CHAPTER XVII
I FIND MY SON
Our road toward the pass ran through the camping ground of the newly
created Abati army, and what we saw on our journey thither told us
more vividly than any words or reports could do, how utter was the
demoralization of that people. Where should have been sentries were no
sentries; where should have been soldiers were groups of officers
talking with women; where should have been officers were camp
followers drinking.
Through this confusion and excitement we made our way unobserved, or,
at any rate, unquestioned, till at length we came to the regiment of
the Mountaineers, who, for the most part, were goatherds, poor people
who lived upon the slopes of the precipices that enclosed the land of
Mur. These folk, having little to do with their more prosperous
brethren of the plain, were hardy and primitive of nature, and
therefore retained some of the primeval virtues of mankind, such as
courage and loyalty.
It was for the first of these reasons, and, indeed, for the second
also, that they had been posted by Joshua at the mouth of the pass,
which he knew well they alone could be trusted to defend in the event
of serious attack. Moreover, it was desirable, from his point of view,
to keep them out of the way while he developed his plans against the
person of the Child of Kings, for whom these simple-minded men had a
hereditary and almost a superstitious reverence.
As soon as we were within the lines of these Mountaineers we found the
difference between them and the rest of the Abati. The other regiments
we had passed unchallenged, but here we were instantly stopped by a
picket. Japhet whispered something into the ear of its officer that
caused him to stare hard at us. Then this officer saluted the veiled
figure of the Child of Kings and led us to where the commander of the
band and his subordinates were seated near a fire sitting together. At
some sign or word that did not reach us the commander, an old fellow
with a long grey beard, rose and said:
"Your pardon, but be pleased to show your faces."
Maqueda threw back her hood and turned so that the light of the moon
fell full upon her, whereon the old man dropped to his knee, saying:
"Your commands, O Walda Nagasta."
"Summon your regiment and I will give them," she answered, and seated
herself on a bench by the fire, we three and Japhet standing behind
her.
The commander issued orders to his captains, and presently the
Mountaineers formed up on three sides of a square above us, to the
number of a little over five hundred men. When all were gathered
Maqueda mounted the bench upon which she had been sitting, threw back
her hood so that every one could see her face in the light of the
fire, and addressed them:
"Men of the mountain-side, this night just after the idol of the Fung
had been destroyed, the Prince Joshua, my uncle, came to me demanding
my surrender to him, whether to kill me or to imprison me in his
castle beyond the end of the lake, for reasons of State as he said, or
for other vile purposes, I do not know."
At these words a murmur rose from the audience.
"Wait," said Maqueda, holding up her hand, "there is worse to come. I
told my uncle, Prince Joshua, that he was a traitor and had best be
gone. He went, threatening me and, when I do not know, withdrew the
guards that should be stationed at my palace gates. Now, some rumour
of my danger had reached the foreigners in my service, and two of
them, he who is called Black Windows, whom we rescued from the Fung,
and the soldier named Quick, came to watch over me, while the Lord
Orme and the Doctor Adams stayed in the cave to send out that spark of
fire which should destroy the idol. Nor did they come back without
need, for presently arrived a band of Prince Joshua's men to take me.
"Then Black Windows and the soldier his companion fought a good fight,
they two holding the narrow passage against many, and slaying a number
of them with their terrible weapons. The end of it was, men of the
mountains, that the warrior Quick, charging down the passage, drove
away those servants of Joshua who remained alive. But in so doing he
was wounded to the death. Yes, that brave man lies dead, having given
his life to save the Child of Kings from the hands of her own people.
Black Windows also was wounded--see the bandages about his head. Then
came the Lord Orme and the Doctor Adams, and with them your brother
Japhet, who had barely escaped with their lives from the cave city,
and knowing that I was no longer safe in the palace, where even my
sleeping-room has been drenched with blood, with them I have fled to
you for succour. Will you not protect me, O men of the mountain-side?"
"Yes, yes," they answered with a great shout. "Command we obey. What
shall we do, O Child of Kings?"
Now Maqueda called the officers of the regiment apart and consulted
with them, asking their opinions, one by one. Some of them were in
favour of finding out where Joshua might be, and attacking him at
once. "Crush the snake's head and its tail will soon cease wriggling!"
these said, and I confess this was a view that in many ways commended
itself to us.
But Maqueda would have none of it.
"What!" she exclaimed, "shall I begin a civil war among my people when
for aught I know the enemy is at our gates?" adding aside to us,
"also, how can these few hundred men, brave though they be, hope to
stand against the thousands under the command of Joshua?"
"What, then, would you do?" asked Orme.
"Return to the palace with these Mountaineers, O Oliver, and by help
of that garrison, hold it against all enemies."
"Very well," he replied. "To those who are quite lost one road is as
good as another; they must trust to the stars to guide them."
"Quite so," echoed Higgs; "and the sooner we go the better, for my leg
hurts, and I want a sleep."
So Maqueda gave her commands to the officers, by whom they were
conveyed to the regiment, which received them with a shout, and
instantly began to strike its camp.
Then it was, coming hot-foot after so much sorrow, loss and doubt,
that there followed the happiest event of all my life. Utterly tired
out and very despondent, I was seated on an arrow-chest awaiting the
order to march, idly watching Oliver and Maqueda talking with great
earnestness at a little distance, and in the intervals trying to
prevent poor Higgs at my side from falling asleep. While I was thus
engaged, suddenly I heard a disturbance, and by the bright moonlight
caught sight of a man being led into the camp in charge of a guard of
Abati soldiers, whom from their dress I knew to belong to a company
that just then was employed in watching the lower gates of the pass.
I took no particular heed of the incident, thinking only that they
might have captured some spy, till a murmur of astonishment, and the
general stir, warned me that something unusual had occurred. So I rose
from my box and strolled towards the man, who now was hidden from me
by a group of Mountaineers. As I advanced this group opened, the men
who composed it bowing to me with a kind of wondering respect that
impressed me, I did not know why.
Then for the first time I saw the prisoner. He was a tall, athletic
young man, dressed in festal robes with a heavy gold chain about his
neck, and I wondered vaguely what such a person should be doing here
in this time of national commotion. He turned his head so that the
moonlight showed his dark eyes, his somewhat oval-shaped face ending
in a peaked black beard, and his finely cut features. In an instant I
knew him.
/It was my son Roderick!/
Next moment, for the first time for very many years, he was in my
arms.
The first thing that I remember saying to him was a typically Anglo-
Saxon remark, for however much we live in the East or elsewhere, we
never really shake off our native conventions, and habits of speech.
It was, "How are you, my boy, and how on earth did you come here?" to
which he answered, slowly, it is true, and speaking with a foreign
accent:
"All right, thank you, father. I ran upon my legs."
By this time Higgs hobbled up, and was greeting my son warmly, for, of
course, they were old friends.
"Thought you were to be married to-night, Roderick?" he said.
"Yes, yes," he answered, "I am half married according to Fung custom,
which counts not to my soul. Look, this is the dress of marriage," and
he pointed to his fine embroidered robe and rich ornaments.
"Then, where's your wife?" asked Higgs.
"I do not know and I do not care," he answered, "for I did not like
that wife. Also it is all nothing as I am not quite married to her.
Fung marriage between big people takes two days to finish, and if not
finished does not matter. So she marry some one else if she like, and
I too."
"What happened then?" I asked.
"Oh, this, father. When we had eaten the marriage feast, but before we
past before priest, suddenly we hear a thunder and see a pillar of
fire shoot up into sky, and sitting on top of it head of Harmac, which
vanish into heaven and stop there. Then everybody jump up and say:
"'Magic of white man! Magic of white man! White man kill the god who
sit there from beginning of world, now day of Fung finished according
to prophecy. Run away, people of Fung, run away!'
"Barung the Sultan tear his clothes too, and say--'Run away, Fung,'
and my half-wife, she tear /her/ clothes and say nothing, but run like
antelope. So they all run toward east, where great river is, and leave
me alone. Then I get up and run too--toward west, for I know from
Black Windows," and he pointed to Higgs, "when we shut up together in
belly of god before he let down to lions, what all this game mean, and
therefore not frightened. Well, I run, meeting no one in night, till I
come to pass, run up it, and find guards, to whom I tell story, so
they not kill me, but let me through, and at last I come here, quite
safe, without Fung wife, thank God, and that end of tale."
"I am afraid you are wrong there, my boy," I said, "out of the frying-
pan into the fire, that's all."
"Out of frying-pan into fire," he repeated. "Not understand; father
must remember I only little fellow when Khalifa's people take me, and
since then speak no English till I meet Black Windows. Only he give me
Bible-book that he have in pocket when he go down to be eat by lions."
(Here Higgs blushed, for no one ever suspected him, a severe critic of
all religions, of carrying a Bible in his pocket, and muttered
something about "ancient customs of the Hebrews.")
"Well," went on Roderick, "read that book ever since, and, as you see,
all my English come back."
"The question is," said Higgs, evidently in haste to talk of something
else, "will the Fung come back?"
"Oh! Black Windows, don't know, can't say. Think not. Their prophecy
was that Harmac move to Mur, but when they see his head jump into sky
and stop there, they run every man toward the sunrise, and I think go
on running."
"But Harmac has come to Mur, Roderick," I said; "at least his head has
fallen on to the cliff that overlooks the city."
"Oh! my father," he answered, "then that make great difference. When
Fung find out that head of Harmac has come here, no doubt they come
after him, for head his most holy bit, especially as they want hang
all the Abati whom they not like."
"Well, let's hope that they don't find out anything about it," I
replied, to change the subject. Then taking Roderick by the hand I led
him to where Maqueda stood a yard or two apart, listening to our talk,
but, of course, understanding very little of it, and introduced him to
her, explaining in a few words the wonderful thing that had happened.
She welcomed him very kindly, and congratulated me upon my son's
escape. Meanwhile, Roderick had been staring at her with evident
admiration. Now he turned to us and said in his quaint broken English:
"Walda Nagasta most lovely woman! No wonder King Solomon love her
mother. If Barung's daughter, my wife, had been like her, think I run
through great river into rising sun with Fung."
Oliver instantly translated this remark, which made us all laugh,
including Maqueda herself, and very grateful we were to find the
opportunity for a little innocent merriment upon that tragic night.
By this time the regiment was ready to start, and had formed up into
companies. Before the march actually began, however, the officer of
the Abati patrol, in whose charge Roderick had been brought to us,
demanded his surrender that he might deliver his prisoner to the
Commander-in-Chief, Prince Joshua. Of course, this was refused,
whereon the man asked roughly:
"By whose order?"
As it happened, Maqueda, of whose presence he was not aware, heard
him, and acting on some impulse, came forward, and unveiled.
"By mine," she said. "Know that the Child of Kings rules the Abati,
not the Prince Joshua, and that prisoners taken by her soldiers are
hers, not his. Be gone back to your post!"
The captain stared, saluted, and went with his companions, not to the
pass, indeed, as he had been ordered, but to Joshua. To him he
reported the arrival of the Gentile's son, and the news he brought
that the nation of the Fung, dismayed by the destruction of their god,
were in full flight from the plains of Harmac, purposing to cross the
great river and to return no more.
This glad tidings spread like wildfire; so fast, indeed, that almost
before we had begun our march, we heard the shouts of exultation with
which it was received by the terrified mob gathered in the great
square. The cloud of terror was suddenly lifted from them. They went
mad in their delight; they lit bonfires, they drank, they feasted,
they embraced each other and boasted of their bravery that had caused
the mighty nation of the Fung to flee away for ever.
Meanwhile, our advance had begun, nor in the midst of the general
jubilation was any particular notice taken of us till we were in the
middle of the square of Mur and within half a mile of the palace, when
we saw by the moonlight that a large body of troops, two or three
thousand of them, were drawn up in front of us, apparently to bar our
way. Still we went on till a number of officers rode up, and
addressing the commander of the regiment of Mountaineers, demanded to
know why he had left his post, and whither he went.
"I go whither I am ordered," he answered, "for there is one here
greater than I."
"If you mean the Gentile Orme and his fellows, the command of the
Prince Joshua is that you hand them over to us that they may make
report to him of their doings this night."
"And the command of the Child of Kings is," replied the captain of the
Mountaineers, "that I take them with her back to the palace."
"It has no weight," said the spokesman insolently, "not being endorsed
by the Council. Surrender the Gentiles, hand over to us the person of
the Child of Kings of whom you have taken possession, and return to
your post till the pleasure of the Prince Joshua be known."
Then the wrath of Maqueda blazed up.
"Seize those men!" she said, and it was done instantly. "Now, cut the
head from him who dared to demand the surrender of my person and of my
officers, and give it to his companions to take back to the Prince
Joshua as my answer to his message."
The man heard, and being a coward like all the Abati, flung himself
upon his face before Maqueda, trying to kiss her robe and pleading for
mercy.
"Dog!" she answered, "you were one of those who this very night dared
to attack my chamber. Oh! lie not, I knew your voice and heard your
fellow-traitors call you by your name. Away with him!"
We tried to interfere, but she would not listen, even to Orme.
"Would you plead for your brother's murderer?" she asked, alluding to
Quick. "I have spoken!"
So they dragged him off behind us, and presently we saw a melancholy
procession returning whence they came, carrying something on a shield.
It reached the opposing ranks, whence there arose a murmur of wrath
and fear.
"March on!" said Maqueda, "and gain the palace."
So the regiment formed into a square, and, setting Maqueda and
ourselves in the centre of it, advanced again.
Then the fight began. Great numbers of the Abati surrounded us and, as
they did not dare to make a direct attack, commenced shooting arrows,
which killed and wounded a number of men. But the Highlanders also
were archers, and carried stronger bows. The square was halted, the
first ranks kneeling and the second standing behind them. Then, at a
given word, the stiff bows which these hardy people used against the
lion and the buffalo upon their hills were drawn to the ear and loosed
again and again with terrible effect.
On that open place it was almost impossible to miss the mobs of the
Abati who, having no experience of war, were fighting without order.
Nor could the light mail they wore withstand the rush of the heavy
barbed arrows which pierced them through and through. In two minutes
they began to give, in three they were flying back to their main body,
those who were left of them, a huddled rout of men and horses. So the
French must have fled before the terrible longbows of the English at
Crécy and Poitiers, for, in fact, we were taking part in just such a
mediæval battle.
Oliver, who was watching intently, went to Japhet and whispered
something in his ear. He nodded and ran to seek the commander of the
regiment. Presently the result of that whisper became apparent, for
the sides of the hollow square wheeled outward and the rear moved up
to strengthen the centre.
Now the Mountaineers were ranged in a double or triple line, behind
which were only about a dozen soldiers, who marched round Maqueda,
holding their shields aloft in order to protect her from stray arrows.
With these, too, came our four selves, a number of camp-followers and
others, carrying on their shields those of the regiment who were too
badly wounded to walk.
Leaving the dead where they lay, we began to advance, pouring in
volleys of arrows as we went. Twice the Abati tried to charge us, and
twice those dreadful arrows drove them back. Then at the word of
command, the Highlanders slung their bows upon their backs, drew their
short swords, and in their turn charged.
Five minutes afterwards everything was over. Joshua's soldiers threw
down their arms, and ran or galloped to right and left, save a number
of them who fled through the gates of the palace, which they had
opened, and across the drawbridge into the courtyards within. After
them, or, rather, mixed up with them, followed the Mountaineers,
killing all whom they could find, for they were out of hand and would
not listen to the commands of Maqueda and their officers, that they
should show mercy.
So, just as the dawn broke this strange moonlit battle ended, a small
affair, it is true, for there were only five hundred men engaged upon
our side and three or four thousand on the other, yet one that cost a
great number of lives and was the beginning of all the ruin that
followed.
Well, we were safe for a while, since it was certain, after the lesson
which he had just learned, that Joshua would not attempt to storm the
double walls and fosse of the palace without long preparation. Yet
even now a new trouble awaited us, for by some means, we never
discovered how, that wing of the palace in which Maqueda's private
rooms were situated suddenly burst into flames.
Personally, I believe that the fire arose through the fact that a lamp
had been left burning near the bed of the Child of Kings upon which
was laid the body of Sergeant Quick. Perhaps a wounded man hidden
there overturned the lamp; perhaps the draught blowing through the
open doors brought the gold-spangled curtains into contact with the
wick.
At any rate, the wood-panelled chambers took fire, and had it not
happened that the set of the wind was favourable, the whole palace
might have been consumed. As it was, we succeeded in confining the
conflagration to this particular part of it, which within two hours
had burnt out, leaving nothing standing but the stark, stone walls.
Such was the funeral pyre of Sergeant Quick, a noble one, I thought to
myself, as I watched it burn.
When the fire was so well under control, for we had pulled down the
connecting passage where Higgs and Quick fought their great fight,
that there was no longer any danger of its spreading, and the watches
had been set, at length we got some rest.
Maqueda and two or three of her ladies, one of them, I remember, her
old nurse who had brought her up, for her mother died at her birth,
took possession of some empty rooms, of which there were many in the
palace, while we lay, or rather fell, down in the guest-chambers,
where we had always slept, and never opened our eyes again until the
evening.
I remember that I woke thinking that I was the victim of some
wonderful dream of mingled joy and tragedy. Oliver and Higgs were
sleeping like logs, but my son Roderick, still dressed in his bridal
robes, had risen and sat by my bed staring at me, a puzzled look upon
his handsome face.
"So you are here," I said, taking his hand. "I thought I dreamed."
"No, Father," he answered in his odd English, "no dream; all true.
This is a strange world, Father. Look at me! For how many years--
twelve--fourteen, slave of savage peoples for whom I sing, priest of
Fung idol, always near death but never die. Then Sultan Barung take
fancy to me, say I come of white blood and must be his daughter's
husband. Then your brother Higgs made prisoner with me and tell me
that you hunt me all these years. Then Higgs thrown to lions and you
save him. Then yesterday I married to Sultan's daughter, whom I never
see before but twice at fast of idol. Then Harmac's head fly off to
heaven, and all Fung people run away, and I run too, and find you.
Then battle, and many killed, and arrow scratch my neck but not hurt
me," and he pointed to a graze just over his jugular vein, "and now we
together. Oh! Father, very strange world! I think there God somewhere
who look after us!"
"I think so, too, my boy," I answered, "and I hope that He will
continue to do so, for I tell you we are in a worse place than ever
you were among the Fung."
"Oh, don't mind that, Father," he answered gaily, for Roderick is a
cheerful soul. "As Fung say, there no house without door, although
plenty people made blind and can't see it. But we not blind, or we
dead long ago. Find door by and by, but here come man to talk to you."
The man proved to be Japhet, who had been sent by the Child of Kings
to summon us, as she had news to tell. So I woke the others, and after
I had dressed the Professor's flesh wounds, which were stiff and sore,
we joined her where she sat in the gateway tower of the inner wall.
She greeted us rather sadly, asked Oliver how he had slept and Higgs
if his cuts hurt him. Then she turned to my son, and congratulated him
upon his wonderful escape and upon having found a father if he had
lost a wife.
"Truly," she added, "you are a fortunate man to be so well loved, O
son of Adams. To how many sons are given fathers who for fourteen long
years, abandoning all else, would search for them in peril of their
lives, enduring slavery and blows and starvation and the desert's heat
and cold for the sake of a long-lost face? Such faithfulness is that
of my forefather David for his brother Jonathan, and such love it is
that passes the love of women. See that you pay it back to him, and
to his memory until the last hour of your life, child of Adams."
"I will, indeed, I will, O Walda Nagasta," answered Roderick, and
throwing his arms about my neck he embraced me before them all. It is
not too much to say that this kiss of filial devotion more than repaid
me for all I had undergone for his beloved sake. For now I knew that I
had not toiled and suffered for one of no worth, as is so often the
lot of true hearts in this bitter world.
Just then some of Maqueda's ladies brought food, and at her bidding we
breakfasted.
"Be sparing," she said with a melancholy little laugh, "for I know not
how long our store will last. Listen! I have received a last offer
from my uncle Joshua. An arrow brought it--not a man; I think that no
man would come lest his fate should be that of the traitor of
yesterday," and she produced a slip of parchment that had been tied to
the shaft of an arrow and, unfolding it, read as follows--
"O Walda Nagasta, deliver up to death the Gentiles who have
bewitched you and led you to shed the blood of so many of your
people, and with them the officers of the Mountaineers, and the
rest shall be spared. You also I will forgive and make my wife.
Resist, and all who cling to you shall be put to the sword, and to
yourself I promise nothing.
"Written by order of the Council,
"Joshua, Prince of the Abati."
"What answer shall I send?" she asked, looking at us curiously.
"Upon my word," replied Orme, shrugging his shoulders, "if it were not
for those faithful officers I am not sure but that you would be wise
to accept the terms. We are cooped up here, but a few surrounded by
thousands, who, if they dare not assault, still can starve us out, as
this place is not victualled for a siege."
"You forget one of those terms, O Oliver!" she said slowly, pointing
with her finger to the passage in the letter which stated that Joshua
would make her his wife, "Now do you still counsel surrender?"
"How can I?" he answered, flushing, and was silent.
"Well, it does not matter what you counsel," she went on with a smile,
"seeing that I have already sent my answer, also by arrow. See, here
is a copy of it," and she read--
"To my rebellious People of the Abati:
"Surrender to me Joshua, my uncle, and the members of the Council
who have lifted sword against me, to be dealt with according to
the ancient law, and the rest of you shall go unharmed. Refuse,
and I swear to you that before the night of the new moon has
passed there shall be such woe in Mur as fell upon the city of
David when the barbarian standards were set upon her walls. Such
is the counsel that has come to me, the Child of Solomon, in the
watches of the night, and I tell you that it is true. Do what you
will, people of the Abati, or what you must, since your fate and
ours are written. But be sure that in me and the Western lords
lies your only hope.
"Walda Nagasta."
"What do you mean, O Maqueda," I asked, "about the counsel that came
to you in the watches of the night?"
"What I say, O Adams," she answered calmly. "After we parted at dawn I
slept heavily, and in my sleep a dark and royal woman stood before me
whom I knew to be my great ancestress, the beloved of Solomon. She
looked on me sadly, yet as I thought with love. Then she drew back, as
it were, a curtain of thick cloud that hid the future and revealed to
me the young moon riding the sky and beneath it Mur, a blackened ruin,
her streets filled with dead. Yes, and she showed to me other things,
though I may not tell them, which also shall come to pass, then held
her hands over me as if in blessing, and was gone."
"Old Hebrew prophet business! Very interesting," I heard Higgs mutter
below his breath, while in my own heart I set the dream down to
excitement and want of food. In fact, only two of us were impressed,
my son very much, and Oliver a little, perhaps because everything
Maqueda said was gospel to him.
"Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta," said
Roderick with conviction. "The day of the Abati is finished."
"Why do you say that, Son?" I asked.
"Because, Father, among the Fung people from a child I have two
offices, that of Singer to the God and that of Reader of Dreams. Oh!
do not laugh. I can tell you many that have come true as I read them;
thus the dream of Barung which I read to mean that the head of Harmac
would come to Mur, and see, there it sit," and turning, he pointed
through the doorway of the tower to the grim lion-head of the idol
crouched upon the top of the precipice, watching Mur as a beast of
prey watches the victim upon which it is about to spring. "I know when
dreams true and when dreams false; it my gift, like my voice. I know
that this dream true, that all," and as he ceased speaking I saw his
eyes catch Maqueda's, and a very curious glance pass between them.
As for Orme, he only said:
"You Easterns are strange people, and if you believe a thing, Maqueda,
there may be something in it. But you understand that this message of
yours means war to the last, a very unequal war," and he looked at the
hordes of the Abati gathering on the great square.
"Yes," she answered quietly, "I understand, but however sore our
straits, and however strange may seem the things that happen, have no
fear of the end of that war, O my friends."
