To The Unknown

: The Great White Queen

WHEN, with elaborate genuflections and vows of allegiance, the governors

of the six principal provinces of the mystic Kingdom had taken leave of

Omar, we remained in consultation with the old sage for upwards of

another hour. He told us many horrible stories of the Naya's fierce and

unrelenting cruelty. It seemed as though during the later years of her

reign she had been seized by an insane desire to cause just as much

misery and suffering as her predecessors on the Emerald Throne had

promoted prosperity and happiness. In every particular her temperament

was exactly opposite to the first Naya, the good queen whose memory had,

through a thousand years, been revered as that of a goddess.



Goliba explained how, during the past three years, the Great White Queen

had suddenly become highly superstitious. This was not surprising, for as

far as I could gather the people of Mo had no religion as we understand

the term, but their minds were nevertheless filled with ideas relating to

supernatural objects, by which they sought to explain the phenomena about

them of which the causes were not immediately obvious. He told us that

the Naya, preying upon the superstitions of the people, had recently

introduced into the country, entirely against the advice of himself and

his fellow-councillors, a number of customs, all of which were apparently

devised to cause death. He told us that if a great man died his friends

never now remained content with the explanation that he died from natural

causes. Their minds flew at once to witchcraft. Some one had cast an evil

spell upon him, and it was the duty of the friends of the dead man to

discover who it was that had had dealings with the powers of darkness.

Suspicion fell upon a certain member of the tribe, generally a relative

of the deceased, and that suspicion could only be verified by putting the

accused to the test of some dreadful ordeal. A favourite ordeal, he said,

was to make the suspected person drink a large quantity--a gallon and a

half, or more--of a decoction of a bitter and slightly poisonous bark. If

vomiting occurred, then a verdict of guilty was passed upon the

unfortunate wretch, and no protestations, or even direct proof of his

innocence, could save him from the tortures in store for him. The victim

was condemned to death, and death was inflicted not swiftly and

mercifully, but nearly always with some accompaniment of diabolical

torture.



One method was to hack the body of the wretched person to pieces with

knives, the most odious mutilations being resorted to. Occasionally the

unfortunate creature was tied to a stake while pepper was rubbed into his

eyes until the fearful irritation so produced caused blindness. Or,

again, the victim was tied hand and foot upon an ant-hill, and left to

the agonies of being consumed slowly by the minute aggressors. The most

satisfactory death, perhaps, was that when the condemned man was allowed

to be his own executioner. He was made much of for an hour or so before

the final scene, and was well fed and primed with palm wine. Under the

excitement of this mild stimulant he mounted a tree, carrying in his hand

a long rope formed of a kind of stringy vine of tough texture. One end of

this rope he fastened to a bough, and the other he placed in a running

knot over his neck. Then, quite pleased at being the centre of

observation of the multitude, even on such a gruesome occasion, the

criminal harangued his tribesmen in a great speech, finally declared the

justice of his sentence, and leaped into space. Should the rope break, as

occasionally happened, then the zeal of the executioner overcame the fear

of death of the victim, for he mounted the tree nimbly once more,

readjusted the knots, and did his best in the second attempt to avoid the

risk of another fiasco.



"And have such pagan customs actually been introduced during my absence

in England?" asked Omar astonished.



"They have, alas! O Prince," answered the sage. "The people, taught from

childhood to respect every word that falleth from the lips of our Great

White Queen, adopted these revolting customs, together with certain other

dreadful rites, believing that only by obeying her injunctions can they

escape the wrath of the Crocodile-god. As rapidly as fire spreadeth in

the forest the customs were adopted in every part of the kingdom, until

now the practices I have briefly enumerated are universal."



"But surely my mother could never have devised such horrible suffering

out of sheer ill-will towards our people?"



"Alas! she hath," answered the old man. "If thou believest not my words,

take each of you one of the cloaks hanging yonder, wrap the Arab haicks

around your heads and follow me. Make no sign that ye are strangers, and

ye shall witness strange sights amazing."



We all three arose, and quickly arraying ourselves in white cotton

burnouses, wrapping the haicks around our heads in the manner of the

Arabs--a fashion adopted by some in the City in the Clouds--and pulling

them across our faces, so as to partially conceal our features, we went

forth with our guide on the tiptoe of expectation.



"What sight, I wonder, are we going to witness?" I whispered in English

to Omar, as we walked together along one of the narrow streets in the

deep shadow so that we might not be detected.



"I know not," my friend answered, with a heavy sigh. "If what Goliba says

is true, and I fear it is, then our land is doomed."



"The power of the cruel Naya must be broken, and you must reign and bring

back to Mo her departing prosperity and happiness," I said.



"I'll do my best, Scarsmere," he answered. "You have been a true,

fearless friend all along, and I feel that you will continue until the

end."



"Till the end!" I echoed. "The end will be peace, either in life--or

death."



"While I have breath I will fight to preserve the traditions of the Nabas

and the Nayas who, while ruling their country, gave such satisfaction to

the people that never once has there been a rebellion nor scarcely a

voice raised in dissent. It has always been the policy of the Sanoms to

give audience to any discontented person, listen to their grievances, and

endeavour to redress them. The reign of the Naya is, according to all we

hear, one of terror and oppression. The poor are ground down to swell

the wealth of the rich, and no man's life is safe from one moment to

another. It shall be changed, and I, Omar, will fulfil the duty expected

of me."



"Well spoken, old fellow," I answered, enthusiastically. "Remember

Goliba's warning regarding the attempts that may be made to assassinate

you, and always carry your revolver loaded. When the Naya hears that you

have defied her she will be as merciless as she was to poor old Babila."



"Ah! Babila," Omar sighed. "He was one of the best and most trusted

servants Mo ever had. Having been one of my dead father's personal

attendants he was faithful to our family, and altogether the last man

whose head should have fallen in disgrace under Gankoma's sword."



"If the punishment she inflicted upon him was so severe for such a paltry

offence, that which she will seek to bring upon you will be equally

terrible," I observed. "Therefore act always with caution, and take heed

never to be entrapped by her paid assassins."



"Don't fear, Scarsmere," he laughed. "I'm safe enough, and I do not

anticipate that anybody will try and take my life. If they do they'll

find I can shoot straighter than they imagined."



"But they might shoot first," I suggested with a smile.



"I don't intend to give them a chance," he replied. "We must not fear

defeat, but anticipate success. I have made offering to the fetish, and

although the struggle must be fierce and unrelenting I am determined to

strike a blow for my country's freedom."



At this juncture Goliba joined us, and urging me not to speak in English

lest the strange language might be overheard, we walked together for

about three-quarters of an hour through thoroughfares so wide and well

built that they would have been termed magnificent if constructed in any

European city. Then we crossed a large square where a great fountain

shooting up a hundred feet fell into its bowl, green with water-plants

and white with flowers, and afterwards traversed a maze of narrower

streets, now silent and deserted, where dwelt the workmen.



Suddenly Goliba halted before an arched door, and directing us to imitate

him, knelt and touched the door-step with his forehead, then passed in.

We followed into a place that was strange to even Omar himself, who was

scarce able to suppress an exclamation of astonishment. It was a small

chamber, lit by a single flickering oil lamp of similar shape to those so

often found amid the traces of the Roman occupation of England, while

around were stone benches built into the wall. Walking to the opposite

side of the narrow, prison-like place, we saw before us an arch with an

impenetrable blackness beyond. Before this arch stood a kind of frame

made of iron resting on either side upon steel ropes raised slightly from

the ground. Following Goliba's example, we got upon it, crouching in a

kneeling position in the same manner as himself.



"Thou wilt find handles, wherewith to steady thyself," he cried to me.

"Have a care that thou art not thrown off."



I groped with my companions, and we found the handles of which he had

spoken. Then, when all was ready, the grave-faced sage raised some lever

or another, and we shot away down, down, down into space with such

fearful velocity that the wind whistled about our ears, our white robes

fluttered, and our breath seemed taken away.



The sensation was awful. In utter darkness we were whirled along we knew

not whither, until suddenly the car whereon we travelled gave an

unexpected lurch, as a corner was turned, nearly precipitating all of us

into the darkness beneath, and then continued its downward course with

increased speed, until sparks flew from beneath us like flecks of fire

from a blacksmith's forge, and in our breasts was a tightness that became

more painful every moment.



It seemed as though we were descending to some deep, airless region, for

I could not breathe; the atmosphere felt damp and warm, and the velocity

with which we travelled was becoming greater the deeper into the heart of

the earth we went.



"What is this place?" I heard Omar ask. "I know it not."



"Be patient, O Prince, and thou shalt witness that which must astound

thee," old Goliba shouted, his squeaky voice being just audible above the

loud hissing as our car flew along the twisted strands of steel.



Suddenly, above the hiss of our rapid progress, there could be heard

strange noises, as if a hundred war-drums were being beaten, and at the

same instant our curious conveyance gave another sudden lurch in rounding

a corner. At that moment Goliba, in turning to speak with Omar, had

unfortunately loosened his hold of one of the handles, and the sudden

jolt at such a high speed was so violent that our faithful guide and

friend was shot off backwards, and ere Omar could clutch him he had

disappeared with a shriek of despair into the cavernous darkness.



A thrill of horror ran through us when we realised this terrible mishap.

Yet nothing could arrest our swift headlong descent, and feeling

convinced that Goliba, our host and adviser, had met with a terrible

death, we sat staring, motionless, wondering whither we were bound, and

how, now we had lost our guide, we should be able to reach the surface

again. At the moment Goliba had been flung off we remembered that the

iron frame had jolted and grated, and there seemed no room for doubt that

the generous sage had been mangled into a shapeless mass. The thought was

horrible.



At last, however, we felt the air becoming fresher, and the strange

contraction in our breasts was gradually relieved as our pace became less

rapid, and distant lights showed before us. Then suddenly we emerged from

the curious shaft down which we had travelled to such enormous depth,

gliding slowly out into a place of immeasurable extent, where a most

extraordinary and amazing scene met our gaze.



Truly, poor Goliba had spoken the truth when he had promised that what we

should witness would astound us.