The Secret Of The Queen
:
The Great White Queen
AS we were led forward to the space in front of the divan all eyes were
directed towards us. The glitter and pomp of the merciless slave-raider's
court was dazzling. Before their ruler all men salaamed. His officers
surrounding him, watched every movement of his face, and the four-score
slaves behind him stood mute and motionless, ready to do his bidding at
any instant.
When our feet touched the great car
et spread before him, and we halted,
he raised himself to a sitting posture, fixing his dark, gleaming eyes
upon us. At sight of Omar a sudden frown of displeasure crossed his
features, but an instant later a grim smile of triumph lit his sinister
face.
Apparently he was waiting for us to bow before him, but Omar had
forbidden me to do so.
"And who, pray, art thou, that thou deignest not to bend the knee before
me?" he cried, in anger that his people should witness a slur thus cast
upon his power.
"I am Omar, son of the Naya of Mo," my companion answered, folding his
arms resolutely, and regarding the potentate with supreme disdain.
"Princes do not make obeisance to any but their equals."
"Am I not thine equal, then, thou son of offal?" cried Samory.
"In strength thou art, possibly, but not by birth. In order to protect
thy country against the white men thou hast sought to make palaver with
Prempeh of Ashanti, but I would remind thee that the rulers of Mo have
never besought any aid of their neighbours."
"Thou speakest well, lad," he said thoughtfully. "Thine is a mighty
kingdom, but by peace or war I will rule over it."
"Never, while I live," answered Omar with pride.
"But thou art the last of thy race. If thou diest--what then?"
"If I die, then every man in Mo will seek blood revenge upon thee, and
Zomara will guide them into this, thy land, and arm them with spears of
fire."
"I care nought for thy Naya nor thy pagan Crocodile-god," exclaimed the
Mohammedan chief impatiently. "Bow unto my divan, or of a verity my
slaves shall compel thee."
"I refuse."
"May thine entrails be burned," cried Samory in anger, and raising his
hand he ordered the guards of the divan to cast us both to earth before
him.
They threw us down, and their ruler, rising, placed his foot firmly on
the neck of the heir to the throne of Mo, saying in a loud voice:
"As I hold thee thus within my power, so also will I, ere many moons have
run, hold thy country. Cursed by the Prophet may be thy detested race.
There is neither peace nor friendship, there is neither gratitude nor
love in the people of Samory, and they shall be the first to curse thee.
When I enter Mo every day shall the knife of the executioner be fed with
blood; thy cities shall mourn the loss of their sages, husbands their
wives, wives their children, and children their fathers. The country
shall be devastated to its most northerly limits and it shall be
rendered a wilderness of silence and sorrow."
Then withdrawing his foot, amid the plaudits of his crowd of
fierce-looking courtiers, Omar sprang to his feet in rage, and facing
him, cried:
"The men of Mo are forewarned already against thy designs,
notwithstanding that our ex-Grand Vizier Kouaga, the son of a dungheap
who betrayed us hither, hath joined thine accursed ranks. The soldiers of
the Naya are still anxious for the fourth time to try conclusions with
thy white-cloaked rabble. Come, march forward into Mo--thou wilt never
return."
"Thou defiest me, even as thy mother hath done," he roared, his hand upon
the bejewelled hilt of his curved blade. "Were it not for one fact I
would smite thee dead."
"I fear thee not," Omar answered with a calmness that astounded me.
"Sooner or later thou wilt, I suppose, order my death, therefore the
sooner the better."
"Why insultest thou our race by bringing hither with thee this dog of a
Christian?" the chief enquired, looking at me with a terrible expression
of hatred.
"He cometh as my companion," replied Omar briefly.
"As thy companion he shall accompany thee to the grave," Samory cried
fiercely, his eyes swimming in malice.
"So be it," answered Omar, with a smile of contempt. "May Zomara curse
thy work."
"Speak, infidel!" Samory said, fixing his fiery glance upon me. "Whence
comest thou?"
"From England," I answered briefly, in fear.
"From that country where dwell the accursed of Allah," he said, as if to
himself. "They are pig-eaters who despise the Book of Everlasting Will
and declare our great Prophet--on whom may be everlasting peace--to be a
false one. Accursed be thy country, infidel! May thy people suffer every
torment of Al-Hawiyat; may their food be offal, and may they slake their
thirst with boiling pitch. The white men have sent their messengers to me
time after time to urge me to ally myself with them, but it shall never
be recorded that Samory besought the assistance of infidels to extend his
kingdom. We fight beneath the green banner of Al-Islam, and will continue
to do so until we die. Ere long, the day of the Jehad will dawn; then the
forces of Al-Islam will unite to sweep from the face of the earth those
white parasites who seek the overthrow of the Faithful. Allah is
merciful, and his servant is patient," added the old scoundrel piously.
There arose, as if with one voice from those assembled, the words:
"Samory hath spoken! Allah send him blessings abundant!" and as they did
so each fingered his amulets, little scraps of parchment whereon verses
from the Koran were written in sprawly Arabic. At that moment, too, I
noticed, for the first time, that right opposite us was the grinning,
evil face of the black giant, Kouaga, the man who had so foully betrayed
us.
We exchanged glances, and he laughed at us in triumph.
"Dost thou intend to keep me as hostage?" Omar asked his mother's enemy
boldly.
"Until thou hast performed the service for which I caused thee to journey
hither with our good Kouaga."
"The traitor's head shall fall," Omar blurted out with pardonable
passion. Then he asked, "Thou desirest a service of me. Well, what is
it?"
There was a silence so deep that a feather if dropped upon the cool floor
of polished marble would have made audible sound, and Samory slowly
seated himself.
"Give ear unto my words," he said a few moments later, in a clear voice,
as he stroked his beard with his fat hand. "I know that within thine
impenetrable kingdom many undreamed-of mysteries and wealth untold lie
concealed. This is common report. Thine ancestors in their
treasure-house, the whereabouts of which is known only to the Naya and to
thyself, have deposited heaps of jewels and great quantities of gold, the
spoils of war through many generations. I desire to ascertain, and I will
ascertain from thine own lips, the exact spot where we may seek that
treasure."
A look of abject bewilderment crossed Omar's features, and he turned to
me, saying in English:
"All is now plain, Scars. Because only the Naya herself is aware of the
spot where the treasure of the Sanoms is deposited, my mother, on the eve
of my departure for England, divulged to me the secret, fearing lest she
should die before my return. Kouaga was the only person who knew that my
mother had thus spoken to me, and he has informed Samory and joined him
for the purpose of obtaining the treasure."
"Is not Kouaga aware of the spot where the treasure is hidden?" I asked
hurriedly.
"No. He came to England at Samory's suggestion to convey me hither so
that they could get the secret from me. On gaining the information it is
apparently their intention to make a raid, with Kouaga leading, in order
to secure our wealth."
But Samory himself interrupted our consultation.
"Speak not with thine infidel companion," he roared. "Answer me. Tell me
where this treasure of the Sanoms lieth."
"The son of the Naya is no traitor," he answered with hauteur.
"If thou speakest thou shalt have thy liberty. Indeed, if thou deemest
fit thou shalt join the expedition into Mo, and share with us the loot,"
the chief urged.
"Thy words insult me," cried Omar, full of wrath. "I will never share
with thee, who murdered my father, that which is my birthright."
"Very well," answered Samory indifferently. "Thou needest not. We will
take it, kill thy mother and annex thy country. Already the whole kingdom
is ripe for revolt, and we shall quickly accomplish the rest. I had thee
brought hither because thou alone holdest a secret I desire to know--the
secret of the royal Treasure-house, and----"
"And I refuse to disclose it," my companion said, interrupting the
gaudily-attired potentate.
"If thou wilt not speak willingly, then my executioners shall force thee
to loosen thine obstinate tongue's strings," Samory cried, frowning,
while the hideous face of the black traitor grinned horribly.
"The secret of the queen is inviolable. My lips are sealed," answered
Omar with resolution.
"Then my executioners shall unseal them."
"If I cannot save my country from desolation at the hands of thy lawless
bands," exclaimed my friend, "I can at least preserve from thee the
treasure accumulated by my ancestors to be used only for the emancipation
of our country should evil befall it. Until the present, Mo hath been
held against all invaders by the hosts ready at the hands of my mother
and her predecessors, and even now if thou marchest over my dead body thy
path will not be clear of those who will oppose thee. Remember," he
added, "the army of the Naya possesses many pom-poms[A] of the English,
each of which is equal in power to the fire of one of thy battalions.
With them our people will sweep away thine hosts like grains of sand
before the sirocco."
"Darest thou oppose my will?" cried Samory, rising in a sudden ebullition
of wrath.
"Thy will ruleth me not," Omar answered, his face pale and calm. "A Sanom
never betrayed his trust, even though he suffered death."
"Very well, offspring of sebel," he hissed between his white teeth. "We
will test thy resolution, and cause thee to eat thy brave words. Thy body
shall be racked by the torture, and thy flesh given unto the ants to
eat." Then, turning to the executioner, a big negro with face hideously
scarred by many cuts, who stood at his side leaning upon his razor-edged
doka, he added:
"You know my will. Loosen the lad's tongue. Let it be done here, so that
we may watch the effect of thy persuasion."
And all laughed loudly at their ruler's grim humour, while twenty slaves
of the executioner rushed away in obedience to their master's command to
bring in the instruments of torture.
I turned to Omar. He still stood erect, with arms folded. But his face
was pale as death.
[Footnote A: Maxim guns. They are called "pom-poms" by the African
natives on account of the noise they cause when fired.]