Chapter XI
Resurrection
We reached the sepulchre without stopping to look at the parked
machines or even the marvelous statue that stood above it, for
what did we care about machines or statues now? As we approached
we were astonished to hear low and cavernous growlings.
"There is some wild beast in there," said Bickley, halting.
"No, by George! it's Tommy. What can the dog be after?"
We peeped in, and there sure enough was Tommy lying on the top
of the Glittering Lady's coffin and growling his very best with
the hair standing up upon his back. When he saw who it was,
however, he jumped off and frisked round, licking my hand.
"That's very strange," I exclaimed.
"Not stranger than everything else," said Bickley.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Open these coffins," he answered, "beginning with that of the
old god, since I would rather experiment on him. I expect he will
crumble into dust. But if by chance he doesn't I'll jam a little
strychnine, mixed with some other drugs, of which you don't know
the names, into one of his veins and see if anything happens. If
it doesn't, it won't hurt him, and if it does--well, who knows?
Now give me a hand."
We went to the left-hand coffin and by inserting the hook on
the back of my knife, of which the real use is to pick stones out
of horses' hoofs, into one of the little air-holes I have
described, managed to raise the heavy crystal lid sufficiently to
enable us to force a piece of wood between it and the top. The
rest was easy, for the hinges being of crystal had not corroded.
In two minutes it was open.
From the chest came an overpowering spicy odour, and with it a
veritable breath of warm air before which we recoiled a little.
Bickley took a pocket thermometer which he had at hand and
glanced at it. It marked a temperature of 82 degrees in the
sepulchre. Having noted this, he thrust it into the coffin
between the crystal wall and its occupant. Then we went out and
waited a little while to give the odours time to dissipate, for
they made the head reel.
After five minutes or so we returned and examined the
thermometer. It had risen to 98 degrees, the natural temperature
of the human body.
"What do you make of that if the man is dead?" he whispered.
I shook my head, and as we had agreed, set to helping him to
lift the body from the coffin. It was a good weight, quite eleven
stone I should say; moreover, it was not still, for the hip
joints bent. We got it out and laid it on a blanket we had spread
on the floor of the sepulchre. Whilst I was thus engaged I saw
something that nearly caused me to loose my hold from
astonishment. Beneath the head, the centre of the back and the
feet were crystal boxes about eight inches square, or rather
crystal blocks, for in them I could see no opening, and these
boxes emitted a faint phosphorescent light. I touched one of them
and found that it was quite warm.
"Great heavens!" I exclaimed, "here's magic."
"There's no such thing," answered Bickley in his usual formula.
Then an explanation seemed to strike him and he added, "Not magic
but radium or something of the sort. That's how the temperature
was kept up. In sufficient quantity it is practically
indestructible, you see. My word! this old gentleman knew a thing
or two."
Again we waited a little while to see if the body begun to
crumble on exposure to the air, I taking the opportunity to make
a rough sketch of it in my pocket-book in anticipation of that
event. But it did not; it remained quite sound.
"Here goes," said Bickley. "If he should be alive, he will
catch cold in his lungs after lying for ages in that baby
incubator, as I suppose he has done. So it is now or never."
Then bidding me hold the man's right arm, he took the
sterilized syringe which he had prepared, and thrusting the
needle into a vein he selected just above the wrist, injected the
contents.
"It would have been better over the heart," he whispered, "but
I thought I would try the arm first. I don't like risking chills
by uncovering him."
I made no answer and again we waited and watched.
"Great heavens, he's stirring!" I gasped presently.
Stirring he was, for his fingers began to move.
Bickley bent down and placed his ear to the heart--I forgot to
say that he had tested this before with a stethoscope, but had
been unable to detect any movement.
"I believe it is beginning to beat," he said in an awed voice.
Then he applied the stethoscope, and added, "It is, it is!"
Next he took a filament of cotton wool and laid it on the man's
lips. Presently it moved; he was breathing, though very faintly.
Bickley took more cotton wool and having poured something from
his medicine-chest on to it, placed it over the mouth beneath the
man's nostrils--I believe it was sal volatile.
Nothing further happened for a little while, and to relieve the
strain on my mind I stared absently into the empty coffin. Here I
saw what had escaped our notice, two small plates of white metal
and cut upon them what I took to be star maps. Beyond these and
the glowing boxes which I have mentioned, there was nothing else
in the coffin. I had no time to examine them, for at that moment
the old man opened his mouth and began to breathe, evidently with
some discomfort and effort, as his empty lungs filled themselves
with air. Then his eyelids lifted, revealing a wonderful pair of
dark glowing eyes beneath. Next he tried to sit up but would have
fallen, had not Bickley supported him with his arm.
I do not think he saw Bickley, indeed he shut his eyes again as
though the light hurt them, and went into a kind of faint. Then
it was that Tommy, who all this while had been watching the
proceedings with grave interest, came forward, wagging his tail,
and licked the man's face. At the touch of the dog's red tongue,
he opened his eyes for the second time. Now he saw--not us but
Tommy, for after contemplating him for a few seconds, something
like a smile appeared upon his fierce but noble face. More, he
lifted his hand and laid it on the dog's head, as though to pat
it kindly. Half a minute or so later his awakening senses
appreciated our presence. The incipient smile vanished and was
replaced by a somewhat terrible frown.
Meanwhile Bickley had poured out some of the hot coffee laced
with brandy into the cup that was screwed on the top of the
thermos flask. Advancing to the man whom I supported, he put it
to his lips. He tasted and made a wry face, but presently he
began to sip, and ultimately swallowed it all. The effect of the
stimulant was wonderful, for in a few minutes he came to life
completely and was even able to sit up without support.
For quite a long while he gazed at us gravely, talking us in and
everything connected with us. For instance, Bickley's medicine-
case which lay open showing the little vulcanite tubes, a few
instruments and other outfit, engaged his particular attention,
and I saw at once that he understood what it was. Thus his arm
still smarted where the needle had been driven in and on the
blanket lay the syringe. He looked at his arm, then looked at the
syringe, and nodded. The paraffin hurricane lamps also seemed to
interest and win his approval. We two men, as I thought,
attracted him least of all; he just summed us up and our
garments, more especially the garments, with a few shrewd
glances, and then seemed to turn his thoughts to Tommy, who had
seated himself quite contentedly at his side, evidently accepting
him as a new addition to our party.
I confess that this behaviour on Tommy's part reassured me not
a little. I am a great believer in the instincts of animals,
especially of dogs, and I felt certain that if this man had not
been in all essentials human like ourselves, Tommy would not have
tolerated him. In the same way the sleeper's clear liking for
Tommy, at whom he looked much oftener and with greater kindness
than he did at us, suggested that there was goodness in him
somewhere, since although a dog in its wonderful tolerance may
love a bad person in whom it smells out hidden virtue, no really
bad person ever loved a dog, or, I may add, a child or a flower.
As a matter of fact, the "old god," as we had christened him
while he was in his coffin, during all our association with him,
cared infinitely more for Tommy than he did for any of us, a
circumstance that ultimately was not without its influence upon
our fortunes. But for this there was a reason as we learned
afterwards, also he was not really so amiable as I hoped.
When we had looked at each other for a long while the sleeper
began to arrange his beard, of which the length seemed to
surprise him, especially as Tommy was seated on one end of it.
Finding this out and apparently not wishing to disturb Tommy, he
gave up the occupation, and after one or two attempts, for his
tongue and lips still seemed to be stiff, addressed us in some
sonorous and musical language, unlike any that we had ever heard.
We shook our heads. Then by an afterthought I said "Good day" to
him in the language of the Orofenans. He puzzled over the word as
though it were more or less familiar to him, and when I repeated
it, gave it back to me with a difference indeed, but in a way
which convinced us that he quite understood what I meant. The
conversation went no further at the moment because just then some
memory seemed to strike him.
He was sitting with his back against the coffin of the
Glittering Lady, whom therefore he had not seen. Now he began to
turn round, and being too weak to do so, motioned me to help him.
I obeyed, while Bickley, guessing his purpose, held up one of the
hurricane lamps that he might see better. With a kind of fierce
eagerness he surveyed her who lay within the coffin, and after he
had done so, uttered a sigh as of intense relief.
Next he pointed to the metal cup out of which he had drunk.
Bickley filled it again from the thermos flask, which I observed
excited his keen interest, for, having touched the flask with his
hand and found that it was cool, he appeared to marvel that the
fluid coming from it should be hot and steaming. Presently he
smiled as though he had got the clue to the mystery, and
swallowed his second drink of coffee and spirit. This done, he
motioned to us to lift the lid of the lady's coffin, pointing out
a certain catch in the bolts which at first we could not master,
for it will be remembered that on this coffin these were shot.
In the end, by pursuing the same methods that we had used in
the instance of his own, we raised the coffin lid and once more
were driven to retreat from the sepulchre for a while by the
overpowering odour like to that of a whole greenhouse full of
tuberoses, that flowed out of it, inducing a kind of stupefaction
from which even Tommy fled.
When we returned it was to find the man kneeling by the side of
the coffin, for as yet he could not stand, with his glowing eyes
fixed upon the face of her who slept therein and waving his long
arms above her.
"Hypnotic business! Wonder if it will work," whispered Bickley.
Then he lifted the syringe and looked inquiringly at the man, who
shook his head, and went on with his mesmeric passes.
I crept round him and took my stand by the sleeper's head, that
I might watch her face, which was well worth watching, while
Bickley, with his medicine at hand, remained near her feet, I
think engaged in disinfecting the syringe in some spirit or acid.
I believe he was about to make an attempt to use it when
suddenly, as though beneath the influence of the hypnotic passes,
a change appeared on the Glittering Lady's face. Hitherto,
beautiful as it was, it had been a dead face though one of a
person who had suddenly been cut off while in full health and
vigour a few hours, or at the most a day or so before. Now it
began to live again; it was as though the spirit were returning
from afar, and not without toil and tribulation.
Expression after expression flitted across the features; indeed
these seemed to change so much from moment to moment that they
might have belonged to several different individuals, though each
was beautiful. The fact of these remarkable changes with the
suggestion of multiform personalities which they conveyed
impressed both Bickley and myself very much indeed. Then the
breast heaved tumultuously; it even appeared to struggle. Next
the eyes opened. They were full of wonder, even of fear, but oh!
what marvelous eyes. I do not know how to describe them, I
cannot even state their exact colour, except that it was dark,
something like the blue of sapphires of the deepest tint, and yet
not black; large, too, and soft as a deer's. They shut again as
though the light hurt them, then once more opened and wandered
about, apparently without seeing.
At length they found my face, for I was still bending over her,
and, resting there, appeared to take it in by degrees. More, it
seemed to touch and stir some human spring in the still-sleeping
heart. At least the fear passed from her features and was
replaced by a faint smile, such as a patient sometimes gives to
one known and well loved, as the effects of chloroform pass away.
For a while she looked at me with an earnest, searching gaze,
then suddenly, for the first time moving her arms, lifted them
and threw them round my neck.
The old man stared, bending his imperial brows into a little
frown, but did nothing. Bickley stared also through his glasses
and sniffed as though in disapproval, while I remained quite
still, fighting with a wild impulse to kiss her on the lips as
one would an awakening and beloved child. I doubt if I could have
done so, however, for really I was immovable; my heart seemed to
stop and all my muscles to be paralysed.
I do not know for how long this endured, but I do know how it
ended. Presently in the intense silence I heard Bastin's heavy
voice and looking round, saw his big head projecting into the
sepulchre.
"Well, I never!" he said, "you seem to have woke them up with a
vengeance. If you begin like that with the lady, there will be
complications before you have done, Arbuthnot."
Talk of being brought back to earth with a rush! I could have
killed Bastin, and Bickley, turning on him like a tiger, told him
to be off, find wood and light a large fire in front of the
statue. I think he was about to argue when the Ancient gave him a
glance of his fierce eyes, which alarmed him, and he departed,
bewildered, to return presently with the wood.
But the sound of his voice had broken the spell. The Lady let
her arms fall with a start, and shut her eyes again, seeming to
faint. Bickley sprang forward with his sal volatile and applied
it to her nostrils, the Ancient not interfering, for he seemed to
recognise that he had to deal with a man of skill and one who
meant well by them.
In the end we brought her round again and, to omit details,
Bickley gave her, not coffee and brandy, but a mixture he
compounded of hot water, preserved milk and meat essence. The
effect of it on her was wonderful, since a few minutes after
swallowing it she sat up in the coffin. Then we lifted her from
that narrow bed in which she had slept for--ah! how long? and
perceived that beneath her also were crystal boxes of the
radiant, heat-giving substance. We sat her on the floor of the
sepulchre, wrapping her also in a blanket.
Now it was that Tommy, after frisking round her as though in
welcome of an old friend, calmly established himself beside her
and laid his black head upon her knee. She noted it and smiled
for the first time, a marvelously sweet and gentle smile. More,
she placed her slender hand upon the dog and stroked him feebly.
Bickley tried to make her drink some more of his mixture, but
she refused, motioning him to give it to Tommy. This, however, he
would not do because there was but one cup. Presently both of the
sleepers began to shiver, which caused Bickley anxiety. Abusing
Bastin beneath his breath for being so long with the fire, he
drew the blankets closer about them.
Then an idea came to him and he examined the glowing boxes in
the coffin. They were loose, being merely set in prepared
cavities in the crystal. Wrapping our handkerchiefs about his
hand, he took them out and placed them around the wakened
patients, a proceeding of which the Ancient nodded approval. Just
then, too, Bastin returned with his first load of firewood, and
soon we had a merry blaze going just outside the sepulchre. I saw
that they observed the lighting of this fire by means of a match
with much interest.
Now they grew warm again, as indeed we did also--too warm. Then
in my turn I had an idea. I knew that by now the sun would be
beating hotly against the rock of the mount, and suggested to
Bickley, that, if possible, the best thing we could do would be
to get them into its life-giving rays. He agreed, if we could
make them understand and they were able to walk. So I tried.
First I directed the Ancient's attention to the mouth of the cave
which at this distance showed as a white circle of light. He
looked at it and then at me with grave inquiry. I made motions to
suggest that he should proceed there, repeating the word "Sun" in
the Orofenan tongue. He understood at once, though whether he
read my mind rather than what I said I am not sure. Apparently
the Glittering Lady understood also and seemed to be most anxious
to go. Only she looked rather pitifully at her feet and shook her
head. This decided me.
I do not know if I have mentioned anywhere that I am a tall man
and very muscular. She was tall, also, but as I judged not so
very heavy after her long fast. At any rate I felt quite certain
that I could carry her for that distance. Stooping down, I lifted
her up, signing to her to put her arms round my neck, which she
did. Then calling to Bickley and Bastin to bring along the
Ancient between them, with some difficulty I struggled out of the
sepulchre, and started down the cave. She was more heavy than I
thought, and yet I could have wished the journey longer. To begin
with she seemed quite trustful and happy in my arms, where she
lay with her head against my shoulder, smiling a little as a
child might do, especially when I had to stop and throw her long
hair round my neck like a muffler, to prevent it from trailing in
the dust.
A bundle of lavender, or a truss of new-mown hay, could not
have been more sweet to carry and there was something electric
about the touch of her, which went through and through me. Very
soon it was over, and we were out of the cave into the full glory
of the tropical sun. At first, that her eyes might become
accustomed to its light and her awakened body to its heat, I set
her down where shadow fell from the overhanging rock, in a canvas
deck chair that had been brought by Marama with the other things,
throwing the rug about her to protect her from such wind as there
was. She nestled gratefully into the soft seat and shut her eyes,
for the motion had tired her. I noted, however, that she drew in
the sweet air with long breaths.
Then I turned to observe the arrival of the Ancient, who was
being borne between Bickley and Bastin in what children know as a
dandy-chair, which is formed by two people crossing their hands
in a peculiar fashion. It says much for the tremendous dignity of
his presence that even thus, with one arm round the neck of
Bickley and the other round that of Bastin, and his long white
beard falling almost to the ground, he still looked most
imposing.
Unfortunately, however, just as they were emerging from the
cave, Bastin, always the most awkward of creatures, managed to
leave hold with one hand, so that his passenger nearly came to
the ground. Never shall I forget the look that he gave him.
Indeed, I think that from this moment he hated Bastin. Bickley he
respected as a man of intelligence and learning, although in
comparison with his own, the latter was infantile and crude; me
he tolerated and even liked; but Bastin he detested. The only one
of our party for whom he felt anything approaching real affection
was the spaniel Tommy.
We set him down, fortunately uninjured, on some rugs, and also
in the shadow. Then, after a little while, we moved both of them
into the sun. It was quite curious to see them expand there. As
Bickley said, what happened to them might well be compared to the
development of a butterfly which has just broken from the living
grave of its chrysalis and crept into the full, hot radiance of
the light. Its crinkled wings unfold, their brilliant tints
develop; in an hour or two it is perfect, glorious, prepared for
life and flight, a new creature.
So it was with this pair, from moment to moment they gathered
strength and vigour. Near-by to them, as it happened, stood a
large basket of the luscious native fruits brought that morning
by the Orofenans, and at these the Lady looked with longing. With
Bickley's permission, I offered them to her and to the Ancient,
first peeling them with my fingers. They ate of them greedily, a
full meal, and would have gone on had not the stern Bickley,
fearing untoward consequences, removed the basket. Again the
results were wonderful, for half an hour afterwards they seemed
to be quite strong. With my assistance the Glittering Lady, as I
still call her, for at that time I did not know her name, rose
from the chair, and, leaning on me, tottered a few steps forward.
Then she stood looking at the sky and all the lovely panorama of
nature beneath, and stretching out her arms as though in worship.
Oh! how beautiful she seemed with the sunlight shining on her
heavenly face!
Now for the first time I heard her voice. It was soft and deep,
yet in it was a curious bell-like tone that seemed to vibrate
like the sound of chimes heard from far away. Never have I
listened to such another voice. She pointed to the sun whereof
the light turned her radiant hair and garments to a kind of
golden glory, and called it by some name that I could not
understand. I shook my head, whereon she gave it a different name
taken, I suppose, from another language. Again I shook my head
and she tried a third time. To my delight this word was
practically the same that the Orofenans used for "sun."
"Yes," I said, speaking very slowly, "so it is called by the
people of this land."
She understood, for she answered in much the same language:
"What, then, do you call it?"
"Sun in the English tongue," I replied.
"Sun. English," she repeated after me, then added, "How are you
named, Wanderer?"
"Humphrey," I answered.
"HumÄfe-Äry!" she said as though she were learning the word,
"and those?"
"Bastin and Bickley," I replied.
Over these patronymics she shook her head; as yet they were too
much for her.
"How are you named, Sleeper?" I asked.
"Yva," she answered.
"A beautiful name for one who is beautiful," I declared with
enthusiasm, of course always in the rich Orofenan dialect which
by now I could talk well enough.
She repeated the words once or twice, then of a sudden caught
their meaning, for she smiled and even coloured, saying hastily
with a wave of her hand towards the Ancient who stood at a
distance between Bastin and Bickley, "My father, Oro; great man;
great king; great god!"
At this information I started, for it was startling to learn
that here was the original Oro, who was still worshipped by the
Orofenans, although of his actual existence they had known
nothing for uncounted time. Also I was glad to learn that he was
her father and not her old husband, for to me that would have
been horrible, a desecration too deep for words.
"How long did you sleep, Yva?" I asked, pointing towards the
sepulchre in the cave.
After a little thought she understood and shook her head
hopelessly, then by an afterthought, she said,
"Stars tell Oro to-night."
So Oro was an astronomer as well as a king and a god. I had
guessed as much from those plates in the coffin which seemed to
have stars engraved on them.
At this point our conversation came to an end, for the Ancient
himself approached, leaning on the arm of Bickley who was engaged
in an animated argument with Bastin.
"For Heaven's sake!" said Bickley, "keep your theology to
yourself at present. If you upset the old fellow and put him in a
temper he may die."
"If a man tells me that he is a god it is my duty to tell him
that he is a liar," replied Bastin obstinately.
"Which you did, Bastin, only fortunately he did not understand
you. But for your own sake I advise you not to take liberties. He
is not one, I think, with whom it is wise to trifle. I think he
seems thirsty. Go and get some water from the rain pool, not from
the lake."
Bastin departed and presently returned with an aluminum jug
full of pure water and a glass. Bickley poured some of it into a
glass and handed it to Yva who bent her head in thanks. Then she
did a curious thing. Having first lifted the glass with both
hands to the sky and held it so for a few seconds, she turned and
with an obeisance poured a little of it on the ground before her
father's feet.
A libation, thought I to myself, and evidently Bastin agreed
with me, for I heard him mutter,
"I believe she is making a heathen offering."
Doubtless we were right, for Oro accepted the homage by a
little motion of the head. After this, at a sign from him she
drank the water. Then the glass was refilled and handed to Oro
who also held it towards the sky. He, however, made no libation
but drank at once, two tumblers of it in rapid succession.
By now the direct sunlight was passing from the mouth of the
cave, and though it was hot enough, both of them shivered a
little. They spoke together in some language of which we could
not understand a word, as though they were debating what their
course of action should be. The dispute was long and earnest. Had
we known what was passing, which I learned afterwards, it would
have made us sufficiently anxious, for the point at issue was
nothing less than whether we should or should not be forthwith
destroyed--an end, it appears, that Oro was quite capable of
bringing about if he so pleased. Yva, however, had very clear
views of her own on the matter and, as I gather, even dared to
threaten that she would protect us by the use of certain powers
at her command, though what these were I do not know.
While the event hung doubtful Tommy, who was growing bored with
these long proceedings, picked up a bough still covered with
flowers which, after their pretty fashion, the Orofenans had
placed on the top of one of the baskets of food. This small bough
he brought and laid at the feet of Oro, no doubt in the hope that
he would throw it for him to fetch, a game in which the dog
delighted. For some reason Oro saw an omen in this simple canine
performance, or he may have thought that the dog was making an
offering to him, for he put his thin hand to his brow and thought
a while, then motioned to Bastin to pick up the bough and give it
to him.
Next he spoke to his daughter as though assenting to something,
for I saw her sigh in relief. No wonder, for he was conveying his
decision to spare our lives and admit us to their fellowship.
After this again they talked, but in quite a different tone and
manner. Then the Glittering Lady said to me in her slow and
archaic Orofenan:
"We go to rest. You must not follow. We come back perhaps
tonight, perhaps next night. We are quite safe. You are quite
safe under the beard of Oro. Spirit of Oro watch you. You
understand?"
I said I understood, whereon she answered:
"Good-bye, O Humfe-ry."
"Good-bye, O Yva," I replied, bowing.
Thereon they turned and refusing all assistance from us,
vanished into the darkness of the cave leaning upon each other
and walking slowly.
