<h2><SPAN name="chap06"></SPAN>CHAPTER VI.<br/> HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC</h2>
<p>As finally arranged this was the order of our march: First went an Abati guide
who was said to be conversant with every inch of the way. Then came Orme and
Sergeant Quick, conducting the camels that were loaded with the explosives. I
followed in order to keep an eye upon these precious beasts and those in charge
of them. Next marched some more camels, carrying our baggage, provisions, and
sundries, and finally in the rear were the Professor and Shadrach with two
Abati.</p>
<p>Shadrach, I should explain, had selected this situation for the reason, as he
said, that if he went first, after what had passed, any mistake or untoward
occurrence might be set down to his malice, whereas, if he were behind, he
could not be thus slandered. On hearing this, Higgs, who is a generous soul,
insisted upon showing his confidence in the virtue of Shadrach by accompanying
him as a rearguard. So violently did he insist, and so flattered did Shadrach
seem to be by this mark of faith, that Orme, who, I should say, if I have not
already done so, was in sole command of the party now that hostilities were in
the air, consented to the plan, if with evident reluctance.</p>
<p>As I know, his own view was that it would be best for us four Englishmen to
remain together, although, if we did so, whatever position we chose, it would
be impossible for us in that darkness to keep touch with the line of camels and
their loads, which were almost as important to us as our lives. At least,
having made up our minds to deliver them in Mur, we thought that they were
important, perhaps because it is the fashion of the Anglo-Saxon race to put
even a self-created idea of duty before personal safety or convenience.</p>
<p>Rightly or wrongly, so things were settled, for in such troublous conditions
one can only do what seems best at the moment. Criticism subsequent to the
event is always easy, as many an unlucky commander has found out when the issue
went awry, but in emergency one must decide on something.</p>
<p>The sun set, the darkness fell, and it began to rain and blow. We started quite
unobserved, so far as we could tell, and, travelling downward from the
overgrown, ruined town, gained the old road, and in complete silence, for the
feet of camels make no noise, passed along it toward the lights of Harmac,
which now and again, when the storm-clouds lifted, we saw glimmering in front
of us and somewhat to our left.</p>
<p>In all my long wanderings I cannot remember a more exciting or a more
disagreeable journey. The blackness, relieved only from time to time by distant
lightnings, was that of the plagues of Egypt; the driving rain worked through
the openings of our camel-hair cloaks and the waterproofs we wore underneath
them, and wet us through. The cold, damp wind chilled us to the bone, enervated
as we were with the heat of the desert. But these discomforts, and they were
serious enough, we forgot in the tremendous issue of the enterprise. Should we
win through to Mur? Or, as a crown to our many labours and sufferings, should
we perish presently on the road? That was the question; as I can assure the
reader, one that we found very urgent and interesting.</p>
<p>Three hours had gone by. Now we were opposite to the lights of Harmac, also to
other lights that shone up a valley in the mountain to our right. As yet
everything was well; for this we knew by the words whispered up and down the
line.</p>
<p>Then of a sudden, in front of us a light flashed, although as yet it was a long
way off. Next came another whispered message of “Halt!” So we
halted, and presently one of the front guides crept back, informing us that a
body of Fung cavalry had appeared upon the road ahead. We took counsel.
Shadrach arrived from the rear, and said that if we waited awhile they might go
away, as he thought that their presence must be accidental and connected with
the great festival. He implored us to be quite silent. Accordingly, not knowing
what to do, we waited.</p>
<p>Now I think I have forgotten to say that the dog Pharaoh, to prevent accidents,
occupied a big basket; this basket, in which he often rode when tired, being
fixed upon one side of Orme’s camel. Here he lay peaceably enough until,
in an unlucky moment, Shadrach left me to go forward to talk to the Captain,
whereon, smelling his enemy, Pharaoh burst out into furious baying. After that
everything was confusion. Shadrach darted back toward the rear. The light ahead
began to move quickly, advancing toward us. The front camels left the road, as
I presume, following their leader according to the custom of these beasts when
marching in line.</p>
<p>Presently, I know not how, Orme, Quick, and myself found ourselves together in
the darkness; at the time we thought Higgs was with us also, but in this we
were mistaken. We heard shoutings and strange voices speaking a language that
we could not understand. By the sudden glare of a flash of lightning, for the
thunderstorm was now travelling over us, we saw several things. One of these
was the Professor’s riding-dromedary, which could not be mistaken because
of its pure white colour and queer method of holding its head to one side,
passing within ten yards, between us and the road, having a man upon its back
who evidently was not the Professor. Then it was that we discovered his absence
and feared the worst.</p>
<p>“A Fung has got his camel,” I said.</p>
<p>“No,” answered Quick; “Shadrach has got it. I saw his ugly
mug against the light.”</p>
<p>Another vision was that of what appeared to be our baggage camels moving
swiftly away from us, but off the road which was occupied by a body of horsemen
in white robes. Orme issued a brief order to the effect that we were to follow
the camels with which the Professor might be. We started to obey, but before we
had covered twenty yards of the cornfield or whatever it was in which we were
standing, heard voices ahead that were not those of Abati. Evidently the flash
which showed the Fung to us had done them a like service, and they were now
advancing to kill or capture us.</p>
<p>There was only one thing to do—turn and fly—and this we did,
heading whither we knew not, but managing to keep touch of each other.</p>
<p>About a quarter of an hour later, just as we were entering a grove of palms or
other trees which hid everything in front of us, the lightning blazed again,
though much more faintly, for by this time the storm had passed over the
Mountains of Mur, leaving heavy rain behind it. By the flash I, who was riding
last and, as it chanced, looking back over my shoulder, saw that the Fung
horsemen were not fifty yards behind, and hunting for us everywhere, their line
being extended over a long front. I was, however, sure that they had not yet
caught sight of us in the dense shadow of the trees.</p>
<p>“Get on,” I said to the others; “they will be here
presently,” and heard Quick add:</p>
<p>“Give your camel his head, Captain; he can see in the dark, and perhaps
will take us back to the road.”</p>
<p>Orme acted on this suggestion, which, as the blackness round us was pitchy,
seemed a good one. At any rate it answered, for off we went at a fair pace, the
three camels marching in line, first over soft ground and afterwards on a road.
Presently I thought that the rain had stopped, since for a few seconds none
fell on us, but concluded from the echo of the camels’ feet and its
recommencement that we had passed under some archway. On we went, and at length
even through the gloom and rain I saw objects that looked like houses, though
if so there were no lights in them, perhaps because the night drew toward
morning. A dreadful idea struck me: we might be in Harmac! I passed it up for
what it was worth.</p>
<p>“Very likely,” whispered Orme back. “Perhaps these camels
were bred here, and are looking for their stables. Well, there is only one
thing to do—go on.”</p>
<p>So we went on for a long while, only interfered with by the occasional
attentions of some barking dog. Luckily of these Pharaoh, in his basket, took
no heed, probably because it was his habit if another dog barked at him to
pretend complete indifference until it came so near that he could spring and
fight, or kill it. At length we appeared to pass under another archway, after
which, a hundred and fifty yards or so further on, the camels came to a sudden
stop. Quick dismounted, and presently I heard him say:</p>
<p>“Doors. Can feel the brasswork on them. Tower above, I think, and wall on
either side. Seem to be in a trap. Best stop here till light comes. Nothing
else to be done.”</p>
<p>Accordingly, we stopped, and, having tied the camels to each other to prevent
their straying, took shelter from the rain under the tower or whatever it might
be. To pass away the time and keep life in us, for we were almost frozen with
the wet and cold, we ate some tinned food and biscuits that we carried in our
saddle-bags, and drank a dram of brandy from Quick’s flask. This warmed
us a little, though I do not think that a bottleful would have raised our
spirits. Higgs, whom we all loved, was gone, dead, probably, by that time; the
Abati had lost or deserted us, and we three white men appeared to have wandered
into a savage stronghold, where, as soon as we were seen, we should be trapped
like birds in a net, and butchered at our captor’s will. Certainly the
position was not cheerful.</p>
<p>Overwhelmed with physical and mental misery, I began to doze; Orme grew silent,
and the Sergeant, having remarked that there was no need to bother, since what
must be must be, consoled himself in a corner by humming over and over again
the verse of the hymn which begins:</p>
<p class="poem">
“There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe,<br/>
Where trials never come nor tears of sorrow flow.”</p>
<p>Fortunately for us, shortly before dawn the “tears of sorrow” as
represented by the rain ceased to flow. The sky cleared, showing the stars;
suddenly the vault of heaven was suffused with a wonderful and pearly light,
although on the earth the mist remained so thick that we could see nothing.
Then above this sea of mist rose the great ball of the sun, but still we could
see nothing that was more than a few yards away from us.</p>
<p>“There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe”</p>
<p>droned Quick beneath his breath for about the fiftieth time, since, apparently,
he knew no other hymn which he considered suitable to our circumstances, then
ejaculated suddenly:</p>
<p>“Hullo! here’s a stair. With your leave I’ll go up it,
Captain,” and he did.</p>
<p>A minute later we heard his voice calling us softly:</p>
<p>“Come here, gentlemen,” he said, “and see something worth
looking at.”</p>
<p>So we scrambled up the steps, and, as I rather expected, found ourselves upon
the top of one of two towers set above an archway, which towers were part of a
great protective work outside the southern gates of a city that could be none
other than Harmac. Soaring above the mist rose the mighty cliffs of Mur that,
almost exactly opposite to us, were pierced by a deep valley.</p>
<p>Into this valley the sunlight poured, revealing a wondrous and awe-inspiring
object of which the base was surrounded by billowy vapours, a huge, couchant
animal fashioned of black stone, with a head carved to the likeness of that of
a lion, and crowned with the <i>uraeus</i>, the asp-crested symbol of majesty
in old Egypt. How big the creature might be it was impossible to say at that
distance, for we were quite a mile away from it; but it was evident that no
other monolithic monument that we had ever seen or heard of could approach its
colossal dimensions.</p>
<p>Compared to this tremendous effigy indeed, the boasted Sphinx of Gizeh seemed
but a toy. It was no less than a small mountain of rock shaped by the genius
and patient labour of some departed race of men to the form of a lion-headed
monster. Its majesty and awfulness set thus above the rolling mists in the red
light of the morning, reflected on it from the towering precipices beyond, were
literally indescribable; even in our miserable state, they oppressed and
overcame us, so that for awhile we were silent. Then we spoke, each after his
own manner:</p>
<p>“The idol of the Fung!” said I. “No wonder that savages
should take it for a god.”</p>
<p>“The greatest monolith in all the world,” muttered Orme, “and
Higgs is dead. Oh! if only he had lived to see it, he would have gone happy. I
wish it had been I who was taken; I wish it had been I!” and he wrung his
hands, for it is the nature of Oliver Orme always to think of others before
himself.</p>
<p>“That’s what we have come to blow up,” soliloquized Quick.
“Well, those ‘azure stinging-bees,’ or whatever they call the
stuff (he meant azo-imides) are pretty active, but it will take a lot of
stirring if ever we get there. Seems a pity, too, for the old pussy is handsome
in his way.”</p>
<p>“Come down,” said Orme. “We must find out where we are;
perhaps we can escape in the mist.”</p>
<p>“One moment,” I answered. “Do you see that?” and I
pointed to a needle-like rock that pierced the fog about a mile to the south of
the idol valley, and say two miles from where we were. “That’s the
White Rock; it isn’t white really, but the vultures roost on it and make
it look so. I have never seen it before, for I passed it in the night, but I
know that it marks the beginning of the cleft which runs up to Mur; you
remember, Shadrach told us so. Well, if we can get to that White Rock we have a
chance of life.”</p>
<p>Orme studied it hurriedly and repeated, “Come down; we may be seen up
here.”</p>
<p>We descended and began our investigations in feverish haste. This was the sum
of them: In the arch under the tower were set two great doors covered with
plates of copper or bronze beaten into curious shapes to represent animals and
men, and apparently very ancient. These huge doors had grilles in them through
which their defenders could peep out or shoot arrows. What seemed more
important to us, however, was that they lacked locks, being secured only by
thick bronze bolts and bars such as we could undo.</p>
<p>“Let’s clear out before the mist lifts,” said Orme.
“With luck we may get to the pass.”</p>
<p>We assented, and I ran to the camels that lay resting just outside the arch.
Before I reached them, however, Quick called me back.</p>
<p>“Look through there, Doctor,” he said, pointing to one of the
peep-holes.</p>
<p>I did so, and in the dense mist saw a body of horsemen advancing toward the
door.</p>
<p>They must have seen us on the top of the wall. “Fools that we were to go
there!” exclaimed Orme.</p>
<p>Next instant he started back, not a second too soon, for through the hole where
his face had been, flashed a spear which struck the ground beyond the archway.
Also we heard other spears rattle upon the bronze plates of the doors.</p>
<p>“No luck!” said Orme; “that’s all up, they mean to
break in. Now I think we had better play a bold game. Got your rifles, Sergeant
and Doctor? Yes? Then choose your loopholes, aim, and empty the magazines into
them. Don’t waste a shot. For heaven’s sake don’t waste a
shot. Now—one—two—three, fire!”</p>
<p>Fire we did into the dense mass of men who had dismounted and were running up
to the doors to burst them open. At that distance we could scarcely miss and
the magazines of the repeating rifles held five shots apiece. As the smoke
cleared away I counted quite half-a-dozen Fung down, while some others were
staggering off, wounded. Also several of the men and horses beyond were struck
by the bullets which had passed through the bodies of the fallen.</p>
<p>The effect of this murderous discharge was instantaneous and remarkable. Brave
though the Fung might be, they were quite unaccustomed to magazine rifles.
Living as they did perfectly isolated and surrounded by a great river, even if
they had heard of such things and occasionally seen an old gaspipe musket that
reached them in the course of trade, of modern guns and their terrible power
they knew nothing. Small blame to them, therefore, if their courage evaporated
in face of a form of sudden death which to them must have been almost magical.
At any rate they fled incontinently, leaving their dead and wounded on the
ground.</p>
<p>Now again we thought of flight, which perhaps would have proved our wisest
course, but hesitated because we could not believe that the Fung had left the
road clear, or done more than retreat a little to wait for us. While we lost
time thus the mist thinned a great deal, so much indeed that we could see our
exact position. In front of us, towards the city side, lay a wide open space,
whereof the walls ended against those of Harmac itself, to which they formed a
kind of vestibule or antechamber set there to protect this gateway of the town
through which we had ridden in the darkness, not knowing whither we went.</p>
<p>“Those inner doors are open,” said Orme, nodding his head toward
the great portals upon the farther side of the square. “Let’s go
see if we can shut them. Otherwise we shan’t hold this place long.”</p>
<p>So we ran across to the further doors that were similar to those through which
we had just fired, only larger, and as we met nobody to interfere with our
efforts, found that the united strength of the three of us was just, only just,
sufficient to turn first one and then the other of them upon its hinges and
work the various bolts and bars into their respective places. Two men could
never have done the job, but being three and fairly desperate we managed it.
Then we retreated to our archway and, as nothing happened, took the opportunity
to eat and drink a few mouthfuls, Quick remarking sagely that we might as well
die upon full as upon empty stomachs.</p>
<p>When we had crossed the square the fog was thinning rapidly, but as the sun
rose, sucking the vapours from the rain-soaked earth, it thickened again for
awhile.</p>
<p>“Sergeant,” said Orme presently, “these black men are bound
to attack us soon. Now is the time to lay a mine while they can’t see
what we are after.”</p>
<p>“I was just thinking the same thing, Captain; the sooner the
better,” replied Quick. “Perhaps the Doctor will keep a watch here
over the camels, and if he sees any one stick up his head above the wall, he
might bid him good-morning. We know he is a nice shot, is the Doctor,”
and he tapped my rifle.</p>
<p>I nodded and the two of them set out laden with wires and the packages that
looked like tobacco tins, heading for a stone erection in the centre of the
square which resembled an altar, but was, I believe, a rostrum whence the
native auctioneers sold slaves and other merchandise. What they did there
exactly, I am sure I do not know; indeed, I was too much occupied in keeping a
watch upon the walls whereof I could clearly see the crest above the mist, to
pay much attention to their proceedings.</p>
<p>Presently my vigilance was rewarded, for over the great gateway opposite, at a
distance of about a hundred and fifty paces from me, appeared some kind of a
chieftain clad in white robes and wearing a very fine turban or coloured
head-dress, who paraded up and down, waving a spear defiantly and uttering loud
shouts.</p>
<p>This man I covered very carefully, lying down to do so. As Quick had said, I am
a good rifle shot, having practised that art for many years; still, one may
always miss, which, although I bore no personal grudge against the poor fellow
in the fine head-dress, on this occasion I did not wish to do. The sudden and
mysterious death of that savage would, I felt sure, produce a great effect
among his people.</p>
<p>At length he stopped exactly over the door and began to execute a kind of
war-dance, turning his head from time to time to yell out something to others
on the farther side of the wall. This was my opportunity. I covered him with as
much care as though I were shooting at a target, with one bull’s eye to
win. Aiming a little low in case the rifle should throw high, very gently I
pressed the trigger. The cartridge exploded, the bullet went on its way, and
the man on the wall stopped dancing and shouting and stood quite still. Clearly
he had heard the shot or felt the wind of the ball, but was untouched.</p>
<p>I worked the lever jerking out the empty case, preparatory to firing again, but
on looking up saw that there was no need, for the Fung captain was spinning
round on his heels like a top. Three or four times he whirled thus with
incredible rapidity, then suddenly threw his arms wide, and dived headlong from
the wall like a bather from a plank, but backward, and was seen no more. Only
from the farther side of those gates arose a wail of wrath and consternation.</p>
<p>After this no other Fung appeared upon the wall, so I turned my attention to
the spy-hole in the doors behind me, and seeing some horsemen moving about at a
distance of four or five hundred yards on a rocky ridge where the mist did not
lie, I opened fire on them and at the second shot was fortunate enough to knock
a man out of the saddle. One of those with him, who must have been a brave
fellow, instantly jumped down, threw him, dead or living, over the horse,
leaped up behind him, and galloped away accompanied by the others, pursued by
some probably ineffective bullets that I sent after them.</p>
<p>Now the road to the Pass of Mur seemed to be clear, and I regretted that Orme
and Quick were not with me to attempt escape. Indeed, I meditated fetching or
calling them, when suddenly I saw them returning, burying a wire or wires in
the sand as they came, and at the same time heard a noise of thunderous blows
of which I could not mistake the meaning. Evidently the Fung were breaking down
the farther bronze doors with some kind of battering-ram. I ran out to meet
them and told my news.</p>
<p>“Well done,” said Orme in a quiet voice. “Now, Sergeant, just
join up those wires to the battery, and be careful to screw them in tight. You
have tested it, haven’t you? Doctor, be good enough to unbar the gates.
No, you can’t do that alone; I’ll help you presently. Look to the
camels and tighten the girths. These Fung will have the doors down in a minute,
and then there will be no time to lose.”</p>
<p>“What are you going to do?” I asked as I obeyed.</p>
<p>“Show them some fireworks, I hope. Bring the camels into the archway so
that they can’t foul the wire with their feet. So—stand still, you
grumbling brutes! Now for these bolts. Heavens! how stiff they are. I wonder
why the Fung don’t grease them. One door will do—never mind the
other.”</p>
<p>Labouring furiously we got it undone and ajar. So far as we could see there was
no one in sight beyond. Scared by our bullets or for other reasons of their
own, the guard there appeared to have moved away.</p>
<p>“Shall we take the risk and ride for it?” I suggested.</p>
<p>“No,” answered Orme. “If we do, even supposing there are no
Fung waiting beyond the rise, those inside the town will soon catch us on their
swift horses. We must scare them before we bolt, and then those that are left
of them may let us alone. Now listen to me. When I give the word, you two take
the camels outside and make them kneel about fifty yards away, not nearer, for
I don’t know the effective range of these new explosives; it may be
greater than I think. I shall wait until the Fung are well over the mine and
then fire it, after which I hope to join you. If I don’t, ride as hard as
you can go to that White Rock, and if you reach Mur give my compliments to the
Child of Kings, or whatever she is called, and say that although I have been
prevented from waiting upon her, Sergeant Quick understands as much about
picrates as I do. Also get Shadrach tried and hanged if he is guilty of
Higgs’s death. Poor old Higgs! how he would have enjoyed this.”</p>
<p>“Beg your pardon, Captain,” said Quick, “but I’ll stay
with you. The doctor can see to the baggage animals.”</p>
<p>“Will you be good enough to obey orders and fall to the rear when you are
told, Sergeant? Now, no words. It is necessary for the purposes of this
expedition that one of us two should try to keep a whole skin.”</p>
<p>“Then, sir,” pleaded Quick, “mayn’t I take charge of
the battery?”</p>
<p>“No,” he answered sternly. “Ah! the doors are down at
last,” and he pointed to a horde of Fung, mounted and on foot, who poured
through the gateway where they had stood, shouting after their fashion, and
went on: “Now then, pick out the captains and pepper away. I want to keep
them back a bit, so that they come on in a crowd, not scattered.”</p>
<p>We took up our repeating rifles and did as Orme told us, and so dense was the
mass of humanity opposite that if we missed one man, we hit another, killing or
wounding a number of them. The result of the loss of several of their leaders,
to say nothing of meaner folk, was just what Orme had foreseen. The Fung
soldiers, instead of rushing on independently, spread to right and left, until
the whole farther side of the square filled up with thousands of them, a
veritable sea of men, at which we pelted bullets as boys hurl stones at a wave.</p>
<p>At length the pressure of those behind thrust onward those in front, and the
whole fierce, tumultuous mob began to flow forward across the square, a
multitude bent on the destruction of three white men, armed with these new and
terrible weapons. It was a very strange and thrilling sight; never have I seen
its like.</p>
<p>“Now,” said Orme, “stop firing and do as I bid you. Kneel the
camels fifty yards outside the wall, not less, and wait till you know the end.
If we shouldn’t meet again, well, good-bye and good luck.”</p>
<p>So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage.</p>
<p>“Good Lord!” he exclaimed, “good Lord! to think that, after
four campaigns, Samuel Quick, Sergeant of Engineers, with five medals, should
live to be sent off with the baggage like a pot-bellied bandmaster, leaving his
captain to fight about three thousand niggers single-handed. Doctor, if he
don’t come out, you do the best you can for yourself, for I’m going
back to stop with him, that’s all. There, that’s fifty paces; down
you go, you ugly beasts,” and he bumped his camel viciously on the head
with the butt of his rifle.</p>
<p>From where we had halted we could only see through the archway into the space
beyond. By now the square looked like a great Sunday meeting in Hyde Park,
being filled up with men of whom the first rows were already past the
altar-like rostrum in its centre.</p>
<p>“Why don’t he loose off them stinging-bees?” muttered Quick.
“Oh! I see his little game. Look,” and he pointed to the figure of
Orme, who had crept behind the unopened half of the door on our side of it and
was looking intently round its edge, holding the battery in his right hand.
“He wants to let them get nearer so as to make a bigger bag.
He——”</p>
<p>I heard no more of Quick’s remarks, for suddenly something like an
earthquake took place, and the whole sky seemed to turn to one great flame. I
saw a length of the wall of the square rush outward and upward. I saw the shut
half of the bronze-plated door skipping and hopping playfully toward us, and in
front of it the figure of a man. Then it began to rain all sorts of things.</p>
<p>For instance, stones, none of which hit us, luckily, and other more unpleasant
objects. It is a strange experience to be knocked backward by a dead fist
separated from its parent body, yet on this occasion this actually happened to
me, and, what is more, the fist had a spear in it. The camels tried to rise and
bolt, but they are phlegmatic brutes, and, as ours were tired as well, we
succeeded in quieting them.</p>
<p>Whilst we were thus occupied somewhat automatically, for the shock had dazed
us, the figure that had been propelled before the dancing door arrived, reeling
in a drunken fashion, and through the dust and falling <i>débris</i> we knew
it for that of Oliver Orme. His face was blackened, his clothes were torn half
off him, and blood from a scalp wound ran down his brown hair. But in his right
hand he still held the little electric battery, and I knew at once that he had
no limbs broken.</p>
<p>“Very successful mine,” he said thickly. “Boer melinite
shells aren’t in it with this new compound. Come on before the enemy
recover from the shock,” and he flung himself upon his camel.</p>
<p>In another minute we had started at a trot toward the White Rock, whilst from
the city of Harmac behind us rose a wail of fear and misery. We gained the top
of the rise on which I had shot the horseman, and, as I expected, found that
the Fung had posted a strong guard in the dip beyond, out of reach of our
bullets, in order to cut us off, should we attempt to escape. Now, terrified by
what had happened, to them a supernatural catastrophe, they were escaping
themselves, for we perceived them galloping off to the left and right as fast
as their horses would carry them.</p>
<p>So for awhile we went on unmolested, though not very quickly, because of
Orme’s condition. When we had covered about half the distance between us
and the White Rock, I looked round and became aware that we were being pursued
by a body of cavalry about a hundred strong, which I supposed had emerged from
some other gate of the city.</p>
<p>“Flog the animals,” I shouted to Quick, “or they will catch
us after all.”</p>
<p>He did so, and we advanced at a shambling gallop, the horsemen gaining on us
every moment. Now I thought that all was over, especially when of a sudden from
behind the White Rock emerged a second squad of horsemen.</p>
<p>“Cut off!” I exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Suppose so, sir,” answered Quick, “but these seem a
different crowd.”</p>
<p>I scanned them and saw that he was right. They were a very different crowd, for
in front of them floated the Abati banner, which I could not mistake, having
studied it when I was a guest of the tribe: a curious, triangular, green flag
covered with golden Hebrew characters, surrounding the figure of Solomon seated
on a throne. Moreover, immediately behind the banner in the midst of a
bodyguard rode a delicately shaped woman clothed in pure white. It was the
Child of Kings herself!</p>
<p>Two more minutes and we were among them. I halted my camel and looked round to
see that the Fung cavalry were retreating. After the events of that morning
clearly they had no stomach left for a fight with a superior force.</p>
<p>The lady in white rode up to us.</p>
<p>“Greetings, friend,” she exclaimed to me, for she knew me again at
once. “Now, who is captain among you?”</p>
<p>I pointed to the shattered Orme, who sat swaying on his camel with eyes half
closed.</p>
<p>“Noble sir,” she said, addressing him, “if you can, tell me
what has happened. I am Maqueda of the Abati, she who is named Child of Kings.
Look at the symbol on my brow, and you will see that I speak truth,” and,
throwing back her veil, she revealed the coronet of gold that showed her rank.</p>
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