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.