Chapter XXVI
Tommy
I lay still a while, on my back as I had fallen, and beneath
the shield-like defence which Yva had given to me.
Notwithstanding the fire-resisting, metalised stuff of which it
was made, I noted that it was twisted and almost burnt through.
Doubtless the stored-up electricity or earth magnetism, or
whatever it may have been that had leapt out of that hole, being
diffused by the resistance with which it was met, had grazed me
with its outer edge, and had it not been for the shield and
cloak, I also should have been burned up. I wished, oh! how I
wished that it had been so. Then, by now all must have finished
and I should have known the truth as to what awaits us beyond the
change: sleep, or dreams, or perchance the fullest life. Also I
should not have learned alone.
Lying there thus, idly, as though in a half-sleep, I felt Tommy
licking my face, and throwing my arm about the poor little
frightened beast, I watched the great world-balance as it
retreated on its eternal journey. At one time its vast projecting
rim had overshadowed us and almost seemed to touch the cliff of
rock against which we leant. I remember that the effect of that
shining arch a thousand feet or so above our heads was wonderful.
It reminded me of a canopy of blackest thunder clouds supported
upon a framework of wheeling rainbows, while beneath it all the
children of the devil shouted together in joy. I noted this
effect only a few seconds before Yva spoke to me and leapt into
the path of the flash.
Now, however, it was far away, a mere flaming wheel that became
gradually smaller, and its Satanic voices were growing faint. As
I have said, I watched its disappearance idly, reflecting that I
should never look upon its like again; also that it was something
well worth going forth to see. Then I became aware that the
humming, howling din had decreased sufficiently to enable me to
hear human voices without effort. Bastin was addressing Bickley--
like myself they were both upon the ground.
"Her translation, as you may have noticed, Bickley, if you were
not too frightened, was really very remarkable. No doubt it will
have reminded you, as it did me, of that of Elijah. She had
exactly the appearance of a person going up to Heaven in a
vehicle of fire. The destination was certainly the same, and even
the cloak she wore added a familiar touch and increased the
similarity."
"At any rate it did not fall upon you," answered Bickley with
something like a sob, in a voice of mingled awe and exasperation.
"For goodness' sake! Bastin, stop your Biblical parallels and let
us adore, yes, let us adore the divinest creature that the earth
has borne!"
Never have I loved Bickley more than when I heard him utter
those words.
"'Divinest' is a large term, Bickley, and one to which I
hesitate to subscribe, remembering as I do certain of the
prophets and the Early Fathers with all their faults, not of
course to mention the Apostles. But--" here he paused, for
suddenly all three of us became aware of Oro.
He also has been thrown to the ground by the strength of the
prisoned forces which he gathered and loosed upon their unholy
errand, but, as I rejoiced to observe, had suffered from them
much more than ourselves. Doubtless this was owing to the fact
that he had sprung forward in a last wild effort to save his
daughter, or to prevent her from interfering with his experiment,
I know not which. As a result his right cheek was much scorched,
his right arm was withered and helpless, and his magnificent
beard was half burnt off him. Further, very evidently he was
suffering from severe shock, for he rocked upon his feet and
shook like an aspen leaf. All this, however, did not interfere
with the liveliness of his grief and rage.
There he stood, a towering shape, like a lightning-smitten
statue, and cursed us, especially Bastin.
"My daughter has gone!" he cried, "burned up by the fiery power
that is my servant. Nothing remains of her but dust, and, Priest,
this is your doing. You poisoned her heart with your childish
doctrines of mercy and sacrifice, and the rest, so that she threw
herself into the path of the flash to save some miserable races
that she had never even known."
He paused exhausted, whereon Bastin answered him with spirit:
"Yes, Oro, she being a holy woman, has gone where you will
never follow her. Also it is your own fault since you should have
listened to her entreaties instead of boxing her ears like the
brute you are."
"My daughter is gone," went on Oro, recovering his strength,
"and my great designs are ruined. Yet only for a while," he
added, "for the world-balance will return again, if not till long
after your life-spans are done."
"If you don't doctor yourself, Lord Oro," said Bickley, also
rising, "I may tell you as one who understands such things, that
most likely it will be after your life-span is done also. Although
their effect may be delayed, severe shocks from burns and over-
excitement are apt to prove fatal to the aged."
Oro snarled at him; no other word describes it.
"And there are other things, Physician," he said, "which are
apt to prove fatal to the young. At least now you will no longer
deny my power."
"I am not so sure," answered Bickley, "since it seems that
there is a greater Power, namely that of a woman's love and
sacrifice."
"And a greater still," interrupted Bastin, "Which put those
ideas into her head."
"As for you, Humphrey," went on Oro, "I rejoice to think that
you at least have lost two things that man desires above all
other things--the woman you sought and the future kingship of the
world."
I stood up and faced him.
"The first I have gained, although how, you do not understand,
Oro," I answered. "And of the second, seeing that it would have
come through you, on your conditions, I am indeed glad to be rid.
I wish no power that springs from murder, and no gifts from one
who answered his daughter's prayer with blows."
For a moment he seemed remorseful.
"She vexed me with her foolishness," he said. Then his rage
blazed up again:
"And it was you who taught it to her," he went on. "You are
guilty, all three of you, and therefore I am left with none to
serve me in my age; therefore also my mighty schemes are
overthrown."
"Also, Oro, if you speak truth, therefore half the world is
saved," I added quietly, "and one has left it of whom it was
unworthy."
"You think that these civilisations of yours, as you are
pleased to call them, are saved, do you?" he sneered. "Yet, even
if Bickley were right and I should die and become powerless, I
tell you that they are already damned. I have studied them in
your books and seen them with my eyes, and I say that they are
rotten before ever they are ripe, and that their end shall be the
end of the Sons of Wisdom, to die for lack of increase. That is
why I would have saved the East, because in it alone there is
increase, and thence alone can rise the great last race of man
which I would have given to your children for an heritage.
Moreover, think not that you Westerners have done with wars. I
tell you that they are but begun and that the sword shall eat you
up, and what the sword spares class shall snatch from class in
the struggle for supremacy and ease."
Thus he spoke with extraordinary and concentrated bitterness
that I confess would have frightened me, had I been capable of
fear, which at the moment I was not. Who is afraid when he has
lost all?
Nor was Bastin alarmed, if for other reasons.
"I think it right to tell you, Oro," he said, "that the only
future you need trouble about is your own. God Almighty will look
after the western civilisations in whatever way He may think
best, as you may remember He did just now. Only I am sure you
won't be here to see how it is done."
Again fury blazed in Oro's eyes.
"At least I will look after you, you half-bred dogs, who yap
out ill-omened prophecies of death into my face. Since the three
of you loved my daughter whom you brought to her doom, and were
by her beloved, if differently, I think it best that you should
follow on her road. How? That is the question? Shall I leave you
to starve in these great caves?--Nay, look not towards the road
of escape which doubtless she pointed out to you, for, as
Humphrey knows, I can travel swiftly and I will make sure that
you find it blocked. Or shall I--" and he glanced upwards at the
great globes of wandering fire, as though he purposed to summon
them to be our death, as doubtless he could have done.
"I do not care what you do," I answered wearily. "Only I would
beg you to strike quickly. Yet for my friends I am sorry, since
it was I who led them on this quest, and for you, too, Tommy," I
added, looking at the poor little hound. "You were foolish,
Tommy," I went on, "when you scented out that old tyrant in his
coffin, at least for our own sake."
Indeed the dog was terribly scared. He whined continually and
from time to time ran a little way and then returned to us,
suggesting that we should go from this horror-haunted spot.
Lastly, as though he understood that it was Oro who kept us
there, he went to him and jumping up, licked his hand in a
beseeching fashion.
The super-man looked at the dog and as he looked the rage went
out of his face and was replaced by something resembling pity.
"I do not wish the beast to die," he muttered to himself in
low reflective tones, as though he thought aloud, "for of them
all it alone liked and did not fear me. I might take it with me
but still it would perish of grief in the loneliness of the
caves. Moreover, she loved it whom I shall see no more; yes,
Yva--" as he spoke the name his voice broke a little. "Yet if I
suffer them to escape they will tell my story to the world and
make me a laughingstock. Well, if they do, what does it matter?
None of those Western fools would believe it; thinking that they
knew all; like Bickley they would mock and say that they were
mad, or liars."
Again Tommy licked his hand, but more confidently, as though
instinct told him something of what was passing in Oro's mind. I
watched with an idle wonder, marvelling whether it were possible
that this merciless being would after all spare us for the sake
of the dog.
So, strange to say, it came about, for suddenly Oro looked up
and said:
"Get you gone, and quickly, before my mood changes. The hound
has saved you. For its sake I give you your lives, who otherwise
should certainly have died. She who has gone pointed out to you,
I doubt not, a road that runs to the upper air. I think that it
is still open. Indeed," he added, closing his eyes for a moment,
"I see that it is still open, if long and difficult. Follow it,
and should you win through, take your boat and sail away as
swiftly as you can. Whether you die or live I care nothing, but
my hands will be clean of your blood, although yours are stained
with Yva's. Begone! and my curse go with you."
Without waiting for further words we went to fetch our
lanterns, water-bottles and bag of food which we had laid down at
a little distance. As we approached them I looked up and saw Oro
standing some way off. The light from one of the blue globes of
fire which passed close above his head, shone upon him and made
him ghastly. Moreover, it seemed to me as though approaching
death had written its name upon his malevolent countenance.
I turned my head away, for about his aspect in those sinister
surroundings there was something horrible, something menacing and
repellent to man and of him I wished to see no more. Nor indeed
did I, for when I glanced in that direction again Oro was gone. I
suppose that he had retreated into the shadows where no light
played.
We gathered up our gear, and while the others were relighting
the lanterns, I walked a few paces forward to the spot where Yva
had been dissolved in the devouring fire. Something caught my eye
upon the rocky floor. I picked it up. It was the ring, or rather
the remains of the ring that I had given her on that night when
we declared our love amidst the ruins by the crater lake. She had
never worn it on her hand but for her own reasons, as she told
me, suspended it upon her breast beneath her robe. It was an
ancient ring that I had bought in Egypt, fashioned of gold in
which was set a very hard basalt or other black stone. On this
was engraved the ank or looped cross, which was the Egyptian
symbol of Life, and round it a snake, the symbol of Eternity. The
gold was for the most part melted, but the stone, being so hard
and protected by the shield and asbestos cloak, for such I
suppose it was, had resisted the fury of the flash. Only now it
was white instead of black, like a burnt onyx that had known the
funeral pyre. Indeed, perhaps it was an onyx. I kissed it and hid
it away, for it seemed to me to convey a greeting and with it a
promise.
Then we started, a very sad and dejected trio. Leaving with a
shudder that vast place where the blue lights played eternally,
we came to the shaft up and down which the travelling stone
pursued its endless path, and saw it arrive and depart again.
"I wonder he did not send us that way," said Bickley, pointing
to it.
"I am sure I am very glad it never occurred to him," answered
Bastin, "for I am certain that we could not have made the journey
again without our guide, Yva."
I looked at him and he ceased. Somehow I could not bear, as
yet, to hear her beloved name spoken by other lips.
Then we entered the passage that she pointed out to us, and
began a most terrible journey which, so far as we could judge,
for we lost any exact count of time, took us about sixty hours.
The road, it is true, was smooth and unblocked, but the ascent
was fearfully steep and slippery; so much so that often we were
obliged to pull each other up it and lie down to rest.
Had it not been for those large, felt-covered bottles of Life-
water, I am sure we should never have won through. But this
marvelous elixir, drunk a little at a time, always re-
invigorated us and gave us strength to push on. Also we had some
food, and fortunately our spare oil held out, for the darkness in
that tunnel was complete. Tommy became so exhausted that at
length we must carry him by turns. He would have died had it not
been for the water; indeed I thought that he was going to die.
After our last rest and a short sleep, however, he seemed to
begin to recover, and generally there was something in his manner
which suggested to us that he knew himself to be not far from the
surface of the earth towards which we had crawled upwards for
thousands upon thousands of feet, fortunately without meeting
with any zone of heat which was not bearable.
We were right, for when we had staggered forward a little
further, suddenly Tommy ran ahead of us and vanished. Then we
heard him barking but where we could not see, since the tunnel
appeared to take a turn and continue, but this time on a downward
course, while the sound of the barks came from our right. We
searched with the lanterns which were now beginning to die and
found a little hole almost filled with fallen pieces of rock. We
scooped these away with our hands, making an aperture large
enough to creep through. A few more yards and we saw light, the
blessed light of the moon, and in it stood Tommy barking
hoarsely. Next we heard the sound of the sea. We struggled on
desperately and presently pushed our way through bushes and
vegetation on to a steep declivity. Down this we rolled and
scrambled, to find ourselves at last lying upon a sandy beach,
whilst above us the full moon shone in the heavens.
Here, with a prayer of thankfulness, we flung ourselves down
and slept.
If it had not been for Tommy and we had gone further along the
tunnel, which I have little doubt stretched on beneath the sea,
where, I wonder, should we have slept that night?
When we woke the sun was shining high in the heavens. Evidently
there had been rain towards the dawn, though as we were lying
beneath the shelter of some broad-leaved tree, from it we had
suffered little inconvenience. Oh! how beautiful, after our
sojourn in those unholy caves, were the sun and the sea and the
sweet air and the raindrops hanging on the leaves.
We did not wake of ourselves; indeed if we had been left alone
I am sure that we should have slept the clock round, for we were
terribly exhausted. What woke us was the chatter of a crowd of
Orofenans who were gathered at a distance from the tree and
engaged in staring at us in a frightened way, also the barks of
Tommy who objected to their intrusion. Among the people I
recognised our old friend the chief Marama by his feather cloak,
and sitting up, beckoned to him to approach. After a good deal of
hesitation he came, walking delicately like Agag, and stopping
from time to time to study us, as though he were not sure that we
were real.
"What frightens you, Marama?" I asked him.
"You frighten us, O Friend-from-the-Sea. Whence did you and the
Healer and the Bellower come and why do your faces look like
those of ghosts and why is the little black beast so large-eyed
and so thin? Over the lake we know you did not come, for we have
watched day and night; moreover there is no canoe upon the shore.
Also it would not have been possible."
"Why not?" I asked idly.
"Come and see," he answered.
Rising stiffly we emerged from beneath the tree and perceived
that we were at the foot of the cliff against which the remains
of the yacht had been borne by the great tempest. Indeed there it
was within a couple of hundred yards of us.
Following Marama we climbed the sloping path which ran up the
cliff and ascended a knoll whence we could see the lake and the
cone of the volcano in its centre. At least we used to be able to
see this cone, but now, at any rate with the naked eye, we could
make out nothing, except a small brown spot in the midst of the
waters of the lake.
"The mountain which rose up many feet in that storm which
brought you to Orofena, Friend-from-the-Sea, has now sunk till
only the very top of it is to be seen," said Marama solemnly.
"Even the Rock of Offerings has vanished beneath the water, and
with it the house that we built for you."
"Yes," I said, affecting no surprise. "But when did that
happen?"
"Five nights ago the world shook, Friend-from-the-Sea, and when
the sun rose we saw that the mouth of the cave which appeared on
the day of your coming, had vanished, and that the holy mountain
itself had sunk deep, so that now only the crest of it is left
above the water."
"Such things happen," I replied carelessly.
"Yes, Friend-from-the-Sea. Like many other marvels they happen
where you and your companions are. Therefore we beg you who can
arise out of the earth like spirits, to leave us at once before
our island and all of us who dwell thereon are drowned beneath
the ocean. Leave us before we kill you, if indeed you be men, or
die at your hands if, as we think, you be evil spirits who can
throw up mountains and drag them down, and create gods that slay,
and move about in the bowels of the world."
"That is our intention, for our business here is done," I
answered calmly. "Come now and help us to depart. But first bring
us food. Bring it in plenty, for we must victual our boat."
Marama bowed and issued the necessary orders. Indeed food
sufficient for our immediate needs was already there as an
offering, and of it we ate with thankfulness.
Then we boarded the ship and examined the lifeboat. Thanks to
our precautions it was still in very fair order and only needed
some little caulking which we did with grass fibre and pitch from
the stores. After this with the help of the Orofenans who worked
hard in their desperate desire to be rid of us, we drew the boat
into the sea, and provisioned her with stores from the ship, and
with an ample supply of water. Everything being ready at last, we
waited for the evening wind which always blew off shore, to
start. As it was not due for half an hour or more, I walked back
to the tree under which we had slept and tried to find the hole
whence we had emerged from the tunnel on to the face of the
cliff.
My hurried search proved useless. The declivity of the cliff
was covered with tropical growth, and the heavy rain had washed
away every trace of our descent, and very likely filled the hole
itself with earth. At any rate, of it I could discover nothing.
Then as the breeze began to blow I returned to the boat and here
bade adieu to Marama, who gave me his feather cloak as a farewell
gift.
"Good-bye, Friend-from-the-Sea," he said to me. "We are glad to
have seen you and thank you for many things. But we do not wish
to see you any more."
"Good-bye, Marama," I answered. "What you say, we echo. At
least you have now no great lump upon your neck and we have rid
you of your wizards. But beware of the god Oro who dwells in the
mountain, for if you anger him he will sink your island beneath
the sea."
"And remember all that I have taught you," shouted Bastin.
Marama shivered, though whether at the mention of the god Oro,
of whose powers the Orofenans had so painful a recollection, or
at the result of Bastin's teachings, I do not know. And that was
the last we shall ever see of each other in this world.
The island faded behind us and, sore at heart because of all
that we had found and lost again, for three days we sailed
northward with a fair and steady wind. On the fourth evening by
an extraordinary stroke of fortune, we fell in with an American
tramp steamer, trading from the South Sea Islands to San
Francisco. To the captain, who treated us very kindly, we said
simply that we were a party of Englishmen whose yacht had been
wrecked on a small island several hundreds of miles away, of
which we knew neither the name, if it had one, nor the position.
This story was accepted without question, for such things often
happen in those latitudes, and in due course we were landed at
San Francisco, where we made certain depositions before the
British Consul as to the loss of the yacht Star of the South.
Then we crossed America, having obtained funds by cable, and
sailed for England in a steamer flying the flag of the United
States.
Of the great war which made this desirable I do not speak since
it has nothing, or rather little, to do with this history. In the
end we arrived safely at Liverpool, and thence travelled to our
homes in Devonshire.
Thus ended the history of our dealings with Oro, the super-man
who began his life more than two hundred and fifty thousand years
ago, and with his daughter, Yva, whom Bastin still often calls
the Glittering Lady.
