<h2><SPAN name="chap13"></SPAN>CHAPTER XIII.<br/> THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS</h2>
<p>A more weary and dishevelled set of people than that which about the hour of
dawn finally emerged from the mouth of the ancient shaft on to the cliffs of
Mur it has seldom been my lot to behold. Yet with a single exception the party
was a happy one, for we had come triumphant through great dangers, and actually
effected our object—the rescue of Higgs, which, under the circumstances
most people would have thought impossible. Yes, there he was in the flesh
before us, having injured his knee and lost his hat, but otherwise quite sound
save for a few trifling scratches inflicted by the cub, and still wearing what
the natives called his “black windows.”</p>
<p>Even the Prince Joshua was happy, though wrapped in a piece of coarse sacking
because the lion had taken most of his posterior clothing, and terribly sore
from the deep cuts left by the claws.</p>
<p>Had he not dared the dangers of the den, and thus proved himself a hero whose
fame would last for generations? Had I not assured him that his honourable
wounds, though painful (as a matter of fact, after they had set, they kept him
stiff as a mummy for some days, so that unless he stood upon his feet, he had
to be carried, or lie rigid on his face) would probably not prove fatal? And
had he not actually survived to reach the upper air again, which was more than
he ever expected to do? No wonder that he was happy.</p>
<p>I alone could not share in the general joy, since, although my friend was
restored to me, my son still remained a prisoner among the Fung. Yet even in
this matter things might have been worse, since I learned that he was well
treated, and in no danger. But of that I will write presently.</p>
<p>Never shall I forget the scene after the arrival of Higgs in our hole, when the
swinging boulder had been closed and made secure and the lamps lighted. There
he sat on the floor, his red hair glowing like a torch, his clothes torn and
bloody, his beard ragged and stretching in a Newgate frill to his ears. Indeed,
his whole appearance, accentuated by the blue spectacles with wire gauze
side-pieces, was more disreputable than words can tell; moreover, he smelt
horribly of lion. He put his hand into his pocket, and produced his big pipe,
which had remained unbroken in its case.</p>
<p>“Some tobacco, please,” he said. (Those were his first words to
us!) “I have finished mine, saved up the last to smoke just before they
put me into that stinking basket.”</p>
<p>I gave him some, and as he lit his pipe the light of the match fell upon the
face of Maqueda, who was staring at him with amused astonishment.</p>
<p>“What an uncommonly pretty woman,” he said. “What’s she
doing down here, and who is she?”</p>
<p>I told him, whereon he rose, or rather tried to, felt for his hat, which, of
course, had gone, with the idea of taking it off, and instantly addressed her
in his beautiful and fluent Arabic, saying how glad he was to have this
unexpected honour, and so forth.</p>
<p>She congratulated him on his escape, whereon his face grew serious.</p>
<p>“Yes, a nasty business,” he said, “as yet I can hardly
remember whether my name is Daniel, or Ptolemy Higgs.” Then he turned to
us and added, “Look here, you fellows, if I don’t thank you it
isn’t because I am not grateful, but because I can’t. The truth is,
I’m a bit dazed. Your son is all right, Adams; he’s a good fellow,
and we grew great friends. Safe? Oh! yes, he’s safe as a church! Old
Barung, he’s the Sultan, and another good fellow, although he did throw
me to the lions—because the priests made him—is very fond of him,
and is going to marry him to his daughter.”</p>
<p>At this moment the men announced that everything was ready for our ascent, and
when I had attended to Joshua with a heart made thankful by Higgs’s news,
we began that toilsome business, and, as I have already said, at length
accomplished it safely. But even then our labours were not ended, since it was
necessary to fill up the mouth of the shaft so as to make it impossible that it
should be used by the Fung, who now knew of its existence.</p>
<p>Nor was this a business that could be delayed, for as we passed the plateau
whence Oliver and Japhet had crossed to the sphinx, we heard the voices of men
on the farther side of the rough wall that we had built there. Evidently the
priests, or idol guards, infuriated by the rescue of their victim, had already
managed to bridge the gulf and were contemplating assault, a knowledge which
caused us to hurry our movements considerably. If they had got through before
we passed them, our fate would have been terrible, since at the best we must
have slowly starved in the pit below.</p>
<p>Indeed, as soon as we reached the top and had blocked it temporarily, Quick,
weary as he was, was sent off on horseback, accompanied by Maqueda, Shadrach,
now under the terms of his contract once more a free man, and two Mountaineers,
to gallop to the palace of Mur, and fetch a supply of explosives. The rest of
us, for Higgs declined to leave, and we had no means of carrying Joshua,
remained watching the place, or rather the Abati watched while we slept with
our rifles in our hands. Before noon Quick returned, accompanied by many men
with litters and all things needful.</p>
<p>Then we pulled out the stones, and Oliver, Japhet, and some others descended to
the first level and arranged blasting charges. Awhile after he reappeared with
his companions, looking somewhat pale and anxious, and shouted to us to get
back. Following our retreat to a certain distance, unwinding a wire as he came,
presently he stopped and pressed the button of a battery which he held in his
hand. There was a muffled explosion and a tremor of the soil like to that of an
earthquake, while from the mouth of the shaft stones leapt into the air.</p>
<p>It was over, and all that could be noted was a sinkage in the ground where the
ancient pit had been.</p>
<p>“I am sorry for them,” said Oliver presently, “but it had to
be done.”</p>
<p>“Sorry for whom?” I asked.</p>
<p>“For those Fung priests or soldiers. The levels below are full of them,
dead or alive. They were pouring up at our heels. Well, no one will travel that
road again.”</p>
<p>Later, in the guest house at Mur, Higgs told us his story. After his betrayal
by Shadrach, which, it appeared, was meant to include us all, for the Professor
overheard the hurried talk between him and a Fung captain, he was seized and
imprisoned in the body of the great sphinx, where many chambers and dungeons
had been hollowed out by the primæval race that fashioned it. Here Barung the
Sultan visited him and informed him of his meeting with the rest of us, to whom
apparently he had taken a great liking, and also that we had refused to
purchase a chance of his release at the price of being false to our trust.</p>
<p>“You know,” said Higgs, “that when first I heard this I was
very angry with you, and thought you a set of beasts. But on considering things
I saw the other side of it, and that you were right, although I never could
come to fancy the idea of being sacrificed to a sphinx by being chucked like a
piece of horse-flesh to a lot of holy lions. However, Barung, an excellent
fellow in his way, assured me that there was no road out of the matter without
giving grave offence to the priests, who are very powerful among the Fung, and
bringing a fearful curse on the nation.</p>
<p>“Meanwhile, he made me as comfortable as he could. For instance, I was
allowed to walk upon the back of the idol, to associate with the priests, a
suspicious and most exclusive set, and to study their entire religious system,
from which I have no doubt that of Egypt was derived. Indeed, I have made a
great discovery which, if ever we get out of this, will carry my name down to
all generations. The forefathers of these Fung were undoubtedly also the
forefathers of the pre-dynastic Egyptians, as is shown by the similarity of
their customs and spiritual theories. Further, intercourse was kept up between
the Fung, who then had their headquarters here in Mur, and the Egyptians in the
time of the ancient empire, till the Twentieth Dynasty, indeed, if not later.
My friends, in the dungeons in which I was confined there is an inscription,
or, rather, a <i>graffite</i>, made by a prisoner extradited to Mur by Rameses
II., after twenty years’ residence in Egypt, which was written by him on
the night before he was thrown to the sacred lions, that even in those days
were an established institution. And I have got a copy of that inscription in
my pocket-book. I tell you,” he added in a scream of triumph,
“I’ve got a certified copy of that inscription, thanks to Shadrach,
on whose dirty head be blessings!”</p>
<p>I congratulated him heartily upon this triumph, and before he proceeded to give
us further archæological details, asked him for some information about my boy.</p>
<p>“Oh,” said Higgs, “he is a very nice young man and extremely
good looking. Indeed, I am quite proud to have such a godson. He was much
interested to hear that you were hunting for him after so many years, quite
touched indeed. He still talks English, though with a Fung accent, and, of
course, would like to escape. Meanwhile, he is having a very good time, being
chief singer to the god, for his voice is really beautiful, an office which
carries with it all sorts of privileges. I told you, didn’t I, that he is
to be married to Barung’s only legitimate daughter on the night of the
next full moon but one. The ceremony is to take place in Harmac City, and will
be the greatest of its sort for generations, a feast of the entire people in
short. I should very much like to be present at it, but being an intelligent
young man he has promised to keep notes of everything, which I hope may become
available in due course.”</p>
<p>“And is he attached to this savage lady?” I asked dismayed.</p>
<p>“Attached? Oh, dear no, I think he said he had never seen her, and only
knew that she was rather plain and reported to possess a haughty temper. He is
a philosophical young man, however, as might be expected from one who has
undergone so many vicissitudes, and, therefore, takes things as they come,
thanking heaven that they are no worse. You see, as the husband of the
Sultan’s daughter, unless the pair quarrel very violently, he will be
safe from the lions, and he could never quite say as much before. But we
didn’t go into these domestic matters very deeply as there were so many
more important things to interest us both. He wanted to know all about you and
our plans, and naturally I wanted to know all about the Fung and the ritual and
traditions connected with the worship of Harmac, so that we were never dull for
a single moment. In fact, I wish that we could have had longer together, for we
became excellent friends. But whatever happens, I think that I have collected
the cream of his information,” and he tapped a fat note-book in his
hands, adding:</p>
<p>“What an awful thing it would have been if a lion had eaten this. For
myself it did not matter; there may be many better Egyptologists, but I doubt
if any one of them will again have such opportunities of original research.
However, I took every possible precaution to save my notes by leaving a copy of
the most important of them written with native ink upon sheepskin in charge of
your son. Indeed, I meant to leave the originals also, but fortunately forgot
in the excitement of my very hurried departure.”</p>
<p>I agreed with him that his chances had been unique and that he was a most lucky
archæologist, and presently he went on puffing at his pipe.</p>
<p>“Of course, when Oliver turned up in that unexpected fashion on the back
of the idol, remembering your wishes and natural desire to recover your son, I
did my best to rescue him also. But he wasn’t in the room beneath, where
I thought I should find him. The priests were there instead, and they had heard
us talking above, and you know the rest. Well, as it happens, it didn’t
matter, though that descent into the den of lions—there were two or three
hundred feet of it, and the rope seemed worn uncommonly thin with use—was
a trying business to the nerves.”</p>
<p>“What did you think about all the time?” asked Oliver curiously.</p>
<p>“Think about? I didn’t think much, was in too great a fright. I
just wondered whether St. Paul had the same sensations when he was let down in
a basket; wondered what the early Christian martyrs felt like in the arena;
wondered whether Barung, with whom my parting was quite affectionate, would
come in the morning and look for me as Darius did for Daniel and how much he
would find if he did; hoped that my specs would give one of those brutes
appendicitis, and so forth. My word! it was sickening, especially that kind of
school-treat swing and bump at the end. I never could bear swinging. Still, it
was all for the best, as I shouldn’t have gone a yard along that
sphinx’s tail without tumbling off, tight-rope walking not being in my
line; and I’ll tell you what, you are just the best three fellows in the
whole world. Don’t you think I forget that because I haven’t said
much. And now let’s have your yarn, for I want to hear how things stand,
which I never expected to do this side of Judgment-day.”</p>
<p>So we told him all, while he listened open-mouthed. When we came to the
description of the Tomb of the Kings his excitement could scarcely be
restrained.</p>
<p>“You haven’t touched them,” he almost screamed;
“don’t say you have been vandals enough to touch them, for every
article must be catalogued <i>in situ</i> and drawings must be made. If
possible, specimen groups with their surrounding offerings should be moved so
that they can be set up again in museums. Why, there’s six months’
work before me, at least. And to think that if it hadn’t been for you, by
now I should be in process of digestion by a lion, a stinking, mangy, sacred
lion!”</p>
<p>Next morning I was awakened by Higgs limping into my room in some weird
sleeping-suit that he had contrived with the help of Quick.</p>
<p>“I say, old fellow,” he said, “tell me some more about that
girl, Walda Nagasta. What a sweet face she’s got, and what pluck! Of
course, such things ain’t in my line, never looked at a woman these
twenty years past, hard enough to remember her next morning, but, by Jingo! the
eyes of that one made me feel quite queer here,” and he hit the
sleeping-suit somewhere in the middle, “though perhaps it was only
because she was such a contrast to the lions.”</p>
<p>“Ptolemy,” I answered in a solemn voice, “let me tell you
that she is more dangerous to meddle with than any lion, and what’s more,
if you don’t want to further complicate matters with a flaming row, you
had better keep to your old habits and leave her eyes alone. I mean that Oliver
is in love with her.”</p>
<p>“Of course he is. I never expected anything else, but what’s that
got to do with it? Why shouldn’t I be in love with her too? Though I
admit,” he added sadly, contemplating his rotund form, “the chances
are in his favour, especially as he’s got the start.”</p>
<p>“They are, Ptolemy, for she’s in love with him,” and I told
him what we had seen in the Tomb of Kings.</p>
<p>First he roared with laughter, then on second thoughts grew exceedingly
indignant.</p>
<p>“I call it scandalous of Oliver, compromising us all in this
way—the lucky dog! These selfish, amorous adventures will let us in for
no end of trouble. It is even probable, Adams, that you and I may come to a
miserable end, solely because of this young man’s erotic tendencies. Just
fancy neglecting business in order to run after a pretty, round-faced Jewess,
that is if she <i>is</i> a Jewess, which I doubt, as the blood must have got
considerably mixed by now, and the first Queen of Sheba, if she ever existed,
was an Ethiopian. As a friend almost old enough to be his father, I shall speak
to him very seriously.”</p>
<p>“All right,” I called after him as he hobbled off to take his bath,
“only if you are wise, you won’t speak to Maqueda, for she might
misinterpret your motives if you go on staring at her as you did
yesterday.”</p>
<p>That morning I was summoned to see the Prince Joshua and dress his wounds,
which, although not of a serious nature, were very painful. The moment that I
entered the man’s presence I noticed a change in his face. Like the rest
of us I had always set this fellow down as a mere poltroon and windbag, a
blower of his own trumpet, as Oliver had called him. Now I got an insight into
his real nature which showed me that although he might be these things and
worse, he was also a very determined and dangerous person, animated by
ambitions which he meant to satisfy at all hazards.</p>
<p>When I had done what I could for him and told him that in my opinion he had no
ill results to fear from his hurts, since the thick clothes he was wearing at
the time had probably cleaned the lion’s paws of any poison that might
have been on them, he said,</p>
<p>“Physician, I desire private words with you.”</p>
<p>I bowed, and he went on:</p>
<p>“The Child of Kings, hereditary ruler of this land, somewhat against the
advice of her Council, has thought fit to employ you and your Gentile
companions in order that by your skill and certain arts of which you are
masters you may damage its ancient enemies, the Fung, and in reward has
promised to pay you well should you succeed in your endeavours. Now, I wish you
to understand that though you think yourselves great men, and may for aught I
know be great in your own country, here you are but servants like any other
mercenaries whom it may please us to hire.”</p>
<p>His tone was so offensive that, though it might have been wiser to keep silent,
I could not help interrupting him.</p>
<p>“You use hard words, Prince,” I said; “let me then explain
what is the real pay for which we work and undergo some risks. Mine is the hope
of recovering a son who is the slave of your enemies. That of the Captain Orme
is the quest of adventure and war, since being a rich man in his own country he
needs no further wealth. That of him whom you call Black Windows, but whose
name is Higgs, is the pure love of learning. In England and throughout the West
he is noted for his knowledge of dead peoples, their languages, and customs,
and it is to study these that he has undertaken so terrible a journey. As for
Quick, he is Orme’s man, who has known him from childhood, an old soldier
who has served with him in war and comes hither to be with the master whom he
loves.”</p>
<p>“Ah!” said Joshua, “a servant, a person of no degree, who yet
dares to threaten me, the premier prince of the Abati, to my face.”</p>
<p>“In the presence of death all men are equal, Prince. You acted in a
fashion that might have brought his lord, who was daring a desperate deed, to a
hideous doom.”</p>
<p>“And what do I care about his lord’s desperate deeds, Physician? I
see that you set store by such things, and think those who accomplish them
great and wonderful. Well, we do not. There is no savage among the barbarous
Fung would not do all that your Orme does, and more, just because he is a
savage. We who are civilized, we who are cultivated, we who are wise, know
better. Our lives were given us to enjoy, not to throw away or to lose at the
sword’s point, and, therefore, no doubt, you would call us cowards.”</p>
<p>“Yet, Prince, those who bear that title of coward which you hold one of
honour, are apt to perish ‘at the sword’s point.’ The Fung
wait without your gates, O Prince.”</p>
<p>“And therefore, O Gentile, we hire you to fight the Fung. Still, I bear
no grudge against your servant, Quick, who is himself but a white-skinned Fung,
for he acted according to his nature, and I forgive him; only in the future let
him beware! And now—for a greater matter. The Child of Kings is
beautiful, she is young and high spirited; a new face from another land may
perchance touch her fancy. But,” he added meaningly, “let the owner
of that face remember who she is and what he is; let him remember that for any
outside the circle of the ancient blood to lift his eyes to the daughter of
Solomon is to earn death, death slow and cruel for himself and all who aid and
abet him. Let him remember, lastly, that this high-born lady to whom he, an
unknown and vagrant Gentile, dares to talk as equal to equal, has from
childhood been my affianced, who will shortly be my wife, although it may
please her to seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and that we Abati
are jealous of the honour of our women. Do you understand?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Prince,” I answered, for by now my temper was roused.
“But I would have you understand something also—that we are men of
a high race whose arm stretches over half the world, and that we differ from
the little tribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in
this—that we are jealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire
strangers to fight the foes we fear to face. Next time I come to attend to your
wounds, O Prince, I trust that they will be in front, and not behind. One word
more, if you will be advised by me you will not threaten that Captain whom you
call a Gentile and a mercenary, lest you should learn that it is not always
well to be a coward, of blood however ancient.”</p>
<p>Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a thorough fool
of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still and hear men such as my
companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken of thus by a bloated cur, who
called himself a prince and boasted of his own poltroonery. He glowered at me
as I went, and the men of his party who hung about the end of the great room
and in his courts, glowered at me also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur,
and I almost wished that instead of threatening to slap his face down in the
tunnel, Quick had broken his neck and made an end of him.</p>
<p>So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it opened their
eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and growing dangers of the
situation. Afterward he informed me that he had spoken of the matter with
Maqueda, and that she was much frightened for our sakes, and somewhat for her
own. Joshua, she said, was a man capable of any crime, who had at his back the
great majority of the Abati; a jealous, mean and intolerant race who made up in
cunning for what they lacked in courage.</p>
<p>Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to separate this
pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem to bind them closer
together, and to make them more completely one. In short, the tragedy took its
appointed course, whilst we stood by and watched it helplessly.</p>
<p>On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned to a
meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some trepidation,
expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different sort to that which we
feared. Scarcely had we entered the great room where the Child of Kings was
seated in her chair of state surrounded by all the pomp and ceremony of her
mimic court, when the big doors at the end of it were opened, and through them
marched three gray-bearded men in white robes whom we saw at once were heralds
or ambassadors from the Fung. These men bowed to the veiled Maqueda and,
turning toward where we stood in a little group apart, bowed to us also.</p>
<p>But of Joshua, who was there supported by two servants, for he could not yet
stand alone, and the other notables and priests of the Abati, they took not the
slightest heed.</p>
<p>“Speak,” said Maqueda.</p>
<p>“Lady,” answered the spokesman of the embassy, “we are sent
by our Sultan, Barung, son of Barung, Ruler of the Fung nation. These are the
words of Barung: O Walda Nagasta! ‘By the hands and the wit of the white
lords whom you have called to your aid, you have of late done much evil to the
god Harmac and to me his servant. You have destroyed one of the gates of my
city, and with it many of my people. You have rescued a prisoner out of my
hands, robbing Harmac of his sacrifice and thereby bringing his wrath upon us.
You have slain sundry of the sacred beasts that are the mouth of sacrifice, you
have killed certain of the priests and guards of Harmac in a hole of the rocks.
Moreover my spies tell me that you plan further ills against the god and
against me. Now I send to tell you that for these and other offences I will
make an end of the people of the Abati, whom hitherto I have spared. In a
little while I marry my daughter to the white man, that priest of Harmac who is
called Singer of Egypt, and who is said to be the son of the physician in your
service, but after I have celebrated this feast and my people have finished the
hoeing of their crops, I take up the sword in earnest, nor will I lay it down
again until the Abati are no more.</p>
<p>“‘Learn that last night after the holy beasts had been slain and
the sacrifice snatched away, the god Harmac spoke to his priests in prophecy.
And this was his prophecy; that before the gathering in of the harvest his
<i>head</i> should sleep above the plain of Mur. We know not the interpretation
of the saying, but this I know, that before the gathering of the harvest I, or
those who rule after me, will lie down to sleep within my city of Mur.’ </p>
<p>“‘Now, choose—surrender forthwith and, save for the dog,
Joshua, who the other day tried to entrap me against the custom of peoples, and
ten others whom I shall name, I will spare the lives of all of you, though
Joshua and these ten I will hang, since they are not worthy to die by the
sword. Or resist, and by Harmac himself I swear that every man among the Abati
shall die save the white lords whom I honour because they are brave, and that
servant of yours who stood with them last night in the den of lions, and that
every woman shall be made a slave, save you, O Walda Nagasta, because of your
great heart. Your answer, O Lady of the Abati!’”</p>
<p>Now Maqueda looked around the faces of her Council, and saw fear written upon
them all. Indeed, as we noted, many of them shook in their terror.</p>
<p>“My answer will be short, ambassadors of Barung,” she replied,
“still, I am but one woman, and it is fitting that those who represent
the people should speak for the people. My uncle, Joshua, you are the first of
my Council, what have you to say? Are you willing to give up your life with ten
others whose names I do not know, that there may be peace between us and the
Fung?”</p>
<p>“What?” answered Joshua, with a splutter of rage, “do I live
to hear a Walda Nagasta suggest that the first prince of the land, her uncle
and affianced husband, should be surrendered to our hereditary foes to be
hanged like a worn-out hound, and do you, O unknown ten, who doubtless stand in
this chamber, live to hear it also?”</p>
<p>“My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all.”</p>
<p>“Then I answer that it is not my wish, nor the wish of the ten, nor the
wish of the Abati. Nay, we will fight the Fung and destroy them, and of their
beast-headed idol Harmac we will make blocks to build our synagogues and stones
to pave our roads. Do you hear, savages of Fung?” and assisted by his two
servants he hobbled towards them, grinning in their faces.</p>
<p>The envoys looked him up and down with their quiet eyes. “We hear and we
are very glad to hear,” their spokesman answered, “since we Fung
love to settle our quarrels with the sword and not by treaty. But to you,
Joshua, we say: Make haste to die before we enter Mur, since the rope is not
the only means of death whereof we know.”</p>
<p>Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kings and next
ourselves, then turned to go.</p>
<p>“Kill them!” shouted Joshua, “they have threatened and
insulted me, the Prince!”</p>
<p>But no one lifted a hand against the men, who passed safely out of the palace
to the square, where an escort waited with their horses.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />