 CHAPTER 5 THE HEAD OF THE ETHIOPIAN At length the heralds and forerunners of the royal sun had done their work and searching out the shadows had caused them to flee away. Then up he came in glory from his ocean bed and flooded the earth with warmth and light. I sat there in the boat listening to the gentle lapping of the water and watched him rise, till presently the slight drift of the boat brought the odd shaped rock or peak at the end of the promontory which we had weathered with so much peril between me and the majestic sight and blotted it from my view. I still continued however to stare at the rock, absently enough till presently it became edged with the fire of the growing light behind it and then I started as while I might for I perceived that the top of the peak which was about 80 feet high by 150 feet thick at its base was shaped like a negro's head and face whereon was stamped a most fiendish and terrifying expression. There was no doubt about it, there were the thick lips, the fat cheeks and the squat nose standing out with startling clearness against the flaming background. There too was the round skull washed into shape perhaps by thousands of years of wind and weather and to complete the resemblance there was a scrubby growth of weeds or lichen upon it which against the sun looked for all the world like the wool and a colossal negro's head. It certainly was very odd, so odd that now I believe it is not a mere freak of nature but a gigantic monument fashioned like the well-known Egyptian Sphinx by a forgotten people out of a pile of rock that lent itself to their design perhaps as an emblem of warning and defiance to any enemies who approached the harbor. Unfortunately we were never able to ascertain whether or not this was the case in as much as the rock was difficult to access both from the land and the water side and we had other things to attend to myself considering the matter by the light of what we afterwards saw I believe that it was fashioned by man but whether or not this is so there it stands and sullenly stares from age to age out across the changing sea there it stood 2,000 years and more ago when Amanatas the Egyptian princess and the wife of Leo's remote ancestor calicrates gazed upon its devilish face and there I have no doubt it will stand when as many centuries as are numbered between her day and our own are added to the year that bore us to oblivion. What do you think of that Job? I asked of our retainer who was sitting on the edge of the boat trying to get as much sunshine as possible and generally looking uncommonly wretched and I pointed to the fiery and demoniacal head. Oh Lord sir answered Job who now perceived the object for the first time I think that the old gentleman must have been sitting for his portrait on them rocks. I laughed and the laugh woke up Leo. Hello he said what's the matter with me I'm all stiff where is the dow give me some brandy please you may be thankful that you are not stiffer my boy I answered the dow is sunk everybody on board her is drowned with the exception of us four and your own life was only saved by a miracle and whilst Job now that it was light enough searched about in a locker for the brandy for which Leo asked I told him the history of our night's adventure great heavens he said faintly and to think that we should have been chosen to live through it by this time the brandy was forthcoming and we all had a good pull at it and thankful enough we were for it also the sun was beginning to get strength and warm our chilled bones for we had been wet through for five hours or more why said Leo with a gasp as he put down the brandy bottle there is the head the writing talks of the rock carbon like the head of an Ethiopian yes I said there it is well then he answered the whole thing is true I don't see it all that that follows I answered we knew this head was here your father saw it very likely it is not the same head that the writing talks of or if it is it proves nothing Leo smiled at me in a superior way you are an unbelieving Jew uncle Horace he said those who live will see exactly so I answered and now perhaps you will observe that we are drifting across a sandbank into the mouth of the river get hold of your audio and we will row in and see if we can find a place to land the river mouth which we were entering did not appear to be a very wide one those yet the long banks of steaming mist that clung about its shores had not lifted sufficiently to enable us to see its exact measure there was as is the case with nearly every east african river a considerable bar at the mouth which no doubt when the wind was on shore and the tide running out was absolutely impassable even for a boat drawing only a few inches but as things were it was manageable enough and we did not ship a cup full of water in 20 minutes we were well across it with but slight assistance from ourselves and being carried by a strong though somewhat variable breeze well up the harbor by this time the mist was being sucked up by the sun which was getting uncomfortably hot and we saw that the mouth of the little estuary was here about half a mile across and that the banks were very marshy and crowded with crocodiles lying about on the mud like logs about a mile ahead of us however was what appeared to be a strip of firm land and for this we steered in another quarter of an hour we were there and making the boat fast to a beautiful tree with broad shining leaves and flowers of the magnolia species only they were rose colored and not white which hung over the water we disembarked footnote there is a known species of magnolia with pink flowers it is indigenous in sikkim and known as magnolia camp belly eye editor end of footnote this done we undressed washed ourselves and spread our clothes together with the contents of the boat in the sun to dry which they very quickly did then taking shelter from the sun under some trees we made a hearty breakfast off a peasant do pottered tongue of which we had a good quantity with us congratulating ourselves loudly on our good fortune in having loaded and provisioned the boat on the previous day before the hurricane destroyed the dow by the time that we had finished our meal our clothes were quite dry and we hasten to get into them feeling not a little refreshed indeed with the exception of weariness and a few bruises none of us were the worst for the terrifying adventure which had been fatal to all our companions Leo it is true had been half drowned but that is no great matter to a vigorous young athlete of five and twenty after breakfast we started to look about us we were on a strip of dry land about 200 yards broad by 500 long bordered on one side by the river and on the other three by endless desolate swamps that stretched as far as the eye could reach this strip of land was raised about 25 feet above the plane of the surrounding swamps and the river level indeed it had every appearance of having been made by the hand of man this place has been a wharf said Leo dogmatically nonsense I answered who would be stupid enough to build a wharf in the middle of these dreadful marshes in a country inhabited by savages that is if it is inhabited at all perhaps it was not always marsh and perhaps the people were not always savage he said dryly looking down the steep bank for we were standing by the river look there he went on pointing to a spot where the hurricane of the previous night had torn up one of the magnolia trees by the roots which had grown on the extreme edge of the bank just where it sloped down to the water and lifted a large cake of earth with them is not that stonework if not it is very like it nonsense I said again but we clambered down to the spot and got between the upturned roots in the bank well he said but I did not answer this time I only whistled for there laid bare by the removal of the earth was an undoubted facing of solid stone laid in large blocks and bound together with brown cement so hard that I could make no impression on it with the file in my shooting knife nor was this all seeing something projecting through the soil at the bottom of the bed patch of walling I removed the loose earth with my hands and revealed a huge stone ring a foot or more in diameter and about three inches thick this fairly staggered me looks rather like a wharf where good-sized vessels have been moored does it not uncle Horace said Leo with an excited grin I try to say nonsense again but the word stuck in my throat the ring spoke for itself in some past age vessels had been moored there and this stone wall was undoubtedly the remnant of a solidly constructed wharf probably the city to which it had belonged lay buried beneath the swamp behind it begins to look as though there was something in the story after all uncle Horace said the exultant Leo and reflecting on the mysterious Negro's head and the equally mysterious stonework I made no direct reply a country like Africa I said is sure to be full of the relics of long dead and forgotten civilizations nobody knows the age of the Egyptian civilization and very likely it had offshoots then there were the Babylonians and the Phoenicians and the Persians and all manner of people all more or less civilized to say nothing of the Jews whom everybody wants nowadays it is possible that they or any one of them may have had colonies or trading stations about here remember those buried Persian cities that the console showed us at Kilwa footnote near Kilwa on the east coast of Africa about 400 miles south of Zanzibar is a cliff which has been recently washed by the waves on the top of this cliff are Persian tombs known to be at least seven centuries old by the dates still legible upon them beneath these tombs is a layer of debris representing a city farther down the cliff is a second layer representing an older city and farther down still a third layer the remains of yet another city of vast and unknown antiquity beneath the bottom city were recently found some specimens of glazed earthenware such as are occasionally to be met with on that coast to this day I believe that they are now in the possession of Sir John Kirk editor end of footnote quite so said Leo but that is not what you said before well what is to be done now I asked turning the conversation as no answer was forthcoming we walked to the edge of the swamp and looked over it it was apparently boundless and vast flocks of every sort of waterfowl flew from its recesses till it was sometimes difficult to see the sky now that the sun was getting high it drew thin sickly looking clouds of poisonous vapor from the surface of the marsh and from the scummy pools of stagnant water two things are clear to me I said addressing my three companions who stared at this spectacle in dismay first that we can't go across there I pointed to the swamp and secondly that if we stop here we shall certainly die of fever that's as clear as a haystack sir said Job very well then there are two alternatives before us one is to bout ship and try and run for some port in the wellboat which would be a sufficiently risky proceeding and the other to sail or row on up the river and see where we come to I don't know what you are going to do said Leo setting his mouth but I am going up that river Job turned up the whites of his eyes and groaned and the Arab murmured Allah and groaned also as for me I remarked sweetly that as we seem to be between the devil and the deep sea it did not much matter where we went but in reality I was as anxious to proceed as Leo the colossal negro's head and the stone wharf had excited my curiosity to an extent of which I was secretly ashamed and I was prepared to gratify it at any cost accordingly having carefully fitted the mast restowed the boat and got out our rifles we embarked fortunately the wind was blowing on shore from the ocean so we were able to hoist the sail indeed we afterwards found out that as a general rule the wind set onshore from daybreak for some hours and offshore again at sunset and the explanation that I offer of this is that when the earth is cooled by the dew and the night the hot air rises and the draft rushes in from the sea till the sun has once more heated it through at least that appeared to be the rule here taking advantage of this favoring wind we sailed merrily up the river for three or four hours once we came across a school of hippopotamite which rose and bellowed dreadfully at us within ten or a dozen fathoms of the boat much to Job's alarm and I will confess to my own these were the first hippopotamite that we had ever seen and to judge by their insatiable curiosity I should judge that we were the first white men that they had ever seen upon my word I once or twice thought that they were coming into the boat to gratify it Leo wanted to fire at them but I dissuaded him fearing the consequences also we saw hundreds of crocodiles basking on the muddy banks and thousands upon thousands of waterfowl some of these we shot and among them was a wild goose which in addition to the sharp curved spurs on its wings had a spur about three quarters of an inch long growing from the skull just between the eyes we never shot another like it so I do not know if it was a sport or a distinct species in the latter case this incident may interest naturalists Job named it the unicorn goose about midday the sun grew intensely hot and the stench drawn up by it from the marshes which the river drains was something too awful and caused us instantly to swallow precautionary doses of quinine shortly afterwards the breeze died away altogether and as rowing our heavy boat against stream in the heat was out of the question we were thankful enough to get under the shade of a group of trees a species of willow that grew by the edge of the river and lie there and gasp till at length the approach of sunset put a period to our miseries seeing what appeared to be an open space of water straight ahead of us we determined to row there before settling what to do for the night just as we were about to loosen the boat however a beautiful water book with great horns curving forward and a white stripe across the rump came down to the river to drink without perceiving us hidden away within 50 yards under the willows leo was the first to catch sight of it and being an ardent sportsman thirsting for the blood of big game about which he had been dreaming for months he instantly stiffened all over and pointed like a setter dog seeing what was the matter I handed him his express rifle at the same time taking my own now then I whispered mind you don't miss miss he whispered back contemptuously I could not miss it if I tried he lifted the rifle and the row and colored book having drunk his fill raised his head and looked out across the river he was standing right against the sunset sky on a little eminence or ridge of ground which ran across the swamp evidently a favorite path for game and there was something very beautiful about him indeed I do not think that if I live to a hundred I shall ever forget that desolate and yet most fascinating scene it is stamped upon my memory to the right and left were wide stretches of lonely death breeding swamp unbroken and unrelieved so far as the eye could reach except here and there by ponds of black and peaty water that mirror like flashed up the red rays of the setting sun behind us and before stretched the vista of the sluggish river ending in glimpses of a reed fringed lagoon on the surface of which the long lights of the evening played as the faint breeze stirred the shadows to the west loomed the huge red ball of the sinking sun now vanishing down the vapory horizon and filling the great heaven high across whose arch the cranes and wildfowl streamed in line square and triangle with flashes of flying gold and the lurid stain of blood and then ourselves three modern Englishmen in a modern English boat seeming to jar upon and look out of tone with that measureless desolation and in front of us the noble book limped out upon a background of ruddy sky bang away he goes with a mighty bound Leo has missed him bang right under him again now for a shot I must have one though he is going like an arrow and a hundred yards away and more by jove over and over and over well I think I've wiped your eye there master leo I say struggling against the ungenerous exultation that in such a supreme moment of one's existence will rise in the best mannered sportsman's breast confound you yes growled leo and then with that quick smile that is one of his charms lighting up his handsome face like a ray of light I beg your pardon old fellow I congratulate you it was a lovely shot and mine was vile we got out of the boat and ran to the book which was shot through the spine and stoned dead it took us a quarter of an hour or more to clean it and cut off as much of the best meters we could carry and having packed this away we had barely light enough to row up into the lagoon like space into which there being a hollow in the swamp the river here expanded just as the light vanished we cast anchor about 30 fathoms from the edge of the lake we did not dare to go ashore not knowing if we should find dry ground to camp on and greatly fearing the poisonous exhalations from the marsh from which we thought we should be freer on the water so we lighted a lantern and made our evening meal off another potted tong in the best fashion that we could and then prepared to go to sleep only however to find that sleep was impossible for whether they were attracted by the lantern or by the unaccustomed smell of a white man for which they had been waiting for the last thousand years or so I know not but certainly we were presently attacked by tens of thousands of the most bloodthirsty pertinaceous and huge mosquitoes that I ever saw or read of in clouds they came and pinged and buzzed and bit till we were nearly mad tobacco smoke only seemed to stir them into a merrier and more active life till at length we were driven to covering ourselves with blankets head and all and sitting to slowly stew and continually scratch and swear beneath them and as we sat suddenly rolling out like thunder through the silence came the deep roar of a lion and then of a second lion moving among the reeds within 60 yards of us I say said Leo sticking his head out from under his blanket lucky we ain't on the banky of onkula Leo sometimes addressed me in this disrespectful way curse it a mosquito has bit me on the nose and the head vanished again shortly after this the moon came up and notwithstanding every variety of roar that echoed over the water to us from the lions on the banks we began thinking ourselves perfectly secure to gradually doze off I do not quite know what it was that made me poke my head out of the friendly shelter of the blanket perhaps because I found that the mosquitoes were biting right through it anyhow as I did so I heard Joe whisper in a frightened voice oh my stars look there instantly we all of us looked and this was what we saw in the moonlight near the shore were two wide and ever widening circles of concentric rings rippling away across the surface of the water and in the heart and center of the circles were two dark moving objects what is it asked I it is those damned lions sir answered Job in a tone which was an odd mixture of a sense of personal injury habitual respect and acknowledged fear and they are swimming here to heaters he added nervously picking up an H in his agitation I looked again there was no doubt about it I could catch the glare of their ferocious eyes attracted either by the smell of the newly killed water book meat or of ourselves the hungry beasts were actually storming our position Leo already had his rifle in his hand I called to him to wait till they were nearer and meanwhile grabbed my own some 15 feet from us the water shallowed on a bank to the depth of about 15 inches and presently the first of them it was the lion s got onto it shook herself and roared at that moment Leo fired the bullet went right down her open mouth and out at the back of her neck and down she dropped with a splash dead the other lion a full-grown male was some two paces behind her at this second he got his forepaws onto the bank when a strange thing happened there was a rush and disturbance of the water such as one sees in a pond in England when a pike takes a little fish only a thousand times fiercer and larger and suddenly the lion gave a most terrific snarling roar and sprang forward onto the bank dragging something black with him Allah shouted Mohammed a crocodile has got him by the leg and sure enough he had we could see the long snout with its gleaming lines of teeth and the reptile body behind it and then followed an extraordinary scene indeed the lion managed to get well onto the bank the crocodile half standing and half swimming still nipping his hind leg he roared till the air quivered with the sound and then with a savage shrieking snarl turned round and clawed hold of the crocodile's head the crocodile shifted his grip having as we afterwards discovered had one of his eyes torn out and slightly turned over instantly the lion got him by the throat and held on and then over and over they rolled upon the bank struggling hideously it was impossible to follow their movements but when we next got a clear view the tables had turned for the crocodile whose head seemed to be a mass of gore had got the lion's body in his iron jaws just above the hips and was squeezing him and shaking him to and fro for his part the tortured brute roaring in agony was clawing and biting madly at his enemy's scaly head and fixing his great hind claws in the crocodiles comparatively speaking soft throat ripping it open as one would rip a glove then all of a sudden the end came the lion's head fell forward on the crocodile's back and with an awful groan he died and the crocodile after standing for a minute motionless slowly rolled over onto his side his jaws still fixed across the carcass of the lion which we afterwards found he had bitten almost in halves this duel to the death was a wonderful and a shocking sight and one that I suppose few men have seen and thus it ended when it was all over leaving Muhammad to keep a lookout we managed to spend the rest of the night as quietly as the mosquitoes would allow end of chapter five chapter six of she this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Graham Redman she by H Rider Haggard chapter six an early Christian ceremony next morning at the earliest light of dawn we rose performed such ablutions as circumstances would allow and generally made ready to start I am bound to say that when there was sufficient light to enable us to see each other's faces I for one burst out into a roar of laughter Job's fat and comfortable countenance was swollen out to nearly twice its natural size from mosquito bites and Leo's condition was not much better indeed of the three I had come off much the best probably owing to the toughness of my dark skin and to the fact that a good deal of it was covered by hair for since we had started from England I had allowed my naturally luxuriant beard to grow at its own sweet will but the other two were comparatively speaking clean shaved which of course gave the enemy a larger extent of open country to operate on though in Muhammad's case the mosquitoes recognizing the taste of a true believer would not touch him at any price how often I wonder during the next week or so did we wish that we were flavored like an Arab by the time that we had done laughing as heartily as our swollen lips would allow it was daylight and the morning breeze was coming up from the sea cutting lanes through the dense marsh mists and here and there rolling them before it in great balls of fleecy vapor so we set our sail and having first taken a look at the two dead lions and the alligator which we were of course unable to skin being destitute of means of curing the pelts we started and sailing through the lagoon followed the course of the river on the farther side at midday when the breeze dropped we were fortunate enough to find a convenient piece of dry land on which to camp and lighter fire and here we cooked two wild ducks and some of the waterbuck's flesh not in a very appetizing way it is true but still sufficiently the rest of the buck's flesh we cut into strips and hung in the sun to dry into builtong as I believe the South African Dutch call flesh thus prepared on this welcome patch of dry land we stopped till the following dawn and as before spent the night in warfare with the mosquitoes but without other troubles the next day or two passed in similar fashion and without noticeable adventures except that we shot a specimen of a peculiarly graceful hornless buck and saw many varieties of water lily in full bloom some of them blue and of exquisite beauty though few of the flowers were perfect owing to the prevalence of a white water maggot with a green head that fed upon them it was on the fifth day of our journey when we had traveled so far as we could reckon about 135 to 140 miles westwards from the coast that the first event of any real importance occurred on that morning the usual wind failed us about 11 o'clock and after pulling a little way we were forced to halt more or less exhausted at what appeared to be the junction of our stream with another of a uniform width of about 50 feet some trees grew near at hand the only trees in all this country were along the banks of the river and under these we rested and then the land being fairly dry just here walked a little way along the edge of the river to prospect and shoot a few waterfowl for food before we had gone 50 yards we perceived that all hopes of getting further up the stream in the whale boat were at an end for not 200 yards above where we had stopped were a succession of shallows and mud banks with not six inches of water over them it was a watery cul-de-sac turning back we walked some way along the banks of the other river and soon came to the conclusion from various indications that it was not a river at all but an ancient canal like the one which is to be seen above mombasa on the zanzibar coast connecting the tana river with the ozzy in such a way as to enable the shipping coming down the tana to cross to the ozzy and reach the sea by it and thus avoid the very dangerous bar that blocks the mouth of the tana the canal before us had evidently been dug out by man at some remote period of the world's history and the results of his digging still remained in the shape of the raised banks that had no doubt once formed towing-pabs except here and there where they had been hollowed out by the water or fallen in these banks of stiff binding clay were at a uniform distance from each other and the depth of the stream also appeared to be uniform current there was little or none and as a consequence the surface of the canal was choked with vegetable growth intersected by little paths of clear water made I suppose by the constant passage of waterfowl iguanas and other vermin now as it was evident that we could not proceed up the river it became equally evident that we must either try the canal or else return to the sea we could not stop where we were to be baked by the sun and eaten up by the mosquitoes till we died of fever in that dreary marsh well I suppose that we must try it I said and the others are scented in their various ways Leo as though it were the best joke in the world Joe been respectful discussed and Muhammad with an invocation to the Prophet and a comprehensive curse upon all unbelievers and their ways of thought and travel accordingly as soon as the sun got low having little or nothing more to hope for from our friendly wind we started for the first hour or so we managed to row the boat though with great labour but after that the weeds got too thick to allow of it and we were obliged to resort to the primitive and most exhausting resource of towing her for two hours we laboured Muhammad Job and I who was supposed to be strong enough to pull against the two of them on the bank while Leo sat in the bow of the boat and brushed away the weeds which collected round the cut water with Muhammad's sword at dark we halted for some hours to rest and enjoy the mosquitoes but about midnight we went on again taking advantage of the comparative cool of the night at dawn we rested for three hours and then started once more and laboured on till about 10 o'clock when a thunderstorm accompanied by a deluge of rain overtook us and we spent the next six hours practically underwater I do not know that there is any necessity for me to describe the next four days of our voyage in detail further than to say that they were on the whole the most miserable that I ever spent in my life forming one monotonous record of heavy labour heat misery and mosquitoes all that dreary way we passed through a region of almost endless swamp and I can only attribute our escape from fever and death to the constant doses of quinine and purgatives which we took and the unceasing toil which we were forced to undergo on the third day of our journey up the canal we had sighted a round hill that loomed dimly through the vapours of the marsh and on the evening of the fourth night when we camped this hill seemed to be within five and twenty or thirty miles of us we were by now utterly exhausted and felt as though our blistered hands could not pull the boat a yard farther and that the best thing that we could do would be to lie down and die in that dreadful wilderness of swamp it was an awful position and one in which I trust no other white man will ever be placed and as I threw myself down in the boat to sleep the sleep of utter exhaustion I bitterly cursed my folly in ever having been a party to such a mad undertaking which could I saw only end in our death in this ghastly land I thought I remember as I slowly sank into a dose of what the appearance of the boat and her unhappy crew would be in two or three months time from that night there she would lie with gaping seams and half filled with fetid water which when the mist laden wind stirred her would wash backwards and forwards through our mouldering bones and that would be the end of her and of those in her who would follow after myths and seek out the secrets of nature already I seemed to hear the water rippling against the desiccated bones and rattling them together rolling my skull against Mohammed's and his against mine till at last Mohammed's stood straight up upon its vertebrae and glared at me through its empty eye holes and cursed me with its grinning jaws because I a dog of a Christian disturbed the last sleep of a true believer I opened my eyes and shuddered at the horrid dream and then shuddered again at something that was not a dream for two great eyes were gleaming down at me through the misty darkness I struggled up and in my terror and confusion shrieked and shrieked again so that the others sprang up too reeling and drunken with sleep and fear and then all of a sudden there was a flash of cold steel and a great spear was held against my throat and behind it other spears gleamed cruelly peace said a voice speaking in Arabic or rather in some dialect into which Arabic entered very largely who are you who come hither swimming on the water speak or ye die and the steel pressed sharply against my throat sending a cold chill through me we are travellers and have come hither by chance I answered in my best Arabic which appeared to be understood for the man turned his head and addressing a tall form that towered up in the background said father shall we slay what is the color of the men said a deep voice in answer white is their color slay not was the reply four sons since was the word brought to me from she who must be obeyed white men come if white men come slay them not let them be brought to the house of she who must be obeyed bring forth the men and let that which they have with them be brought forth also come said the man half leading and half dragging me from the boat and as he did so I perceived other men doing the same kind office to my companions on the bank were gathered a company of some fifty men in that light all I could make out was that they were armed with huge spears were very tall and strongly built comparatively light in color and nude save for a leopard skin tied round the middle presently Leo and Job were bundled out and placed beside me what on earth is up said Leo rubbing his eyes oh lord sir here's a rum go ejaculated Job and just at that moment a disturbance ensued and Mohammed came tumbling between us followed by a shadowy form with an uplifted spear Allah Allah hold Mohammed feeling that he had little to hope from man protect me protect me father it is a black one said a voice what said she who must be obeyed about the black one she said not but slay him not come hither my son the man advanced and the tall shadowy form bent forward and whispered something yes yes said the other and chuckled in a rather blood curdling tone are the three white men there asked the form yes they are there then bring up that which is made ready for them and let the men take all that can be brought from the thing which floats hardly had his spoken when men came running up carrying on their shoulders neither more nor less than palanquines forbearers and two spare men to a palanquin and in these it was promptly indicated we were expected to stow ourselves well said Leo it is a blessing to find anybody to carry us after having to carry ourselves so long Leo always takes a cheerful view of things there being no help for it after seeing the others into theirs I tumbled into my own litter and very comfortable I found it it appeared to be manufactured of cloth woven from grass fiber which stretched and yielded to every motion of the body and being bound top and bottom to the bearing pole gave a grateful support to the head and neck scarcely had I settled myself when accompanying their steps with a monotonous song the bearers started at a swinging trot for half an hour or so I lay still reflecting on the very remarkable experiences that we were going through and wondering if any of my eminently respectable fossil friends down at Cambridge would believe me if I were to be miraculously set at the familiar dinner table for the purpose of relating them I do not want to convey any disrespectful notion or slight when I call these good and learned men fossils but my experience is that people are apt to fossilize even at a university if they follow the same paths too persistently I was getting fossilized myself but of late my stock of ideas has been very much enlarged well I lay and reflected and wondered what on earth would be the end of it all till at last I ceased to wonder and went to sleep I suppose I must have slept for seven or eight hours getting the first real rest that I had had since the night before the loss of the dow for when I woke the sun was high in the heavens we were still journeying on at a pace of about four miles an hour peeping out through the mist like curtains of the litter which were ingeniously fixed to the bearing pole I perceived to my infinite relief that we had passed out of the region of eternal swamp and were now traveling over swelling grassy plains towards a cup shaped hill whether or not it was the same hill that we had seen from the canal I do not know and have never since been able to discover for as we afterwards found out these people will give little information upon such points next I glanced at the men who were bearing me they were of a magnificent build few of them being under six feet in height and yellowish in color generally their appearance had a good deal in common with that of the East African Somali only their hair was not frizzed up but hung in thick black locks upon their shoulders their features were aquiline and in many cases exceedingly handsome the teeth being especially regular and beautiful but not withstanding their beauty it struck me that on the whole I had never seen a more evil looking set of faces there was an aspect of cold and sullen cruelty stamped upon them that revolted me and which in some cases was almost uncanny in its intensity another thing that struck me about them was that they never seemed to smile sometimes they sang them a not in a song of which I have spoken but when they were not singing they remained almost perfectly silent and the light of a laugh never came to brighten their somber and evil countenances of what race could these people be their language was a bastard Arabic and yet they were not Arabs I was quite sure of that for one thing they were too dark or rather yellow I could not say why but I know that their appearance filled me with a sick fear of which I felt ashamed while I was still wondering another litter came up alongside of mine in it for the curtains were drawn sat an old man clothed in a whitish robe made apparently from coarse linen that hung loosely about him who I had once jumped to the conclusion was the shadowy figure that had stood on the bank and been addressed as father he was a wonderful looking old man with a snowy beard so long that the ends of it hung over the sides of the litter and he had a hooked nose above which flashed out a pair of eyes as keen as a snake's while his whole countenance was instinct with a look of wise and sardonic humor impossible to describe on paper art thou awake stranger he said in a deep and low voice surely my father I answered courteously feeling certain that I should do well to conciliate this ancient mammon of unrighteousness he stroked his beautiful white beard and smiled faintly from whatever country thou camest he said and by the way it must be from one where somewhat of our language is known they teach their children courtesy there my stranger son and now wherefore come as thou unto this land which scarce and alien foot has pressed from the time that man knoweth art thou and those with thee weary of life we came to find new things I answered boldly we are tired of the old things we have come up out of the sea to know that which is unknown we are of a brave race who fear not death my very much respected father that is if we can get a little information before we die said the old gentleman that may be true it is rash to contradict otherwise I should say that thou was lying my son however I dare to say that she who must be obeyed will meet thy wishes in the matter who is she who must be obeyed I asked curiously the old man glanced at the bearers and then answered with a little smile that somehow sent my blood to my heart surely my stranger son thou wilt learn soon enough if it be her pleasure to see thee at all in the flesh in the flesh I answered what may my father wish to convey but the old man only laughed a dreadful laugh and made no reply what is the name of my father's people I asked the name of my people is Armahagger the people of the rocks and if a son might ask what is the name of my father my name is Bilali and with a go we my father thou shalt see and at a sign from him his bearers started forward at a run till they reached the litter in which Job was reposing with one leg hanging over the side apparently however he could not make much out of Job for presently I saw his bearers trot forward to Leo's litter and after that as nothing fresh occurred I yielded to the pleasant swaying motion of the litter and went to sleep again I was dreadfully tired when I woke I found that we were passing through a rocky defile of a lava formation with precipitous sides in which grew many beautiful trees and flowering shrubs presently this defile took a turn and a lovely sight unfolded itself to my eyes before us was a vast cup of green from four to six miles in extent in the shape of a Roman amphitheater the sides of this great cup were rocky and clothed with bush but the center was of the richest meadowland studied with single trees of magnificent growth and watered by meandering brooks on this rich plain grazed herds of goats and cattle but I saw no sheep at first I could not imagine what this strange spot could be but presently it flashed upon me that it must represent the crater of some long extinct volcano which had afterwards been a lake and was ultimately drained in some unexplained way and here I may state that from my subsequent experience of this and a much larger but otherwise similar spot which I shall have occasion to describe by and by I have every reason to believe that this conclusion was correct what puzzled me however was that although there were people moving about herding the goats and cattle I saw no signs of any human habitation where did they all live I wondered my curiosity was soon destined to be gratified turning to the left the string of litters followed the cliffy sides of the crater for a distance of about half a mile or perhaps a little less and then halted seeing the old gentleman my adopted father Bilali emerge from his litter I did the same and so did Leo and Job the first thing I saw was our wretched Arab companion Muhammad lying exhausted on the ground it appeared that he had not been provided with a litter but had been forced to run the entire distance and as he was already quite worn out when we started his condition now was one of great prostration on looking round we discovered that the place where we had halted was a platform in front of the mouth of a great cave and piled upon this platform were the entire contents of the whale boat even down to the oars and sail round the cave stood groups of the men who had escorted us and other men of a similar stamp they were all tall and all handsome though they varied in their degree of darkness of skin some being as dark as Muhammad and some as yellow as a Chinese they were naked except for the leopard skin around the waist and each of them carried a huge spear there were also some women among them who instead of the leopard skin wore a tanned hide of a small red buck something like that of the Oribe only rather darker in color these women were as a class exceedingly good looking with large dark eyes well cut features and a thick bush of curling hair not crisped like a negroes ranging from black to chestnut in hue with all shades of intermediate color some but very few of them wore a yellowish linen garment such as I have described as worn by Bilali but this as we afterwards discovered was a mark of rank rather than an attempt at clothing for the rest their appearance was not quite so terrifying as that of the men and they sometimes though rarely smiled as soon as we had a lighted they gathered round us and examined us with curiosity but without excitement Leo's tall athletic form and clear cut Grecian face however evidently excited their attention and when he politely lifted his hat to them and showed his curling yellow hair there was a slight murmur of admiration nor did it stop there for after regarding him critically from head to foot the handsomest of the young women one wearing a robe and with hair of a shade between brown and chestnut deliberately advanced to him and in a way that would have been winning had it not been so determined quietly put her arm round his neck bent forward and kissed him on the lips I gave a gasp expecting to see Leo instantly speared and Joe bejakulated the hussey well I never as for Leo he looked slightly astonished and then remarking that we had clearly got into a country where they followed the customs of the early Christians deliberately returned the embrace again I gasped thinking that something would happen but to my surprise though some of the young women showed traces of vexation the older ones and the men only smiled slightly when we came to understand the customs of this extraordinary people the mystery was explained it then appeared that indirect opposition to the habits of almost every other savage race in the world women among the armor haggar are not only upon terms of perfect equality with the men but are not held to them by any binding ties descent is traced only through the line of the mother and while individuals are as proud of a long and superior female ancestry as we are of our families in Europe they never pay attention to or even acknowledge any man as their father even when their male parentage is perfectly well known there is but one titular male parent of each tribe or as they call it household and he is its elected and immediate ruler with the title of father for instance the man bilali was the father of this household which consisted of about seven thousand individuals all told and no other man was ever called by that name when a woman took a fancy to a man she signified her preference by advancing and embracing him publicly in the same way that this handsome and exceedingly prompt young lady who was called Ustane had embraced Leo if he kissed her back it was a token that he accepted her and the arrangement continued until one of them worried of it I am bound however to say that the change of husbands was not nearly so frequent as might have been expected nor did quarrels arise out of it at least among the men who when their wives deserted them in favour of a rival accepted the whole thing much as we accept the income tax or our marriage laws as something not to be disputed and as tending to the good of the community however disagreeable they may in particular instances prove to the individual it is very curious to observe how the customs of mankind on this matter vary in different countries making morality an affair of latitude and what is right and proper in one place wrong and improper in another it must however be understood that since all civilized nations appear to accept it as an axiom that ceremony is the touchstone of morality there is even according to our cannons nothing immoral about this Armahagger custom seeing that the interchange of the embrace answers to our ceremony of marriage which as we know justifies most things end of chapter six recording by Graham Redmond chapter seven of she this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Lizzie Driver she by H Rider Haggard chapter seven Oostani sings when the kissing operation was finished by the way none of the young ladies offered to pet me in this fashion though I saw one hovering around Job to that respectable individual's evident alarm the old man Bilali advanced and graciously waved us into the cave whether we went followed by Oostani who did not seem inclined to take the hints I gave her that we liked privacy before we had gone five paces it struck me that the cave that we were entering was none of nature's handiwork but on the contrary had been hollowed by the hand of man so far as we could judge it appears to be about 100 feet in length by 50 wide and very lofty resembling a cathedral aisle more than anything else from this main aisle opened passages at a distance of every 12 or 15 feet leading I suppose to the smaller chambers about 50 feet from the entrance of the cave just where the light began to get dim a fire was burning which threw huge shadows upon the gloomy walls around here Bilali halted and asked us to be seated saying that the people would bring us food and accordingly we squatted ourselves down upon the rugs of skins which was spread for us and waited presently the food consisting of goats flesh boiled fresh milk in an earthenware pot and boiled cobs of indian corn was brought by young girls who were almost starving and I do not think that I ever in my life before ate was such satisfaction indeed before we had finished we literally ate up everything that was set before us when we had done our somewhat saturated host Bilali who had been watching us in perfect silence rose and addressed us he said that it was a wonderful thing that it happened no man had ever known or heard of white strangers arriving in the country of the people of the rocks sometimes though rarely black men had come here and from them they had heard of the existence of men much wider than themselves who sailed on the ships in seas but for the arrival of such there was no precedent we had however been seen dragging the boat up the canal and he told us frankly that he had at once given orders for our destruction seeing that it was unlawful for any stranger to enter here when a message had come from she who must be obeyed saying that allies were to be spared and that we were to be brought hither pardon me my father I interrupted at this point but if as I understand she who must be obeyed lives yet farther off how could she have known of our approach Bilali turned and seeing that we were alone for the young lady Astani had withdrawn when he had begun to speak said with a curious little laugh although none in your land you can see without eyes and hear without ears ask no questions she knew I shrugged my shoulders at this and he proceeded to say no further instructions had been received on the subject of our disposal and this being so he was about to start to interview you she who must be obeyed generally spoken of for the sake of brevity as Haya or she simply who he gave us to understand was the queen of the Amahagga and learn her wishes I asked him how long he proposed to be away and he said that by traveling hard he might be back on the fifth day but there were many miles of marsh to cross before he came to where she was he then said that every arrangement would be made for our comfort during his absence and that as he personally had taken a fancy to us he sincerely trusted that the answer he should ring back from she would be one favorable to the continuation of our existence but at the same time he did not wish to conceal from us that he thought this doubtful as every stranger who had ever come into the country during his grandmother's life his mother's life and his own life had been put to death without mercy and in a way he would not harrow our feelings by describing and this had been done by the order of she herself at least he supposed that it was by her order at any rate she had never interfered to save them why I said but how can that be you're an old man and the time you talk of must reach back three men's lives how therefore could she have ordered the death of anybody at the beginning of the life of your grandmother seeing that herself she would not have been born again he smiled that same faint peculiar smile and with the deep bow departed without making any answer nor did we see him again for five days when he had gone we discussed the situation which filled me with alarm I did not at all like the accounts of this mysterious queen she who must be obeyed or more shortly she who apparently ordered the execution of any unfortunate stranger in a fashion so unmerciful Leo too was depressed about it but consoled himself by triumphantly pointing out that this she was undoubtedly the person referred to in the writing on the pot shirt and in his father's letter in proof of which he advanced Bilali's allusions to her age and power I was by this time too overwhelmed with the whole course of events that I had not even the heart left to dispute your proposition so absurd so I suggested that we should try to go out and get a bath of which we all stood sadly in need accordingly having indicated our wish to a middle aged individual of an unusually satinine caste of countenance even among this satinine people who appeared to be deputed to look after us now that the father of the hamlet had departed we started in a body having first lit our pipes outside the cave we found quite a crowd of people evidently watching for our appearance but when they saw us come out smoking they vanished this way and that calling out that we were great magicians indeed nothing about us created so great a sensation as our tobacco smoke not even our firearms begin footnote we found tobacco growing in this country as it does in every other part of Africa and although they were so absolutely ignorant of its other blessed qualities the Amahaga used it habitually in the form of snuff and also for medicinal purposes LHH end footnote after this we succeeded in reaching a stream that had its source in a strong ground spring and taken up bath in peace though some of the women not accepting Astani should have decided inclination to follow us even there by the time we had finished this much refreshing bath the sun was setting indeed when we got back to the big cave it had already set the cave itself was full of people gathered round fires for several more had now been lighted and eating the evening meal by the lurid light and by that a various lamps which were set about or hung upon the walls these lamps were of a rude manufacture of baked earthenware and of all shapes some of them graceful enough the larger ones were formed of big red earthenware pots filled with clarified melted fat and having a reed wick struck through a wooden disc which filled the top of the pot this sort of lamp required the most constant attention to prevent its going out whenever the wick burnt down as there were no means of turning it up the smaller hand lamps however which were also made of baked clay were fitted with wicks manufactured from the pith of a palm tree or sometimes from the stem of a very handsome variety of fern this kind of wick was passed through a round hole at the end of the lamp to where a sharp piece of wood was attached wherewith to pierce and draw it up whenever it showed signs of burning low for a while we sat down and watched this grim people eating the evening meal in silence as grimace themselves till at length getting tired of contemplating them and the huge moving shadows on the rocky walls I suggested to our new keeper that we should like to go to bed without a word he rose and take me politely by the hand advanced with a lamp to one of the small passages that I'd noticed opening out of the central cave this we followed for about five paces when it suddenly widened out into a small chamber about eight feet square and hewn out of the living rock on one side of this chamber was a stone slab about three feet from the ground and running its entire length like a bunk in a cabin and on this slab he intimated the tie was to sleep there was no window or air hole to this chamber and no furniture and on looking at it more closely I came to the disturbing conclusion in which as I afterwards discovered I was quite right that it had originally served for a sepulchre for the dead rather than a sleeping place for the living the slab being designed to receive the corpse of the departed the thought made me shudder in spite of myself but seeing that I must sleep somewhere I got over the feeling as best I might and returned to the cabin to get my blanket which had been brought up from the boat with the other things there I met Job who having been inducted to a similar apartment had flatly declined to stop in it saying that the look of the place gave him the horrors and that he might as well be dead and buried in his grandfather's brick grave at once and expressed a determination of sleeping with me if I would allow him this of course I was only too glad to do the night passed very comfortably on the whole I say on the whole for personally I went through a most horrid nightmare of being buried alive induced no doubt by the sepulchreal nature of my surroundings at dawn we were aroused by a loud trumpeting sound produced as we afterwards discovered by a young amahuga blowing through a whole board in its side into a hollowed elephant tusk which was kept for the purpose taking the hint we got up and went down to the stream to wash after which the morning meal was served at breakfast one of the women no longer quite young advanced and publicly kissed Job I think it was in its way the most delightful thing putting its impropriety aside for a moment that I ever saw never shall I forget the respectable Job's abject terror and disgust Job like myself is a bit of a misogynist I fancy chiefly owned to the fact of his having been one of a family of 17 and the feelings expressed upon his countenance when he realized that he was not only being embraced publicly and without authorization on his own part but also in the presence of his masters who were too mixed and painful to admit of accurate description he sprang to his feet and pushed the woman a buxom person of about 30 from him well I never he gasped whereupon probably thinking he was only coy she embraced him again be off with you get away you minx he shouted waving the wooden spoon with which he was eating his breakfast up and down before the lady's face beg your pardon gentlemen I am sure I hadn't encouraged her oh lord she's coming for me again hold on Mr. Holly please hold on I can't stand it I can't indeed this has never happened to me before gentlemen never there's nothing against my character and here he broke off and ran as hard as he could go down the cave and for once I saw the eme haga laugh as for the woman however she did not laugh on the contrary she seemed to bristle with fury which the mockery of the other women only served to intensify she stood there literally snarling and shaking with indignation and seeing her I wished Job's scruples had been at Jericho forming a shrewd guess that his admiral behavior had endangered our throats nor as the sequel shows was I wrong the lady having retreated Job returned in a great state of nervousness and keeping his weather eye fixed upon every woman who came near him I took an opportunity to explain to our host that Job was a married man and had had very unhappy experiences in his domestic relations which accounted for his presence here and his terror at the sight of women but my remarks were received in grim silence it being evident that our retainer's behavior was considered as a slight to the household at large although the women after the manner of some of the most civilized sisters made merry at the rebuff of their companion after breakfast we took a walk and inspected the eme haga herds and also their cultivated lands they have two breeds of cattle one large and angular with no horns but yielding beautiful milk and the other a red breed very small and fact excellent for meat but of no value for milking purposes this last breed closely resembles the Norfolk red pole strain only it has horns which generally curve forward over the head sometimes to such an extent that they have to be cut to prevent them from growing into the bones of the skull the goats are long haired and are used for eating only at least i never saw them milked as for the eme haga cultivation it is primitive in the extreme being all done by means of a spade made of iron for these people smelt and work iron this spade is shaped more like the big spearhead than anything else and has no shoulder to it in which the foot can be set as a consequence the labor of digging is very great it is however all done by the men the women contrary to the habits of most savage races being entirely exempt from manual toil but then as i think i've said elsewhere among the eme haga the weakest sex has established its rights at first we were much puzzled as to the origin and constitution of this extraordinary race points upon which they were singularly uncommunitive as the time went on for the next four days passed without any striking event we learnt something from Leo's lady friend Estani who by the way stuck to that young gentleman like his own shadow as to origin they had none at least so far as she was aware there were however she informed us mounds of masonry and many pillars near the place where she lived which were called core and which the wife said had once been houses where men lived and it was suggested that they were descended from these men no one however dared to go near these great ruins because they were haunted they only looked on them from a distance other similar ruins were to be seen she had heard in various parts of the country that is wherever one of the mountains rose above the level of the swamp also the caves in which they lived had been hollowed out of the rocks by men perhaps the same who built the cities they themselves had no written laws only custom which was however quite as binding as law if any man offended against the custom he was put to death by order of the father of the household i asked how he was put to death and she only smiled and said that i might see one day soon they had a queen however she was their queen but she was very rarely seen perhaps once in two or three years when she came forth to pass sentence on some offenders and when seen was muffed up in a big cloak so that nobody could look upon her face those who waited upon her were deaf and dumb and therefore could tell no tales but it was reported that she was lovely as no other woman was lovely or ever had been it was rumoured also that she was immortal and had power over all things but she astani could say nothing of all that what she believed was that the queen chose her husband from time to time and as soon as a female child was born this husband who was never again seen was put to death then the female child grew up and took the place of the queen when its mother died and had been buried in the great caves but of these matters none could speak with certainty only she was obeyed throughout the length and breadth of the land and to question her command was instant death she kept a guard but had no regular army and to disobey her was to die i asked what size the land was and how many people lived in it she answered that there were 10 households like this that she knew of including the big household where the queen was that all the households lived in caves in places resembling this stretch of raised country dotted about in a vast extent of swamp which was only to be threaded by secret paths often the households made war on each other until she sent word that it was to stop and then they instantly ceased that and the fever which they caught in crossing the swamps prevented their numbers from increasing too much they had no connection with any other race indeed none lived near them or were able to thread the vast swamps once an army from the direction of the great river presumably the Zambezi had attempted to attack them but they got lost in the marshes and at night seeing the great wars of fire that moved about there tried to come to them thinking that they marked the enemy camp and half of them were drowned as for the rest they soon died of fever and starvation not a blow being struck at them the marshes she told us were absolutely impassable except to those who knew the paths adding what i could well believe that we should never have reached this place where we were then had we not been brought thither these are many other things we learned from Astani during the four days pause before our real adventures began and as maybe imagined they gave us considerable cause for thought the whole thing was exceedingly remarkable almost incredibly so indeed and the oddest part of it was that so far it did more or less correspond to the ancient writings on the sherd and now it appear that there was a mysterious queen clothed by rumour with dread and wonderful attributes and commonly known by the impersonal but to my mind rather awesome title of she altogether i could not make it out nor could Leo though of course he was exceedingly triumphant over me because i had persistently mocked at the whole thing as for Job he had long since abandoned any attempt to call his reason his own and left it to drift upon the sea of circumstance Muhammad the Arab who was by the way treated civilly indeed but with chilling contempt by the emma hugger was i discovered in a great fright though could not quite make out what he was frightened about he would sit crouched up in a corner of the cave all day long calling upon Allah and the prophet to protect him when i pressed him about it he said that he was afraid because these people were not men or women at all but devils and that this was an enchanted land and upon my word once or twice since then i have been inclined to agree with him and so time went on till the night of the fourth day after Bilali had left when something happened we three and istani were sitting round a fire in the cave just before bedtime when suddenly the woman who had been brooding in silence rose and laid a hand upon Leo's golden curls and addressed him even now when i shut my eyes i can see her proud imperial form clothed alternatively in dense shadow and the red flickering of the fire as she stood the wild center of his weirdest scene as i ever witnessed and delivered herself of the burden of her thoughts and forebodings in a kind of rhythmical speech that ran something as follows thou art my chosen i have waited for thee from the beginning thou art very beautiful who have hair like unto thee or skin so white who have so strong an arm who is so much a man thine eyes are the sky and the light in them is the stars thou art perfect and of happy face and my heart turned itself towards thee i when mine eyes fell upon thee i did desire thee then did i take thee to me oh thou beloved and hold thee fast lest harm should come unto thee i i did cover thine head with mine hair lest the sun should strike it and altogether was i thine and thou was altogether mine and so it went for a little space till time was in labor with an evil day and then what we fell on that day alas my beloved i know not but i i saw thee no more i i was lost in the blackness and she who is stronger to take thee i she who is fairer than a star any yet does thou turn and call upon me and let thine eyes wander in the darkness but nevertheless she prevailed by beauty and led thee down horrible places and then ah thine my beloved here this extraordinary woman broke off her speech or chant which was so much musical gibberish to us for all that we understood of what she was talking about and seemed to fix her flashing eyes upon the deep shadow before her then in a moment they acquired a vacant terrified stare as though they were striving to realize some half-seen horror she lifted a hand from Leo's head and pointed into the darkness we all looked and could see nothing but she saw something or thought she did and something evidently that affected even her iron nerves for with that another sound down she fell senseless between us Leo who was growing really attached to this remarkable young person was in a great state of alarm and distress and i to be perfectly candid was in a condition not far removed from superstitious fear the whole scene was an uncanny one presently however she recovered and sat up with an extraordinary convulsive shudder what did thou mean astany us leo who thanks to years of tuition spoke arabic very prettily name i chosen she answered with a little force laugh i did but sing unto the after the fashion on my people surely i meant nothing now could i speak of that which is not yet and what's did thou see astany i asked looking her sharply in the face nay she answered i saw not ask me not what i saw why should i fright you and then turning to leo with a look of the most utter tenderness that i ever saw upon the face of a woman civilized or savage she took his head between her hands and kissed him on the forehead as a mother might when i'm gone from thee my chosen she said when at night thou stretches out thine hand and cans not find me then should thou think at times of me for of a truth though lovely well though it be not fit to wash thy feet and now let us love and take that which is given us and be happy for in the grave there is no love and no warmth nor only touching of the lips nothing perchance or perchance but bitter memories of what might have been tonight the hours are our own how know we to whom they shall belong tomorrow end of chapter seven chapter eight of she this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by icy jumbo she by h rider haggard chapter eight the feast and after on the day following this remarkable scene a scene calculated to make a deep impression upon anybody who beheld it more because of what it suggested and seemed to foreshadow than of what it revealed it was announced to us that a feast would be held that evening in our honor I did my best to get out of it saying that we were modest people and cared little for feasts but my remarks being received with the silence of displeasure I thought it wisest to hold my tongue accordingly just before sundown I was informed that everything was ready and accompanied by Job went into the cave where I met Leo who was as usual followed by ustain these two had been out walking somewhere and knew nothing of the projected festivity till that moment when ustain heard of it I saw an expression of horror spring up upon her handsome features turning she caught a man who was passing up the cave by the arm and asked him something in an imperious tone his answer seemed to reassure her a little for she looked relieved though far from satisfied next she appeared to attempt some remonstrance with the man who was a person in authority but he spoke angrily to her and shook her off and then changing his mind let her by the arm and sat her down between himself and another man in the circle round the fire and I perceived that for some reason of her own she thought it best to submit the fire in the cave was an unusually big one that night and in a large circle round it were gathered about thirty five men and two women ustain and the woman to avoid whom Job had played the role of another scriptural character the men were sitting in perfect silence as was their custom each with his great spear stuck up right behind him in a socket cut in the rock for that purpose only one or two wore the yellowish linen garment of which I have spoken the rest had nothing on except the leopard skin about the middle what's up now sir said Job doubtfully bless us and save us there's that woman again now surely she can't be after me seeing that I have given her no encouragement they give me the creeps the whole lot of them and that's a fact why look they have asked Mohammed to dine too there that lady of mine is talking to him in as nice and civil away as possible well I'm glad he didn't me that's all we looked up and sure enough the woman in question had risen and was escorting the wretched Mohammed from his corner where overcome by some acute prescience of horror he had been seated shivering and calling on a lot he appeared unwilling enough to come if for no other reason perhaps because it was an unaccustomed honor for hitherto his food had been given to him apart anyway I could see he was in a state of great terror for his tottering legs would scarcely support his stout bulky form and I think it was rather owing to the resources of barbarism behind him in the shape of a huge armor hugger with a proportionately huge spear than to the seductions of the lady who led him by the hand that he consented to come at all well I said to the others I don't at all like the look of things but I suppose that we must face it out have you fellows got your revolvers on because if so you had better see that they are loaded I have sir said Job tapping his cult but Mr. Leo has only got his hunting knife though that is big enough surely feeling that it would not do to wait while the missing weapon was fetched we advanced boldly and seated ourselves in a line with our backs against the side of the cave as soon as we were seated an earthenware jar was passed round containing a fermented fluid of by no means unpleasant taste though apt to turn upon the stomach made from crushed grain not Indian corn but a small brown grain that grows upon its stem in clusters not unlike that which in the southern part of Africa is known by the name of cafe corn the vase which contained this liquor was very curious and as it more or less resembled many hundreds of others in use among the armor hugger I may as well describe it these vases are of a very ancient manufacture and of all sizes none such can have been made in the country for hundreds or rather thousands of years they are found in the rock tombs of which I shall give a description in their proper place and my own belief is that after the fashion of the Egyptians with whom the former inhabitants of this country may have had some connection they were used to receive the viscera of the dead Leo however is of the opinion that as in the case of the Etruscan amphorae they were placed there for the spiritual use of the deceased they are mostly two handled and of all sizes some being nearly three feet in height and running from that down to as many inches in shape they vary but all are exceedingly beautiful and graceful being made of a very fine blackware not lustrous but slightly rough on this groundwork are inlaid figures much more graceful and lifelike than any others that I have seen on antique vases some of these inlaid pictures represent love scenes with a childlike simplicity and freedom of manner which would not commend itself to the taste of the present day others again give pictures of maidens dancing and yet others of hunting scenes for instance the very vase from which we were then drinking had on one side a most spirited drawing of men apparently white in colour attacking a bull elephant with spears while on the reverse was a picture not quite so well done of a hunter shooting an arrow at a running antelope I should say from the look of it either an eland or a kudu this is a digression at a critical moment but it is not too long for the occasion for the occasion itself was very long with the exception of the periodical passing of the vase and the movement necessary to throw fuel onto the fire nothing happened for the best part of a whole hour nobody spoke a word there we were all sat in perfect silence staring at the glare and glow of the large fire and at the shadows thrown by the flickering earthenware lamps which by the way were not ancient on the open space between us and the fire lay a large wooden tray with four short handles to it exactly like a butcher's tray only not hollowed out by the side of the tray was a great pair of long handled iron pincers and on the other side of the fire was a similar pair somehow I did not at all like the appearance of this tray and the accompanying pincers there I sat and stared at them and at the silent circle of the fierce moody faces of the men and reflected that it was all very awful and that we were absolutely in the power of this alarming people who to me at any rate were all the more formidable because their true character was still very much of a mystery to us they might be better than I thought them or they might be worse I feared that they were worse and I was not wrong it was a curious sort of feast I reflected in appearance indeed an entertainment of the barma side stamp for there was absolutely nothing to eat at last just as I was beginning to feel as though I were being mesmerized a move was made without the slightest warning a man from the other side of the circle called out in a loud voice where is the flesh that we shall eat there on everybody in the circle answered in a deep measured tone and stretching out the right arm towards the fire as he spoke the flesh will come is it a goat said the same man it is a goat without horns and more than a goat and we shall slay it they answered with one voice and turning half round they one and all grasped the handles of their spears with the right hand and then simultaneously let them go is it an ox said the man again it is an ox without horns and more than an ox and we shall slay it was the answer and again the spears were grasped and again let go then came a pause and I noticed with horror and a rising of the hair that the woman next to Mohammed began to fondle him patting his cheeks and calling him by names of endearment while her fierce eyes played up and down his trembling form I do not know why the sight frightened me so but it did frighten us all dreadfully especially Leo the caressing so snake like and so evidently a part of some ghastly formula that had to be gone through footnote signed by the author we afterwards learnt that its object was to pretend to the victim that he was the object of love and admiration and so to soothe his injured feelings and cause him to expire in a happy and contented frame of mind end of footnote I saw Mohammed turn white under his brown skin sickly white with fear is the meat ready to be cooked asked the voice more rapidly it is ready it is ready is the pot hot to cook it it continued in a sort of scream that echoed painfully down the great recesses of the cave it is hot it is hot great heavens roard leo remember the writing the people who place pots upon the heads of strangers as he said the words before we could stir or even take the matter in two great ruffians jumped up and seizing the long pincers thrust them into the heart of the fire and the woman who had been caressing Mohammed suddenly produced a fiber noose from under her girdle or mucha and slipping it over his shoulders ran it tight while the men next to him seized him by the legs the two men with the pincers gave a heave and scattering the fire this way and that upon the rocky floor lifted from it a large earthenware pot heated to a white heat in an instant almost with a single movement they had reached the spot where Mohammed was struggling he fought like a fiend shrieking in the abandonment of his despair and not withstanding the noose round him and the efforts of the men who held his legs the advancing wretches were for the moment unable to accomplish their purpose which horrible and incredible as it seems was to put the red hot pot upon his head I sprang to my feet with a yell of horror and drawing my revolver fired it by a sort of instinct straight at the diabolical woman who had been caressing Mohammed and was now gripping him in her arms the bullet struck her in the back and killed her and to this day I am glad that it did for as it afterwards transpired she had availed herself of the anthropophagus customs of the armor haggar to organize the whole thing in revenge of the slight put upon her by Job she sank down dead and as she did so to my terror and dismay Mohammed by a superhuman effort burst from his tormentors and springing high into the air fell dying upon her corpse the heavy bullet from my pistol had driven through the bodies of both at once striking down the murderess and saving her victim from a death a hundred times more horrible it was an awful and yet a most merciful accident for a moment there was a silence of astonishment the armor haggar had never heard the report of a firearm before and its effects dismayed them but the next a man close to us recovered himself and seized his spear preparatory to making a lunge with it at Leo who was nearest to him run for it I shouted setting the example by starting up the cave as hard as my legs would carry me I would have made for the open air if it had been possible but there were many in the way and besides I had caught sight of the forms of a crowd of people standing out clear against the skyline beyond the entrance to the cave up the cave I went and after me came the others and after them the funded the whole crowd of cannibals mad with fury at the death of the woman with a bound I cleared the prostrate form of Mohammed as I flew over him I felt the heat from the red hot pot which was lying close by struck upon my legs and by its glow saw his hands for he was not quite dead still feebly moving at the top of the cave was a little platform of rock three feet or so high by about eight deep on which two large lamps were placed at night whether this platform had been left as a seat or as a raised point afterwards to be cut away when it had served its purpose as a standing place from which to carry on the excavations I do not know at least I did not then at any rate we all three reached it and jumping on it prepared to sell our lives as dearly as we could for a few seconds the crowd that was pressing on our heels hung back when they saw his face round upon them Job was on one side of the rock to the left Leo in the center and I to the right behind us were the lamps Leo bent forward and looked down the long lane of shadows terminating in the fire and lighted lamps through which the quiet forms of our would-be murderers flitted to and fro with the faint light glinting on their spears for even their fury was silent as a bulldogs the only other thing visible was the red hot pot still glowing angrily in the gloom there was a curious light in Leo's eyes and his handsome face was set like a stone in his right hand was his heavy hunting knife he shifted its thong a little up his wrist and then put his arm round me and gave me a good hug goodbye old fellow he said my dear friend my more than father we have no chance against these scoundrels they will finish us in a few minutes and eat us afterwards I suppose goodbye I led you into this I hope you will forgive me goodbye Job God's will be done I said setting my teeth as I prepared for the end at that moment with an exclamation Job lifted his revolver and fired and hit a man not the man he aimed at by the way anything that Job shot at was perfectly safe on they came with a rush and I fired too as fast as I could and checked them between us Job and I besides the woman killed or mortally wounded five men with our pistols before they were emptied but we had no time to reload and they still came on in a way that was almost splendid in its recklessness seeing that they did not know but that we could go on firing forever a great fellow bounded up upon the platform and Leo struck him dead with one blow of his powerful arm sending the knife right through him I did the same by another but Job missed his stroke and I saw a brawny armor hugger grip him by the middle and whirl him off the rock the knife not being secured by a thong fell from Job's hand as he did so and by a most happy accident for him lit upon its handle on the rock just as the body of the armor hugger who was undermost struck upon its point and was transfixed upon it what happened to Job after that I am sure I do not know but my own impression is that he lay still upon the corpse of his deceased assailant playing possum as the Americans say as for myself I was soon involved in a desperate encounter with two ruffians who luckily for me had left their spears behind them and for the first time in my life the great physical power with which nature has endowed me stood me in good stead I had hacked at the head of one man with my hunting knife which was almost as big and heavy as a short sword with such vigor that the sharp steel had split his skull down to the eyes and was held so fast by it that as he suddenly fell sideways the knife was twisted right out of my hand then it was that the two others sprang upon me I saw them coming and got an arm round the waist of each and down we all fell upon the floor of the cave together rolling over and over they were strong men but I was mad with rage and that awful lust for slaughter which will creep into the hearts of the most civilized of us when blows are flying and life and death tremble on the turn my arms were round the two swathe demons and I hugged them till I heard their ribs crack and crunch up beneath my grip they twisted and writhed like snakes and clawed and battered at me with their fists but I held on lying on my back there so that their bodies might protect me from spear thrusts from above I slowly crushed the life out of them and as I did so strange as it may seem I thought of what the amiable head of my college at Cambridge who is a member of the peace society and my brother fellows would say if by clairvoyance they could see me of all men playing such a bloody game soon my assailants grew faint and almost ceased to struggle their breath had failed them and they were dying but still I dared not leave them for they died very slowly I knew that if I relaxed my grip they would revive the other ruffians probably thought for we were all three lying in the shadow of the ledge that we were all dead together at any rate they did not interfere with our little tragedy I turned to my head and as I lay gasping in the throes of that awful struggle I could see that Leo was off the rock now for the lamp light fell full upon him he was still on his feet but in the centre of a surging mass of struggling men who were striving to pull him down as wolves pulled down a stag up above them towered his beautiful pale face crowned with its bright curls for Leo is six foot too high and I saw that he was fighting with a desperate abandonment and energy that was at once splendid and hideous to behold he drove his knife through one man they were so close to and mixed up with him that they could not get at him to kill him with their big spears and they had no knives or sticks the man fell and then somehow the knife was wrenched from his hand leaving him defenseless and I thought that the end had come but no with a desperate effort he broke loose from them seized the body of the man he had just slain and lifting it high in the air hurled it right at the mob of his assailants so that the shock and weight of it swept some five or six of them to the earth but in a minute they were all up again except one whose skull was smashed and had once more fastened upon him and then slowly with infinite labour and struggling the wolves bore the lion down once even then he recovered himself and felled an armor haggar with his fist but it was more than man could do to hold his own for long against so many and at last he came crashing down upon the rock floor falling as an oak falls and bearing with him to earth all those who clung about him they gripped him by his arms and legs and then cleared off his body a spear cried a voice a spear to cut his throat and a vessel to catch his blood I shut my eyes for I saw the man coming with a spear and myself I could not stir to Leo's help for I was growing weak and the two men on me were not yet dead and a deadly sickness overcame me then suddenly there was a disturbance and involuntarily I opened my eyes again and looked towards the scene of murder the girl ustain had thrown herself on Leo's prostrate form covering his body with her body and fastening her arms about his neck they tried to drag her from him but she twisted her legs round his and hung on like a bulldog or rather like a creeper to a tree and they could not then they tried to stab him in the side without hurting her but somehow she shielded him and he was only wounded at last they lost patience drive the spear through the man and the woman together said the voice the same voice that had asked the questions at that ghastly feast so of a verity shall they be wed then I saw the man with the weapon straightened himself for the effort I saw the cold steel gleam on high and once more I shut my eyes as I did so I heard the voice of a man thunder out in tones that rang and echoed down the rocky ways cease then I fainted and as I did so it flashed through my darkening mind that I was passing down into the last oblivion of death end of chapter eight