CHAPTER XXXIV
PREPARATION
Victory thus gained, the woman of Bulika began to speak about the
city, and talked much of its defenceless condition, of the wickedness
of its princess, of the cowardice of its inhabitants. In a few
days the children chattered of nothing but Bulika, although indeed
they had not the least notion of what a city was. Then first I
became aware of the design of the woman, although not yet of its
motive.
The idea of taking possession of the place, recommended itself
greatly to Lona--and to me also. The children were now so rapidly
developing faculty, that I could see no serious obstacle to the
success of the enterprise. For the terrible Lilith--woman or
leopardess, I knew her one vulnerable point, her doom through her
daughter, and the influence the ancient prophecy had upon the
citizens: surely whatever in the enterprise could be called risk, was
worth taking! Successful,--and who could doubt their success?--must
not the Little Ones, from a crowd of children, speedily become a
youthful people, whose government and influence would be all for
righteousness? Ruling the wicked with a rod of iron, would they
not be the redemption of the nation?
At the same time, I have to confess that I was not without views
of personal advantage, not without ambition in the undertaking. It
was just, it seemed to me, that Lona should take her seat on the
throne that had been her mother's, and natural that she should make
of me her consort and minister. For me, I would spend my life in
her service; and between us, what might we not do, with such a core
to it as the Little Ones, for the development of a noble state?
I confess also to an altogether foolish dream of opening a commerce
in gems between the two worlds--happily impossible, for it could
have done nothing but harm to both.
Calling to mind the appeal of Adam, I suggested to Lona that to
find them water might perhaps expedite the growth of the Little
Ones. She judged it prudent, however, to leave that alone for the
present, as we did not know what its first consequences might be;
while, in the course of time, it would almost certainly subject
them to a new necessity.
"They are what they are without it!" she said: "when we have the
city, we will search for water!"
We began, therefore, and pushed forward our preparations, constantly
reviewing the merry troops and companies. Lona gave her attention
chiefly to the commissariat, while I drilled the little soldiers,
exercised them in stone-throwing, taught them the use of some other
weapons, and did all I could to make warriors of them. The main
difficulty was to get them to rally to their flag the instant the
call was sounded. Most of them were armed with slings, some of the
bigger boys with bows and arrows. The bigger girls carried
aloe-spikes, strong as steel and sharp as needles, fitted to longish
shafts--rather formidable weapons. Their sole duty was the charge
of such as were too small to fight.
Lona had herself grown a good deal, but did not seem aware of it:
she had always been, as she still was, the tallest! Her hair was
much longer, and she was become almost a woman, but not one beauty
of childhood had she outgrown. When first we met after our long
separation, she laid down her infant, put her arms round my neck,
and clung to me silent, her face glowing with gladness: the child
whimpered; she sprang to him, and had him in her bosom instantly.
To see her with any thoughtless, obstinate, or irritable little one,
was to think of a tender grandmother. I seemed to have known her
for ages--for always--from before time began! I hardly remembered
my mother, but in my mind's eye she now looked like Lona; and if I
imagined sister or child, invariably she had the face of Lona! My
every imagination flew to her; she was my heart's wife! She hardly
ever sought me, but was almost always within sound of my voice. What
I did or thought, I referred constantly to her, and rejoiced to
believe that, while doing her work in absolute independence, she
was most at home by my side. Never for me did she neglect the
smallest child, and my love only quickened my sense of duty. To
love her and to do my duty, seemed, not indeed one, but inseparable.
She might suggest something I should do; she might ask me what she
ought to do; but she never seemed to suppose that I, any more than
she, would like to do, or could care about anything except what must
be done. Her love overflowed upon me--not in caresses, but in a
closeness of recognition which I can compare to nothing but the
devotion of a divine animal.
I never told her anything about her mother.
The wood was full of birds, the splendour of whose plumage, while
it took nothing from their song, seemed almost to make up for the
lack of flowers--which, apparently, could not grow without water.
Their glorious feathers being everywhere about in the forest, it
came into my heart to make from them a garment for Lona. While I
gathered, and bound them in overlapping rows, she watched me with
evident appreciation of my choice and arrangement, never asking
what I was fashioning, but evidently waiting expectant the result
of my work. In a week or two it was finished--a long loose mantle,
to fasten at the throat and waist, with openings for the arms.
I rose and put it on her. She rose, took it off, and laid it at
my feet--I imagine from a sense of propriety. I put it again on
her shoulders, and showed her where to put her arms through. She
smiled, looked at the feathers a little and stroked them--again
took it off and laid it down, this time by her side. When she left
me, she carried it with her, and I saw no more of it for some days.
At length she came to me one morning wearing it, and carrying
another garment which she had fashioned similarly, but of the dried
leaves of a tough evergreen. It had the strength almost of leather,
and the appearance of scale-armour. I put it on at once, and we
always thereafter wore those garments when on horseback.
For, on the outskirts of the forest, had appeared one day a troop
of full-grown horses, with which, as they were nowise alarmed at
creatures of a shape so different from their own, I had soon made
friends, and two of the finest I had trained for Lona and myself.
Already accustomed to ride a small one, her delight was great when
first she looked down from the back of an animal of the giant kind;
and the horse showed himself proud of the burden he bore. We
exercised them every day until they had such confidence in us as
to obey instantly and fear nothing; after which we always rode them
at parade and on the march.
The undertaking did indeed at times appear to me a foolhardy one,
but the confidence of the woman of Bulika, real or simulated,
always overcame my hesitancy. The princess's magic, she insisted,
would prove powerless against the children; and as to any force she
might muster, our animal-allies alone would assure our superiority:
she was herself, she said, ready, with a good stick, to encounter
any two men of Bulika. She confessed to not a little fear of the
leopardess, but I was myself ready for her. I shrank, however, from
carrying ALL the children with us.
"Would it not be better," I said, "that you remained in the forest
with your baby and the smallest of the Little Ones?"
She answered that she greatly relied on the impression the sight of
them would make on the women, especially the mothers.
"When they see the darlings," she said, "their hearts will be taken
by storm; and I must be there encouraging them to make a stand! If
there be a remnant of hardihood in the place, it will be found among
the women!"
"YOU must not encumber yourself," I said to Lona, "with any of the
children; you will be wanted everywhere!"
For there were two babies besides the woman's, and even on horseback
she had almost always one in her arms.
"I do not remember ever being without a child to take care of," she
answered; "but when we reach the city, it shall be as you wish!"
Her confidence in one who had failed so unworthily, shamed me. But
neither had I initiated the movement, nor had I any ground for
opposing it; I had no choice, but must give it the best help I
could! For myself, I was ready to live or die with Lona. Her
humility as well as her trust humbled me, and I gave myself heartily
to her purposes.
Our way lying across a grassy plain, there was no need to take food
for the horses, or the two cows which would accompany us for the
infants; but the elephants had to be provided for. True, the grass
was as good for them as for those other animals, but it was short,
and with their one-fingered long noses, they could not pick enough
for a single meal. We had, therefore, set the whole colony to
gather grass and make hay, of which the elephants themselves could
carry a quantity sufficient to last them several days, with the
supplement of what we would gather fresh every time we halted. For
the bears we stored nuts, and for ourselves dried plenty of fruits.
We had caught and tamed several more of the big horses, and now
having loaded them and the elephants with these provisions, we were
prepared to set out.
Then Lona and I held a general review, and I made them a little
speech. I began by telling them that I had learned a good deal
about them, and knew now where they came from.
"We did not come from anywhere," they cried, interrupting me; "we
are here!"
I told them that every one of them had a mother of his own, like
the mother of the last baby; that I believed they had all been
brought from Bulika when they were so small that they could not
now remember it; that the wicked princess there was so afraid of
babies, and so determined to destroy them, that their mothers had
to carry them away and leave them where she could not find them;
and that now we were going to Bulika, to find their mothers, and
deliver them from the bad giantess.
"But I must tell you," I continued, "that there is danger before us,
for, as you know, we may have to fight hard to take the city."
"We can fight! we are ready!" cried the boys.
"Yes, you can," I returned, "and I know you will: mothers are worth
fighting for! Only mind, you must all keep together."
"Yes, yes; we'll take care of each other," they answered. "Nobody
shall touch one of us but his own mother!"
"You must mind, every one, to do immediately what your officers tell
you!"
"We will, we will!--Now we're quite ready! Let us go!"
"Another thing you must not forget," I went on: "when you strike,
be sure you make it a downright swinging blow; when you shoot an
arrow, draw it to the head; when you sling a stone, sling it strong
and straight."
"That we will!" they cried with jubilant, fearless shout.
"Perhaps you will be hurt!"
"We don't mind that!--Do we, boys?"
"Not a bit!"
"Some of you may very possibly be killed!" I said.
"I don't mind being killed!" cried one of the finest of the smaller
boys: he rode a beautiful little bull, which galloped and jumped like
a horse.
"I don't either! I don't either!" came from all sides.
Then Lona, queen and mother and sister of them all, spoke from her
big horse by my side:
"I would give my life," she said, "to have my mother! She might
kill me if she liked! I should just kiss her and die!"
"Come along, boys!" cried a girl. "We're going to our mothers!"
A pang went through my heart.--But I could not draw back; it would
be moral ruin to the Little Ones!
