would not betray us by neighing, or that we might not be
otherwise discovered, since we were certain that if so we should be in
danger of death. Very soon, however, we forgot the anxieties of our
own position in the study of the wild scene before us, which now began
to develop a fearful interest.
It would seem that what has been described was but preliminary to the
drama itself, and that this drama was the trial of certain people for
their lives. This we could guess, for after awhile the incantation
ceased and the crowd in front of the big man with the cat upon his
head opened out, while behind him a column of smoke rose into the air,
as though light had been set to some sunk furnace.
Into the space that had thus been cleared were now led seven persons,
whose hands were tied behind them. They were of both sexes and
included an old man and a woman with a tall and handsome figure, who
appeared to be quite young, scarcely more than a girl indeed. These
seven were ranged in a line where they stood, clearly in great fear,
for the old man fell upon his knees and one of the women began to sob.
Thus they were left awhile, perhaps to allow the fire behind them to
burn up, which it soon did with great fierceness, throwing a vivid
light upon every detail of the spectacle.
Now all was ready, and a man brought a wooden tray to the red-bearded
priest, who was seated on a stool, the white cat upon his knees,
whither we had seen it leap from his head a little while before. He
took the tray by its handles and at a word from him the cat jumped on
to it and sat there. Then amidst the most intense silence he rose and
uttered some prayer, apparently to the cat, which sat facing him. This
done he turned the tray round so that the creature's back was now
towards him, and, advancing to the line of prisoners, began to walk up
and down in front of them, which he did several times, at each turn
drawing a little nearer.
Holding out the tray, he presented it at the face of the prisoner on
the left, whereon the cat rose, arched its back and began to lift its
paws up and down. Presently he moved to the next prisoner and held it
before him awhile, and so on till he came to the fifth, that young
woman of whom I have spoken. Now the cat grew very angry, for in the
death-like stillness we could hear it spitting and growling. At length
it seemed to lift its paws and strike the girl upon the face, whereon
she screamed aloud, a terrible scream. Then all the audience broke out
into a shout, a single word, which we understood, for we had heard one
very like it used by the people of the Plain. It was "Witch! Witch!
/Witch!/"
Executioners who were waiting for the victim to be chosen in this
ordeal by cat, rushed forward and seizing the girl began to drag her
towards the fire. The prisoner who was standing by her and whom we
rightly guessed to be her husband, tried to protect her, but his arms
being bound, poor fellow, he could do nothing. One of the executioners
knocked him down with a stick. For a moment his wife escaped and threw
herself upon him, but the brutes lifted her up again, haling her
towards the fire, whilst all the audience shouted wildly.
"I can't stand this," said Leo, "it's murder--coldblooded murder," and
he drew his sword.
"Best leave the beasts alone," I answered doubtfully, though my own
blood was boiling in my veins.
Whether he heard or not I do not know, for the next thing I saw was
Leo rushing through the gate waving the Khan's sword and shouting at
the top of his voice. Then I struck my heels into the ribs of the
horse and followed after him. In ten seconds we were among them. As we
came the savages fell back this way and that, staring at us amazed,
for at first I think they took us for apparitions. Thus Leo on foot
and I galloping after him, we came to the place.
The executioners and their victim were near the fire now--a very great
fire of resinous pine logs built in a pit that measured about eight
feet across. Close to it sat the priest upon his stool, watching the
scene with a cruel smile, and rewarding the cat with little gobbets of
raw meat, that he took from a leathern pouch at his side, occupations
in which he was so deeply engaged that he never saw us until we were
right on to him.
Shouting, "Leave her alone, you blackguards," Leo rushed at the
executioners, and with a single blow of his sword severed the arm of
one of them who gripped the woman by the nape of the neck.
With a yell of pain and rage the man sprang back and stood waving the
stump towards the people and staring at it wildly. In the confusion
that followed I saw the victim slip from the hands of her astonished
would-be murderers and run into the darkness, where she vanished. Also
I saw the witch-doctor spring up, still holding the tray on which the
cat was sitting, and heard him begin to shout a perfect torrent of
furious abuse at Leo, who in reply waved his sword and cursed him
roundly in English and many other languages.
Then of a sudden the cat upon the tray, infuriated, I suppose, by the
noise and the interruption of its meal, sprang straight at Leo's face.
He appeared to catch it in mid-air with his left hand and with all his
strength dashed it to the ground, where it lay writhing and
screeching. Then, as though by an afterthought, he stooped, picked the
devilish creature up again and hurled it into the heart of the fire,
for he was mad with rage and knew not what he did.
At the sight of that awful sacrilege--for such it was to them who
worshipped this beast--a gasp of horror rose from the spectators,
followed by a howl of execration. Then like a wave of the sea they
rushed at us. I saw Leo cut one man down, and next instant I was off
the horse and being dragged towards the furnace. At the edge of it I
met Leo in like plight, but fighting furiously, for his strength was
great and they were half afraid of him.
"Why couldn't you leave the cat alone?" I shouted at him in idiotic
remonstrance, for my brain had gone, and all I knew was that we were
about to be thrown into the fiery pit. Already I was over it; I felt
the flames singe my hair and saw its red caverns awaiting me, when of
a sudden the brutal hands that held me were unloosed and I fell
backwards to the ground, where I lay staring upwards.
This was what I saw. Standing in front of the fire, her draped form
quivering as though with rage, was our ghostly-looking guide, who
pointed with her hand at the gigantic, red-headed witch-doctor. But
she was no longer alone, for with her were a score or more of men clad
in white robes and armed with swords; black-eyed, ascetic-looking men,
with clean-shaved heads and faces, for their scalps shone in the
firelight.
At the sight of them terror had seized that multitude which, mad as
goaded bulls but a few seconds before, now fled in every direction
like sheep frightened by a wolf. The leader of the white-robed
priests, a man with a gentle face, which when at rest was clothed in a
perpetual smile, was addressing the medicine-man, and I understood
something of his talk.
"Dog," he said in effect, speaking in a smooth, measured voice that
yet was terrible, "accursed dog, beast-worshipper, what were you about
to do to the guests of the mighty Mother of the Mountain? Is it for
this that you and your idolatries have been spared so long? Answer, if
you have anything to say. Answer quickly, for your time is short."
With a groan of fear the great fellow flung himself upon his knees,
not to the head-priest who questioned him, but before the quivering
shape of our guide, and to her put up half-articulate prayers for
mercy.
"Cease," said the high-priest, "she is the Minister who judges and the
Sword that strikes. I am the Ears and the Voice. Speak and tell me--
were you about to cast those men, whom you were commanded to receive
hospitably, into yonder fire because they saved the victim of your
devilries and killed the imp you cherished? Nay, I saw it all. Know
that it was but a trap set to catch you, who have been allowed to live
too long."
But still the wretch writhed before the draped form and howled for
mercy.
"Messenger," said the high-priest, "with thee the power goes. Declare
thy decree."
Then our guide lifted her hand slowly and pointed to the fire. At once
the man turned ghastly white, groaned and fell back, as I think, quite
dead, slain by his own terror.
Now many of the people had fled, but some remained, and to these the
priest called in cold tones, bidding them approach. They obeyed,
creeping towards him.
"Look," he said, pointing to the man, "look and tremble at the justice
of Hes the Mother. Aye, and be sure that as it is with him, so shall
it be with every one of you who dares to defy her and to practise
sorcery and murder. Lift up that dead dog who was your chief."
Some of them crept forward and did his bidding.
"Now, cast him into the bed which he had made ready for his victims."
Staggering forward to the edge of the flaming pit, they obeyed, and
the great body fell with a crash amongst the burning boughs and
vanished there.
"Listen, you people," said the priest, "and learn that this man
deserved his dreadful doom. Know you why he purposed to kill that
woman whom the strangers saved? Because his familiar marked her as a
witch, you think. I tell you it was not so. It was because she being
fair, he would have taken her from her husband, as he had taken many
another, and she refused him. But the Eye saw, the Voice spoke, and
the Messenger did judgment. He is caught in his own snare, and so
shall you be, every one of you who dares to think evil in his heart or
to do it with his hands.
"Such is the just decree of the Hesea, spoken by her from her throne
amidst the fires of the Mountain." _
Read next: CHAPTER XIII - BENEATH THE SHADOWING WINGS
Read previous: CHAPTER XI - THE HUNT AND THE KILL
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