<h2><SPAN name="chap20"></SPAN>CHAPTER XX.<br/> THE TRIAL AND AFTER</h2>
<p>They set us in a line, four ragged-looking fellows, all of us with beards of
various degrees of growth, that is, all the other three, for mine had been an
established fact for years, and everything having been taken away from us, we
possessed neither razor nor scissors.</p>
<p>In the courtyard of our barrack we were met by a company of soldiers, who
encircled us about with a triple line of men, as we thought to prevent any
attempt of escape. So soon as we passed the gates I found, however, that this
was done for a different reason, namely, to protect us from the fury of the
populace. All the way from the barrack to the courthouse, whither we were being
taken now that the palace was burned, the people were gathered in hundreds,
literally howling for our blood. It was a strange, and, in a way, a dreadful
sight to see even the brightly dressed women and children shaking their fists
and spitting at us with faces distorted by hate.</p>
<p>“Why they love you so little, father, when you do so much for
them?” asked Roderick, shrugging his shoulders and dodging a stone that
nearly hit him on the head.</p>
<p>“For two reasons,” I answered. “Because their Lady loves one
of us too much, and because through us many of their people have lost their
lives. Also they hate strangers, and are by nature cruel, like most cowards,
and now that they have no more fear of the Fung, they think it will be safe to
kill us.”</p>
<p>“Ah!” said Roderick; “yet Harmac has come to Mur,” and
he pointed to the great head of the idol seated on the cliff, “and I
think where Harmac goes, Fung follow, and if so they make them pay plenty for
my life, for I great man among Fung; Fung myself husband of Sultan’s
daughter. These fools, like children, because they see no Fung, think there are
no Fung. Well, in one year, or perhaps one month, they learn.”</p>
<p>“I daresay, my boy,” I answered, “but I am afraid that
won’t help us.”</p>
<p>By now we were approaching the court-house where the Abati priests and learned
men tried civil and some criminal cases. Through a mob of nobles and soldiers
who mocked us as we went, we were hustled into the large hall of judgment that
was already full to overflowing.</p>
<p>Up the centre of it we marched to a clear space reserved for the parties to a
cause, or prisoners and their advocates, beyond which, against the wall, were
seats for the judges. These were five members of the Council, one of whom was
Joshua, while in the centre as President of the Court, and wearing her veil and
beautiful robes of ceremony, sat Maqueda herself.</p>
<p>“Thank God, she’s safe!” muttered Oliver with a gasp of
relief.</p>
<p>“Yes,” answered Higgs, “but what’s she doing there? She
ought to be in the dock, too, not on the Bench.”</p>
<p>We reached the open space, and were thrust by soldiers armed with swords to
where we must stand, and although each of us bowed to her, I observed that
Maqueda took not the slightest notice of our salutations. She only turned her
head and said something to Joshua on her right, which caused him to laugh.</p>
<p>Then with startling suddenness the case began. A kind of public prosecutor
stood forward and droned out the charge against us. It was that we, who were in
the employ of the Abati, had traitorously taken advantage of our position as
mercenary captains to stir up a civil war, in which many people had lost their
lives, and some been actually murdered by ourselves and our companion who was
dead. Moreover, that we had caused their palace to be burned and, greatest
crime of all, had seized the sacred person of the Walda Nagasta, Rose of Mur,
and dragged her away into the recesses of the underground city, whence she was
only rescued by the chance of an accomplice of ours, one Japhet, betraying our
hiding-place.</p>
<p>This was the charge which, it will be noted, contained no allusion whatever to
the love entanglement between Maqueda and Oliver. When it was finished the
prosecutor asked us what we pleaded, whereon Oliver answered as our spokesman
that it was true there had been fighting and men killed, also that we had been
driven into the cave, but as to all the rest the Child of Kings knew the truth,
and must speak for us as she wished.</p>
<p>Now the audience began to shout, “They plead guilty! Give them to
death!” and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats, gathered
round Maqueda and consulted her.</p>
<p>“By heaven! I believe she is going to give us away!” exclaimed
Higgs, whereon Oliver turned on him fiercely and bade him hold his tongue,
adding:</p>
<p>“If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!”</p>
<p>At length the consultation was finished; the judges resumed their seats, and
Maqueda held up her hand. Thereon an intense silence fell upon the place. Then
she began to speak in a cold, constrained voice:</p>
<p>“Gentiles,” she said, addressing us, “you have pleaded guilty
to the stirring up of civil war in Mur, and to the slaying of numbers of its
people, facts of which there is no need for evidence, since many widows and
fatherless children can testify to them to-day. Moreover, you did, as alleged
by my officer, commit the crime of bearing off my person into the cave and
keeping me there by force to be a hostage for your safety.”</p>
<p>We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, “Good gracious, what a
lie!” But none of the rest of us said anything.</p>
<p>“For these offences,” went on Maqueda, “you are all of you
justly worthy of a cruel death.” Then she paused and added, “Yet,
as I have the power to do, I remit the sentence. I decree that this day you and
all the goods that remain to you which have been found in the cave city, and
elsewhere, together with camels for yourselves and your baggage, shall be
driven from Mur, and that if any one of you returns hither, he shall without
further trial be handed over to the executioners. This I do because at the
beginning of your service a certain bargain was made with you, and although you
have sinned so deeply I will not suffer that the glorious honour of the Abati
people shall be tarnished even by the breath of suspicion. Get you gone,
Wanderers, and let us see your faces no more for ever!”</p>
<p>Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard some
crying out, “No, kill them! Kill them!”</p>
<p>When the tumult had died down Maqueda spoke again saying:</p>
<p>“O noble and generous Abati, you approve of this deed of mercy; you who
would not be held merciless in far lands, O Abati, where, although you may not
have heard of them, there are, I believe, other peoples who think themselves as
great as you. You would not have it whispered, I say, that we who are the best
of the world, we, the children of Solomon, have dealt harshly even with stray
dogs that have wandered to our gates? Moreover, we called these dogs to hunt a
certain beast for us, the lion-headed beast called Fung, and, to be just to
them, they hunted well. Therefore spare them the noose, though they may have
deserved it, and let them run hence with their bone, say you, the bone which
they think that they have earned. What does a bone more or less matter to the
rich Abati, if only their holy ground is not defiled with the blood of Gentile
dogs?”</p>
<p>“Nothing at all! Nothing at all!” they shouted. “Tie it to
their tails and let them go!”</p>
<p>“It shall be done, O my people! And now that we have finished with these
dogs, I have another word to say to you. You may have thought or heard that I
was too fond of them, and especially of one of them,” and she glanced
toward Oliver. “Well, there are certain dogs who will not work unless you
pat them on the head. Therefore I patted this one on the head, since, after
all, he is a clever dog who knows things that we do not know; for instance, how
to destroy the idol of the Fung. O great Abati, can any of you really have
believed that I, of the ancient race of Solomon and Sheba, I, the Child of
Kings, purposed to give my noble hand to a vagrant Gentile come hither for
hire? Can you really have believed that I, the solemnly betrothed to yonder
Prince of Princes, Joshua, my uncle, would for a moment even in my heart have
preferred to him such a man as that?” And once again she looked at
Oliver, who made a wild motion, as though he were about to speak. But before he
could so much as open his lips Maqueda went on:</p>
<p>“Well, if you believed, not guessing all the while I was working for the
safety of my people, soon shall you be undeceived, since to-morrow night I
invite you to the great ceremony of my nuptials, when, according to the ancient
custom, I break the glass with him whom on the following night I take to be my
husband,” and rising, she bowed thrice to the audience, then stretched
out her hand to Joshua.</p>
<p>He, too, rose, puffing himself out like a great turkey-cock, and, taking her
hand, kissed it, gobbling some words which we did not catch.</p>
<p>Wild cheering followed, and in the momentary silence which followed Oliver
spoke.</p>
<p>“Lady,” he said, in a cold and bitter voice, “we
‘Gentiles’ have heard your words. We thank you for your kind
acknowledgment of our services, namely, the destruction of the idol of the Fung
at the cost of some risk and labour to ourselves. We thank you also for your
generosity in allowing us, as the reward of that service, to depart from Mur,
with insult and hard words, and such goods as remain to us, instead of
consigning us to death by torture, as you and your Council have the power to
do. It is indeed a proof of your generosity, and of that of the Abati people
which we shall always remember and repeat in our own land, should we live to
reach it. Also, we trust that it will come to the ears of the savage Fung, so
that at length they may understand that true nobility and greatness lie not in
brutal deeds of arms, but in the hearts of men. But now, Walda Nagasta, I have
a last request to make of you, namely, that I may see your face once more to be
sure that it is you who have spoken to us, and not another beneath your veil,
and that if this be so, I may carry away with me a faithful picture of one so
true to her country and noble to her guests as you have shown yourself this
day.”</p>
<p>She listened, then very slowly lifted her veil, revealing such a countenance as
I had never seen before. It was Maqueda without a doubt, but Maqueda changed.
Her face was pale, which was only to be expected after all she had gone
through; her eyes glowed in it like coals, her lips were set. But it was her
expression, at once defiant and agonized, which impressed me so much that I
never shall forget it. I confess I could not read it in the least, but it left
upon my mind the belief that she was a false woman, and yet ashamed of her own
falsity. There was the greatest triumph of her art, that in those terrible
circumstances she should still have succeeded in conveying to me, and to the
hundreds of others who watched, this conviction of her own turpitude.</p>
<p>For a moment her eyes met those of Orme, but although he searched them with
pleading and despair in his glance, I could trace in hers no relenting sign,
but only challenge not unmixed with mockery. Then with a short, hard laugh she
let fall her veil again and turned to talk with Joshua. Oliver stood silent a
little while, long enough for Higgs to whisper to me:</p>
<p>“I say, isn’t this downright awful? I’d rather be back in the
den of lions than live to see it.”</p>
<p>As he spoke I saw Oliver put his hand to where his revolver usually hung, but,
of course, it had been taken from him. Next he began to search in his pocket,
and finding that tabloid of poison which I had given him, lifted it toward his
mouth. But just as it touched his lips, my son, who was next to him, saw also.
With a quick motion he struck it from his fingers, and ground it to powder on
the floor beneath his heel.</p>
<p>Oliver raised his arm as though to hit him, then without a sound fell
senseless. Evidently Maqueda noted all this also, for I saw a kind of quiver go
through her, and her hands gripped the arms of her chair till the knuckles
showed white beneath the skin. But she only said:</p>
<p>“This Gentile has fainted because he is disappointed with his reward.
Take him hence and let his companion, the Doctor Adams, attend to him. When he
is recovered, conduct them all from Mur as I have decreed. See that they go
unharmed, taking with them plenty of food lest it be said that we only spared
their lives here in order that they might starve without our gates.”</p>
<p>Then waving her hand to show that the matter was done with, she rose and,
followed by the judges and officers, left the court by some door behind them.</p>
<p>While she spoke a strong body of guards had surrounded us, some of whom came
forward and lifted the senseless Oliver on to a stretcher. They carried him
down the court, the rest of us following.</p>
<p>“Look,” jeered the Abati as he passed, “look at the Gentile
pig who thought to wear the Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. He has got the
thorn now, not the rose. Is the swine dead, think you?”</p>
<p>Thus they mocked him and us.</p>
<p>We reached our prison in safety, and there I set to work to revive Oliver, a
task in which I succeeded at length. When he had come to himself again he drank
a cup of water, and said quite quietly:</p>
<p>“You fellows have seen all, so there is no need for talk and
explanations. One thing I beg of you, if you are any friends of mine, and it is
that you will not reproach or even speak of Maqueda to me. Doubtless she had
reasons for what she did; moreover, her bringing up has not been the same as
ours, and her code is different. Do not let us judge her. I have been a great
fool, that is all, and now I am paying for my folly, or, rather, I have paid.
Come, let us have some dinner, for we don’t know when we shall get
another meal.”</p>
<p>We listened to this speech in silence, only I saw Roderick turn aside to hide a
smile and wondered why he smiled.</p>
<p>Scarcely had we finished eating, or pretending to eat, when an officer entered
the room and informed us roughly that it was time for us to be going. As he did
so some attendants who had followed him threw us bundles of clothes, and with
them four very beautiful camel-hair cloaks to protect us from the cold. With
some of these garments we replaced our rags, for they were little more, tying
them and the rest of the outfit up into bundles.</p>
<p>Then, clothed as Abati of the upper class, we were taken to the gates of the
barrack, where we found a long train of riding camels waiting for us. The
moment that I saw these beasts I knew that they were the best in the whole
land, and of very great value. Indeed, that to which Oliver was conducted was
Maqueda’s own favourite dromedary, which upon state occasions she
sometimes rode instead of a horse. He recognized it at once, poor fellow, and
coloured to the eyes at this unexpected mark of kindness, the only one she had
vouchsafed to him.</p>
<p>“Come, Gentiles,” said the officer, “and take count of your
goods, that you may not say that we have stolen anything from you. Here are
your firearms and all the ammunition that is left. These will be given to you
at the foot of the pass, but not before, lest you should do more murder on the
road. On those camels are fastened the boxes in which you brought up the magic
fire. We found them in your quarters in the cave city, ready packed, but what
they contain we neither know nor care. Full or empty, take them, they are
yours. Those,” and he pointed to two other beasts, “are laden with
your pay, which the Child of Kings sends to you, requesting that you will not
count it till you reach Egypt or your own land, since she wishes no quarrelling
with you as to the amount. The rest carry food for you to eat; also, there are
two spare beasts. Now, mount and begone.”</p>
<p>So we climbed into the embroidered saddles of the kneeling dromedaries, and a
few minutes later were riding through Mur toward the pass, accompanied by our
guard and hooting mobs that once or twice became threatening, but were driven
off by the soldiers.</p>
<p>“I say, Doctor,” said Higgs to me excitedly, “do you know
that we have got all the best of the treasure of the Tomb of Kings in those
five-and-twenty crates? I have thought since that I was crazy when I packed
them, picking out the most valuable and rare articles with such care, and
filling in the cracks with ring money and small curiosities, but now I see it
was the inspiration of genius. My subliminal self knew what was going to
happen, and was on the job, that’s all. Oh, if only we can get it safe
away, I shall not have played Daniel and been nearly starved to death for
nothing. Why, I’d go through it all again for that golden head alone.
Shove on, shove on, before they change their minds; it seems too good to be
true.”</p>
<p>Just then a rotten egg thrown by some sweet Abati youth landed full on the
bridge of his nose, and dispersing itself into his mouth and over his smoked
spectacles, cut short the Professor’s eloquence, or rather changed its
tenor. So absurd was the sight that in spite of myself I burst out laughing,
and with that laugh felt my heart grow lighter, as though our clouds of trouble
were lifting at length.</p>
<p>At the mouth of the pass we found Joshua himself waiting for us, clad in all
his finery and chain armour, and looking more like a porpoise on horseback than
he had ever done.</p>
<p>“Farewell, Gentiles,” he said, bowing to us in mockery, “we
wish you a quick journey to Sheol, or wherever such swine as you may go.
Listen, you Orme. I have a message for you from the Walda Nagasta. It is that
she is sorry she could not ask you to stop for her nuptial feast, which she
would have done had she not been sure that, if you stayed, the people would
have cut your throat, and she did not wish the holy soil of Mur to be defiled
with your dog’s blood. Also she bids me say that she hopes that your stay
here will have taught you a lesson, and that in future you will not believe
that every woman who makes use of you for her own ends is therefore a victim of
your charms. To-morrow night and the night after, I pray you think of our
happiness and drink a cup of wine to the Walda Nagasta and her husband. Come,
will you not wish me joy, O Gentile?”</p>
<p>Orme turned white as a sheet and gazed at him steadily. Then a strange look
came into his grey eyes, almost a look of inspiration.</p>
<p>“Prince Joshua,” he said in a very quiet voice, “who knows
what may happen before the sun rises thrice on Mur? All things that begin well
do not end well, as I have learned, and as you also may live to learn. At
least, soon or late, your day of reckoning must come, and you, too, may be
betrayed as I have been. Rather should you ask me to forgive your soul the
insults that in your hour of triumph you have not been ashamed to heap upon one
who is powerless to avenge them,” and he urged his camel past him.</p>
<p>As we followed I saw Joshua’s face turn as pale as Oliver’s had
done, and his great round eyes protrude themselves like those of a fish.</p>
<p>“What does he mean?” said the prince to his companions. “Pray
God he is not a prophet of evil. Even now I have a mind—no, let him go.
To break my marriage vow might bring bad luck upon me. Let him go!” and
he glared after Oliver with fear and hatred written on his coarse features.</p>
<p>That was the last we ever saw of Joshua, uncle of Maqueda, and first prince
among the Abati.</p>
<p>Down the pass we went and through the various gates of the fortifications,
which were thrown open as we came and closed behind us. We did not linger on
that journey. Why should we when our guards were anxious to be rid of us and we
of them? Indeed, so soon as the last gate was behind us, either from fear of
the Fung or because they were in a hurry to return to share in the festivities
of the approaching marriage, suddenly the Abati wheeled round, bade us farewell
with a parting curse, and left us to our own devices.</p>
<p>So, having roped the camels into a long line, we went on alone, truly thankful
to be rid of them, and praying, every one of us, that never in this world or
the next might we see the face or hear the voice of another Abati.</p>
<p>We emerged on to the plain at the spot where months before we had held our
conference with Barung, Sultan of the Fung, and where poor Quick had forced his
camel on to Joshua’s horse and dismounted that hero. Here we paused
awhile to arrange our little caravan and arm ourselves with the rifles,
revolvers, and cartridges which until now we had not been allowed to touch.</p>
<p>There were but four of us to manage the long train of camels, so we were
obliged to separate. Higgs and I went ahead, since I was best acquainted with
the desert and the road, Oliver took the central station, and Roderick brought
up the rear, because he was very keen of sight and hearing and from his long
familiarity with them, knew how to drive camels that showed signs of obstinacy
or a wish to turn.</p>
<p>On our right lay the great city of Harmac. We noted that it seemed to be quite
deserted. There, rebuilt now, frowned the gateway through which we had escaped
from the Fung after we had blown so many of them to pieces, but beneath it none
passed in or out. The town was empty, and although they were dead ripe the rich
crops had not yet been reaped. Apparently the Fung people had now left the land.</p>
<p>Now we were opposite to the valley of Harmac, and saw that the huge sphinx
still sat there as it had done for unknown thousands of years. Only its head
was gone, for that had “moved to Mur,” and in its neck and
shoulders appeared great clefts, caused by the terrific force of the explosion.
Moreover, no sound came from the enclosures where the sacred lions used to be.
Doubtless every one of them was dead.</p>
<p>“Don’t you think,” suggested Higgs, whose archæological zeal
was rekindling fast, “that we might spare half-an-hour to go up the
valley and have a look at Harmac from the outside? Of course, both Roderick and
I are thoroughly acquainted with his inside, and the den of lions, and so
forth, but I would give a great deal just to study the rest of him and take a
few measurements. You know one must camp somewhere, and if we can’t find
the camera, at dawn one might make a sketch.”</p>
<p>“Are you mad?” I asked by way of answer, and Higgs collapsed, but
to this hour he has never forgiven me.</p>
<p>We looked our last upon Harmac, the god whose glory we had destroyed, and went
on swiftly till darkness overtook us almost opposite to that ruined village
where Shadrach had tried to poison the hound Pharaoh, which afterwards tore out
his throat. Here we unloaded the camels, no light task, and camped, for near
this spot there was water and a patch of maize on which the beasts could feed.</p>
<p>Before the light quite faded Roderick rode forward for a little way to
reconnoitre, and presently returned announcing shortly that he had seen no one.
So we ate of the food with which the Abati had provided us, not without fear
lest it should be poisoned, and then held a council of war.</p>
<p>The question was whether we should take the old road toward Egypt, or now that
the swamps were dry, strike up northward by the other route of which Shadrach
had told us. According to the map this should be shorter, and Higgs advocated
it strongly, as I discovered afterwards because he thought there might be more
archæological remains in that direction.</p>
<p>I, on the other hand, was in favour of following the road we knew, which,
although long and very wearisome, was comparatively safe, as in that vast
desert there were few people to attack us, while Oliver, our captain, listened
to all we had to say, and reserved his opinion.</p>
<p>Presently, however, the question was settled for us by Roderick, who remarked
that if we travelled to the north we should probably fall in with the Fung. I
asked what he meant, and he replied that when he made his reconnaissance an
hour or so before, although it was true that he had seen no one, not a thousand
yards from where we sat he had come across the track of a great army. This
army, from various indications, he felt sure was that of Barung, which had
passed there within twelve hours.</p>
<p>“Perhaps my wife with them, so I no want to go that way, father,”
he added with sincere simplicity.</p>
<p>“Where could they be travelling?” I asked.</p>
<p>“Don’t know,” he answered, “but think they go round to
attack Mur from other side, or perhaps to find new land to north.”</p>
<p>“We will stick to the old road,” said Oliver briefly. “Like
Roderick I have had enough of all the inhabitants of this country. Now let us
rest awhile; we need it.”</p>
<p>About two o’clock we were up again and before it was dawn on the
following morning we had loaded our camels and were on the road. By the first
faint light we saw that what Roderick had told us was true. We were crossing
the track of an army of many thousand men who had passed there recently with
laden camels and horses. Moreover, those men were Fung, for we picked up some
articles that could have belonged to no other people, such as a head-dress that
had been lost or thrown away, and an arrow that had fallen from a quiver.</p>
<p>However, we saw nothing of them, and, travelling fast, to our great relief by
midday reached the river Ebur, which we crossed without difficulty, for it was
now low. That night we camped in the forest-lands beyond, having all the
afternoon marched up the rising ground at the foot of which ran the river.</p>
<p>Toward dawn Higgs, whose turn it was to watch the camels, came and woke me.</p>
<p>“Sorry to disturb you, old fellow,” he said, “but there is a
most curious sky effect behind us which I thought you might like to see.”</p>
<p>I rose and looked. In the clear, starlight night I could just discern the
mighty outline of the mountains of Mur. Above them the firmament was suffused
with a strange red glow. I formed my own conclusion at once, but only said:</p>
<p>“Let us go to tell Orme,” and led the way to where he had lain down
under a tree.</p>
<p>He was not sleeping; indeed, I do not think he had closed his eyes all night,
the night of Maqueda’s marriage. On the contrary, he was standing on a
little knoll staring at the distant mountains and the glow above them.</p>
<p>“Mur is on fire,” he said solemnly. “Oh, my God, Mur is on
fire!” and turning he walked away.</p>
<p>Just then Roderick joined us.</p>
<p>“Fung got into Mur,” he said, “and now cut throat of all
Abati. We well out of that, but pig Joshua have very warm wedding feast,
because Barung hate Joshua who try to catch him not fairly, which he never
forget; often talk of it.”</p>
<p>“Poor Maqueda!” I said to Higgs, “what will happen to
her?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he answered, “but although once, like
everybody else, I adored that girl, really as a matter of justice she deserves
all she gets, the false-hearted little wretch. Still it is true,” he
added, relenting, “she gave us very good camels, to say nothing of their
loads.”</p>
<p>But I only repeated, “Poor Maqueda!”</p>
<p>That day we made but a short journey, since we wished to rest ourselves and
fill the camels before plunging into the wilderness, and feeling sure that we
should not be pursued, had no cause to hurry. At night we camped in a little
hollow by a stream that ran at the foot of a rise. As dawn broke we were
awakened by the voice of Roderick, who was on watch, calling to us in tones of
alarm to get up, as we were followed. We sprang to our feet, seizing our rifles.</p>
<p>“Where are they?” I asked.</p>
<p>“There, there,” he said, pointing toward the rise behind us.</p>
<p>We ran round some intervening bushes and looked, to see upon its crest a
solitary figure seated on a very tired horse, for it panted and its head
drooped. This figure, which was entirely hidden in a long cloak with a hood,
appeared to be watching our camp just as a spy might do. Higgs lifted his rifle
and fired at it, but Oliver, who was standing by him, knocked the barrel up so
that the bullet went high, saying:</p>
<p>“Don’t be a fool. If it is only one man there’s no need to
shoot him, and if there are more you will bring them on to us.”</p>
<p>Then the figure urged the weary horse and advanced slowly, and I noticed that
it was very small. “A boy,” I thought to myself, “who is
bringing some message.”</p>
<p>The rider reached us, and slipping from the horse, stood still.</p>
<p>“Who are you?” asked Oliver, scanning the cloaked form.</p>
<p>“One who brings a token to you, lord,” was the answer, spoken in a
low and muffled voice. “Here it is,” and a hand, a very delicate
hand, was stretched out, holding between the fingers a ring.</p>
<p>I knew it at once; it was Sheba’s ring which Maqueda had lent to me in
proof of her good faith when I journeyed for help to England. This ring, it
will be remembered, we returned to her with much ceremony at our first public
audience. Oliver grew pale at the sight of it.</p>
<p>“How did you come by this?” he asked hoarsely. “Is she who
alone may wear it dead?”</p>
<p>“Yes, yes,” answered the voice, a feigned voice as I thought.
“The Child of Kings whom you knew is dead, and having no more need for
this ancient symbol of her power, she bequeathed it to you whom she remembered
kindly at the last.”</p>
<p>Oliver covered his face with his hands and turned away.</p>
<p>“But,” went on the speaker slowly, “the woman Maqueda whom
once it is said you loved——”</p>
<p>He dropped his hands and stared.</p>
<p>“——the woman Maqueda whom once it is said
you—loved—still lives.”</p>
<p>Then the hood slipped back, and in the glow of the rising sun we saw the face
beneath.</p>
<p>It was that of Maqueda herself!</p>
<p>A silence followed that in its way was almost awful.</p>
<p>“My Lord Oliver,” asked Maqueda presently, “do you accept my
offering of Queen Sheba’s ring?”</p>
<p>NOTE BY MAQUEDA</p>
<p>Once called Walda Nagasta and Takla Warda, that is, Child of Kings and Bud of
the Rose, once also by birth Ruler of the Abati people, the Sons of Solomon and
Sheba.</p>
<p>I, Maqueda, write this by the command of Oliver, my lord, who desires that I
should set out certain things in my own words.</p>
<p>Truly all men are fools, and the greatest of them is Oliver, my lord, though
perhaps he is almost equalled by the learned man whom the Abati called Black
Windows, and by the doctor, Son of Adam. Only he who is named Roderick, child
of Adam, is somewhat less blind, because having been brought up among the Fung
and other people of the desert, he has gathered a little wisdom. This I know
because he has told me that he alone saw through my plan to save all their
lives, but said nothing of it because he desired to escape from Mur, where
certain death waited on him and his companions. Perhaps, however, he lies to
please me.</p>
<p>Now, for the truth of the matter, which not being skilled in writing I will
tell briefly.</p>
<p>I was carried out of the cave city with my lord and the others, starving,
starving, too weak to kill myself, which otherwise I would have done rather
than fall into the hands of my accursed uncle, Joshua. Yet I was stronger than
the rest, because as I have learned, they tricked me about those biscuits,
pretending to eat when they were not eating, for which never will I forgive
them. It was Japhet, a gallant man on one side, but a coward on the other like
the rest of the Abati, who betrayed us, driven thereto by emptiness within,
which, after all, is an ill enemy to fight. He went out and told Joshua where
we lay hid, and then, of course, they came.</p>
<p>Well, they took away my lord and the others, and me too they bore to another
place and fed me till my strength returned, and oh! how good was that honey
which first I ate, for I could touch nothing else. When I was strong again came
Prince Joshua to me and said, “Now I have you in my net; now you are
mine.”</p>
<p>Then I answered Joshua, “Fool, your net is of air; I will fly through
it.”</p>
<p>“How?” he asked. “By death,” I answered, “of
which a hundred means lie to my hand. You have robbed me of one, but what does
that matter when so many remain? I will go where you and your love cannot
pursue me.”</p>
<p>“Very well, Child of Kings,” he said, “but how about that
tall Gentile who has caught your eyes, and his companions? They, too, have
recovered, and they shall die every one of them after a certain fashion (which,
I Maqueda, will not set down, since there are some things that ought not to be
written). If you die, they die; as I told you, they die as a wolf dies that is
caught by the shepherds; they die as a baboon dies that is caught by the
husbandman.”</p>
<p>Now I looked this way and that, and found that there was no escape. So I made a
bargain.</p>
<p>“Joshua,” I said, “let these men go and I swear upon the name
of our mother, she of Sheba, that I will marry you. Keep them and kill them,
and you will have none of me.”</p>
<p>Well, in the end, because he desired me and the power that went with me, he
consented.</p>
<p>Then I played my part. My lord and his companions were brought before me, and
in presence of all the people I mocked them; I spat in their faces, and oh!
fools, fools, fools, they believed me! I lifted my veil, and showed them my
eyes, and they believed also what they seemed to see in my eyes, forgetting
that I am a woman who can play a part at need. Yes, they forgot that there were
others to deceive as well, all the Abati people, who, if they thought I tricked
them, would have torn the foreigners limb from limb. That was my bitterest
morsel, that I should have succeeded in making even my own lord believe that of
all the wicked women that ever trod this world, I was the most vile. Yet I did
so, and he cannot deny it, for often we have talked of this thing till he will
hear of it no more.</p>
<p>Well, they went with all that I could give them, though I knew well that my
lord cared nothing, for what I could give, nor the doctor, Child of Adam,
either, who cared only for his son that God had restored to him. Only Black
Windows cared, not because he loves wealth, but because he worships all that is
old and ugly, for of such things he fashions up his god.</p>
<p>They went, for their going was reported to me, and I, I entered into hell
because I knew that my lord thought me false, and that he would never learn the
truth, namely, that what I did I did to save his life, until at length he came
to his own country, if ever he came there, and opened the chests of treasure,
if ever he opened them, which perhaps he would not care to do. And all that
while he would believe me the wife of Joshua, and—oh! I cannot write of
it. And I, I should be dead; I, I could not tell him the truth until he joined
me in that land of death, if there men and women can talk together any more.</p>
<p>For this and no other was the road that I had planned to walk. When he and his
companions had gone so far that they could not be followed, then I would tell
Joshua and the Abati all the truth in such language as should never be
forgotten for generations, and kill myself before their eyes, so that Joshua
might lack a wife and the Abati a Child of Kings.</p>
<p>I sat through the Feast of Preparation and smiled and smiled. It passed and the
next day passed, and came the night of the Feast of Marriage. The glass was
broken, the ceremony was fulfilled. Joshua rose up to pledge me before all the
priests, lords, and headmen. He devoured me with his hateful eyes, me, who was
already his. But I, I handled the knife in my robe, wishing, such was the rage
in my heart, that I could kill him also.</p>
<p>Then God spoke, and the dream that I had dreamed came true. Far away there rose
a single cry, and after it other cries, and the sounds of shouting and of
marching feet. Far away tongues of fire leapt into the air, and each man asked
his neighbour, “What is this?” Then from all the thousands of the
feasting people rose one giant scream, and that scream said, “Fung! Fung!
The Fung are on us! Fly, fly, fly!”</p>
<p>“Come,” shouted Joshua, seizing me by the arm, but I drew my dagger
on him and he let go. Then he fled with the other lords, and I remained in my
high seat beneath the golden canopy alone.</p>
<p>The people fled past me without fighting; they fled into the cave city, they
fled to the rocks; they hid themselves among the precipices, and after them
came the Fung, slaying and burning, till all Mur went up in flames. And I, I
sat and watched, waiting till it was time for me to die also.</p>
<p>At last, I know not how long afterwards, appeared before me Barung, a red sword
in his hand, which he lifted to me in salute.</p>
<p>“Greeting, Child of Kings,” he said. “You see Harmac is come
to sleep at Mur.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” I answered, “Harmac is come to sleep at Mur, and many
of those who dwelt there sleep with him. What of it? Say, Barung, will you kill
me, or shall I kill myself?”</p>
<p>“Neither, Child of Kings,” he answered in his high fashion.
“Did I not make you a promise yonder in the Pass of Mur, when I spoke
with you and the Western men, and does a Fung Sultan break his word? I have
taken back the city that was ours, as I swore to do, and purified it with
fire,” and he pointed to the raging flames. “Now I will rebuild it,
and you shall rule under me.”</p>
<p>“Not so,” I answered; “but in place of that promise I ask of
you three things.”</p>
<p>“Name them,” said Barung.</p>
<p>“They are these: First, that you give me a good horse and five
days’ food, and let me go where I will. Secondly, that if he still lives
you advance one Japhet, a certain Mountaineer who befriended me and brought
others to do likewise, to a place of honour under you. Thirdly, that you spare
the rest of the Abati people.”</p>
<p>“You shall go whither you desire, and I think I know where you will
go,” answered Barung. “Certain spies of mine last night saw four
white men riding on fine camels towards Egypt, and reported it to me as I led
my army to the secret pass that Harmac showed me, which you Abati could never
find. But I said, ‘Let them go; it is right that brave men who have been
the mock of the Abati should be allowed their freedom.’ Yes, I said this,
although one of them was my daughter’s husband, or near to it. But she
will have no more of him who fled to his father rather than with her, so it was
best that he should go also, since, if I brought him back it must be to his
death.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” I answered boldly, “I go after the Western men; I who
have done with these Abati. I wish to see new lands.”</p>
<p>“And find an old love who thinks ill of you just now,” he said,
stroking his beard. “Well, no wonder, for here has been a marriage feast.
Say, what were you about to do, O Child of Kings? Take the fat Joshua to your
breast?”</p>
<p>“Nay, Barung, I was about to take <i>this</i> husband to my
breast,” and I showed him the knife that was hidden in my marriage robe.</p>
<p>“No,” he said, smiling, “I think the knife was for Joshua
first. Still, you are a brave woman who could save the life of him you love at
the cost of your own. Yet, bethink you, Child of Kings, for many a generation
your mothers have been queens, and under me you may still remain a queen. How
will one whose blood has ruled so long endure to serve a Western man in a
strange land?”</p>
<p>“That is what I go to find out, Barung, and if I cannot endure, then I
shall come back again, though not to rule the Abati, of whom I wash my hands
for ever. Yet, Barung, my heart tells me I shall endure.”</p>
<p>“The Child of Kings has spoken,” he said, bowing to me. “My
best horse awaits her, and five of my bravest guards shall ride with her to
keep her safe till she sights the camp of the Western men. I say happy is he of
them who was born to wear the sweet-scented Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. For
the rest, the man Japhet is in my hands. He yielded himself to me who would not
fight for his own people because of what they had done to his friends, the
white men. Lastly, already I have given orders that the slaying should cease,
since I need the Abati to be my slaves, they who are cowards, but cunning in
many arts. Only one more man shall die,” he added sternly, “and
that is Joshua, who would have taken me by a trick in the mouth of the pass. So
plead not for him, for by the head of Harmac it is in vain.”</p>
<p>Now hearing this I did not plead, fearing lest I should anger Barung, and but
waste my breath.</p>
<p>At daybreak I started on the horse, having with me the five Fung captains. As
we crossed the marketplace I met those that remained alive of the Abati, being
driven in hordes like beasts, to hear their doom. Among them was Prince Joshua,
my uncle, whom a man led by a rope about his neck, while another man thrust him
forward from behind, since Joshua knew that he went to his death and the road
was one which he did not wish to travel. He saw me, and cast himself down upon
the ground, crying to me to save him. I told him that I could not, though it is
the truth, I swear it before God, that, notwithstanding all the evil he had
worked toward me, toward Oliver my lord, and his companions, bringing to his
end that gallant man who died to protect me, I would still have saved him if I
could. But I could not, for although I tried once more, Barung would not
listen. So I answered:</p>
<p>“Plead, O Joshua, with him who has the power in Mur to-day, for I have
none. You have fashioned your own fate, and must travel the road you
chose.”</p>
<p>“What road do you ride, mounted on a horse of the plains, Maqueda? Oh!
what need is there for me to ask? You go to see that accursed Gentile whom I
would I had killed by inches, as I would that I could kill you.”</p>
<p>Then calling me by evil names, Joshua sprang at me as though to strike me down,
but he who held the rope about his neck jerked him backward, so that he fell
and I saw his face no more.</p>
<p>But oh! it was sad, that journey across the great square, for the captive Abati
by hundreds—men, women, and children together—with tears and
lamentations cried to me to preserve them from death or slavery at the hands of
the Fung. But I answered:</p>
<p>“Your sins against me and the brave foreign men who fought so well for
you I forgive, but search your hearts, O Abati, and say if you can forgive
yourselves? If you had listened to me and to those whom I called in to help us,
you might have beaten back the Fung, and remained free for ever. But you were
cowards; you would not learn to bear arms like men, you would not even watch
your mountain walls, and soon or late the people who refuse to be ready to
fight must fall and become the servants of those who are ready.”</p>
<p>And now, my Oliver, I have no more to write, save that I am glad to have
endured so many things, and thereby win the joy that is mine to-day. Not yet
have I, Maqueda, wished to reign again in Mur, who have found another throne.</p>
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