DAKLA.
Ulama also left her seat and came forward to the two young men.
"Your friend," she said, "has taken my father by surprise; else had he
bidden you be seated. Nor did I know that he could not earlier have
received you, or I would have sent my maidens to you with refreshment.
Come now and sit near us, and I will point out to you my friends that
they may be your friends; meantime Zonella will order fruit and wine
for your sustainment. Anon you will be invited to our table; but
meantime you will need something. We all do," she added, when they made
gestures of dissent, "so you will not be conspicuous in partaking here
of what we offer you."
Pages then entered bearing luscious fruits and tempting-looking foaming
drinks; the former on massive salvers of pure gold, the latter in
chalices of gold and silver set with gems. The fruits were all new to
them, as also were the drinks; but, on tasting them, they found them to
be all they looked.
The fruits were indeed delicious and refreshing; the drinks cooling
and exhilarating: to Elwood and Templemore they were as nectar and
ambrosia, and they said so, and asked many questions concerning them.
But, seeing that the only information they received was a string of
names that conveyed to them no meaning, they added little to their
stock of knowledge.
They now talked freely with those around them; but found the questions
showered upon them from all sides somewhat more than they could answer,
so that Templemore said at last in an aside to the other,
"Tell you what it is, Leonard; we shall have to give a public
lecture--or perhaps a series--and invite as many at a time as the
Town Hall of the place will contain. Pity we didn't bring some magic
lanterns and dissolving views to illustrate what we have to tell them.
I _would_ have done so if I had only known."
They, in their turn, were not less full of curiosity and interest in
all they saw around them. The statuary, and, above all, the pictures
amazed them.
"It upsets all one's notions of history and all that," said Jack
quietly to Leonard, "to find this sort of thing in the so-called 'new'
world. We might be back in Ancient Greece."
"Or Babylon, or Nineveh," Elwood answered. "It's like a dream--and,
strange to say, I have dreamed much of it before. I keep thinking I
shall wake up presently and find that this city, with all that it
contains, has vanished."
"I trust not," said Ulama--to whom the last part of the sentence had
been addressed--with a smile. "I should not like to think that I,
myself, am but a dream. But, since you speak of having dreams of that
which you find here, know that I have strange dreams also. All my life
it has been thus with me. Of late they have been less frequent than of
yore, and the memory of them is confused and indistinct; but I know
that in them I have seen--aye, more than once--_your_ face, and the
face of him you call Monella."
Elwood regarded the maiden in surprise, and she continued,
"Yes, it is true. Tell me, Zonella, have I not often described to thee
those I had seen in my dreams; and did not some resemble these? As to
face thou canst not know, but as to garb and other details?"
"'Tis true," replied Zonella gravely.
But the matter-of-fact Templemore found it hard to credit this; visions
and the like were nothing in his way.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"Quite," both said.
"And--me--a--I--myself, I mean; was I there too?"
Templemore's manner when he asked this question was so humorously
anxious that Ulama laughed--a joyous, ringing laugh, the token of a
soul innocent and free from care.
"No, indeed," she answered. "I never dreamed of you."
"And you?" he asked, turning to Zonella.
"No, never;" and she too laughed merrily.
"It really doesn't seem fair," said Jack, with an injured air. "Waking
or sleeping, my friend has been a dreamer all his life; when we met
with Monella we found he was one of the same sort; so those two were on
terms immediately; but I--I am out of it all. Never had a dream in my
life worth remembering. Not only that, but--as it now seems--I can't
even get into other people's. I put it to you, Princess, am I not a
little hardly done by?"
Thus they laughed and chatted, and time passed on, and still Monella
and the king were closeted together. It was more than an hour--nearer
two--before the king returned; and then alone.
"My friends," he said, "the audience is at an end. Affairs of state
demand my earnest thought, and I must now dismiss you. But," beckoning
the two young men to him, and taking in his own a hand of each, "once
more let me commend these strangers to your care and friendship.
They have rendered me to-day a service that is beyond price, and in
rendering it to me, they have rendered it to us all. More I need not
say, except to charge you to make their stay with us a pleasant one."
He withdrew, and, with his absence, the crowd began to thin; only those
belonging to the court remaining.
And now Ulama spoke.
"I shall hand you over to my good friends here," she said. "Doubtless
you will wish to make a change in your apparel and----"
"Unfortunately we brought no change with us," said Jack.
"They will bring you a choice of vestments," she answered, laughing.
"You will surely find something to your taste." She bowed courteously,
and went out, followed by Zonella and her attendants.
They were now taken in charge by the high chamberlain, whom they
already knew by name--Colenna. He, in turn, handed them over to his son
Kalaima, a bright-eyed, fair, talkative young fellow with whom they
quickly found themselves on pleasant terms. He conducted them to a
suite of chambers which would be, he said, reserved to them. They found
there various suits which he laid out for their selection, instructing
them, with much good humour, in the way in which they should be worn.
These were, so he told them, the distinctive dresses of a noble of high
degree; and were presents from the king as a mark of his special favour.
Elwood laughed at Jack's expression while he turned over the various
articles after Kalaima had left them to themselves, examining in turn
the white tunic of finest silk embroidered with strange devices, the
cap with jewelled plume, the heavy belt of solid gold, and the short
sword and dagger; all ornamented with precious stones of greater value
than they could estimate.
"Are you really going to deck yourself out in these things, Leonard?"
he asked, with a rueful look. "Am I expected to do so too? Great
Scott! What would our friends in Georgetown say if they could see us
masquerading in this toggery?"
"When at Rome you must do as Rome does, I suppose," Elwood returned
lightly. "After all, I don't suppose it will seem half so strange to
the good people here as would our continuing to wear our present dress."
"There's a good deal, no doubt, to be said for that view," Jack said
with resignation. "And, since it is intended as a compliment, I suppose
we must e'en accept it as such. I only hope I shall be able to keep my
countenance when I look at you--that is, before the king and others. At
present I feel very much afraid that it may prove beyond my powers."
In their suite of chambers was a bath, with water deep and broad
enough to swim in. A refreshing plunge, a reclothing in the unfamiliar
raiment, and they emerged from their apartments dressed as nobles
of the country. The attempts, honest, but too often futile, made by
Templemore to preserve his gravity, caused him at times more personal
discomfort than did even the strange garb but, since use accustoms us
to pretty nearly everything the efforts required became gradually less
and less.
But what sobered him, so to speak, the most, was his meeting with
Monella, who was now attired in like fashion to themselves. The change
seemed to have made an extraordinary alteration in the man. He looked
taller and more imposing than ever, and in his gait and manner there
were an added grace and dignity. It could now be seen that his form was
supple and muscular as that of a young man's, graceful in the swing of
the limbs and in every pose. His eyes retained their unique expression
that seemed to magnetise those upon whom they fell; but his face had
a greater gravity than ever, and something of a majesty that awed
Templemore when he noted it.
"Of a truth," he said to Elwood, "that man seems to alter from day to
day even from hour to hour. He is just as kindly, as courteous, and as
gentle; just as thoughtful--yet, I feel somehow that there is a gulf
deepening between us, and that it is widening, slowly but surely. Yet
not because one likes him less--that's just it, you seem to like him
and admire him more and more--but you feel you do it from afar--from a
gradually increasing distance."
And when, later in the day, they sat down to a banquet at the king's
table, and saw Monella seated beside the king, taking the post of
honour and accepting it with the easy dignity of one who had been
used to it all his life; not only the observant Jack, but the less
seriously-minded Leonard, felt, with increasing force, the feeling the
former had described.
During this repast they learned that the Manoans were vegetarians;
though their cookery was so skilful that such dishes as the strangers
tasted they found both appetising and satisfying. Not only that, but,
as they soon discovered, these dishes were fully as invigorating and
nourishing as a meat diet. This was due to the presence of some strange
vegetable or herb in nearly every dish; but what this was they could
not then determine.
At dusk, a new surprise awaited them; for, not only the palace, but
the whole city was lighted up by what they quickly recognised as the
electric light. They now could understand the brilliant aspect of the
city as first seen by them at night from the head of the canyon.
After the meal, Templemore and Elwood went out, with many more, upon
a terrace that overlooked the lake; where now boats were going to and
fro, some paddled by oars, some drawn by the large white swans. But
what at first puzzled the new-comers were the antics of some who threw
themselves into the water from considerable heights. Instead of falling
almost vertically, as a diver would, they swept down in a graceful
curve, striking the water almost horizontally, then bounded up and flew
through the air for a short distance, till once more they touched the
water and bounded up again. Finally, when the impetus was expended,
they swam back to shore or were taken thither in a boat. Of course this
style of bathing could not be practised _in puris naturalibus_, or in
ordinary bathing dress; so they were furnished with a kind of divided
parachute, or twin parachutes, not unlike artificial wings; with these
they could descend from towers and great heights and with a long
swallow-like sweep, striking the water and rebounding again and again.
By practice some had obtained a wonderful dexterity in this amusement,
and their evolutions would have deceived a stranger, viewing them from
a distance, into a belief that they were actual flying creatures. Some
of the children--who chiefly delighted in this pastime--were very
expert at it.
While watching the gay scene before them--a repetition of what they had
witnessed from afar--Kalaima came to say that the king requested their
presence in his council chamber. Following the young man they entered
a hall, smaller than that in which they had first been received, and
found the king throned under a canopy as before, and Monella seated
near him. Around the hall were ten or twelve of his chief ministers and
officers, each placed before a small table, Upon which were ink-horns,
pens, and sheets of parchment.
Standing in the centre of the chamber was a man of swarthy skin and
haughty mien, his expression cruel and deceitful. He wore a black tunic
on which was worked a large golden star like that displayed by the
ill-fated Zelus. Standing respectfully a short distance behind this man
were two others, somewhat similarly attired.
The leader had just finished speaking when Templemore and Elwood
entered, and he cast at them a scowl that was almost appalling in its
malignity.
The king signed to the young men to seat themselves beside Monella;
then, turning to the man who had just spoken, said,
"It avails nothing, Dakla, for thee to come to us with messages of this
intent, and with presentments, void of truth, of what befell to-day.
Here are the three strangers who, as thou sayest, opposed themselves
to Zelus, the son of Coryon thy master. They slew him, it is true, and
some of those who followed him, but it was to save my daughter from his
violence."
"It is false, O King! They lie, if they say so! For our lord Zelus had
no thought of violence!" This from Dakla.
"If thine errand here is but to charge with falsehood these three men,
I'll grant thee audience no longer." The kings voice was stern, and
his eyes flashed angrily, so that Dakla trembled, and there was less
confidence in his tone when he replied,
"But they are strangers whom the king knows not; wherefore should he
accept their word before our trusted servants?"
"Because it is confirmed by mine own daughter, sirrah! And if thou
darest again to say it is untrue that Zelus lifted his hand to take her
life, thou shalt not return unpunished, be the consequences what they
may!"
By the king's impressive manner, and still more by the menace he had
thus let fall, Dakla seemed daunted. He had expected to be able to
carry things his own way. He hesitated, then said in a milder tone,
"But even so, they should not have taken the life of our lord Zelus,
but have brought him before _thee_."
"How could they do that when he had more than a score of men with him,
and they were but three? Furthermore, there was no time for parley. An
instant's hesitation, my daughter saith, and it would have been too
late."
Dakla reflected; then he made a fresh suggestion.
"It will content us if the king remit to us for trial him who, with his
own hand, did slay our lord. If, on due inquisition, it shall be found
even as the king hath said, then shall he be returned unhurt."
The king's face clouded, and his lips curled with scorn as he replied,
"Out upon thee, with thy tricks and cunning snares! Thinkest thou we do
not know thy master by this time? These strangers are my guests--under
my protection! Hark ye! I say under my protection! If harm shall befall
them, I will seize thyself, an' thou comest again within my reach, or
any others of thy master's minions on whom I can lay hands, and their
lives shall pay the forfeit."
"Thy words will grieve my master, King Dranoa," said Dakla, with a
scarcely hidden sneer. "He careth only for the welfare of the king and
of his people. But how shall there be safety for the dwellers in this
land if such as these may go abroad and slay at will, and be protected
by the king?"
"What safety is there now for any, when even the king's daughter cannot
walk near mine own palace without assailment?" the king wrathfully
demanded. "Hold thy peace, sirrah! and quit my sight ere worse betide
thee!"
At this Monella rose, and, bending towards the king, said something
in a low tone to him; the king, assenting with a nod, Monella slowly
turned his glance upon the henchman of the priest, and thus addressed
him,
"I have the king's permission to send a message of my own to Coryon,
since the opportunity now offers. It is well that thou shouldst bear
it, and better still if thou takest it to heart. I sent the same
message by the murderous crew that followed at the heels of thy late
shameful lord--as thou callest him--Zelus. It is this: that such things
as he attempted will bring down vengeance and retribution on you all.
Bid Coryon take heed and mend his ways; if not, his doom is fixed. We
are but three; yet, if we chose, and the king so willed it, we could
clear thee and thy master and his brood from off the land--aye, ere
another sun has risen and set. And tell Coryon this, by the king's
permission we are here, and, as thou hast heard, under his protection.
For that protection we are grateful, but we need it not. If thou, or
any of thy serpent brood molest us, we will hold you all to such a
vengeance as shall repay the wrongs of others and rid the earth of you.
I sent this message by Zelus's craven hounds, but my mind misgives me
that in their flight they scarce remembered it; or, perchance, they
feared to give it. Wilt thou now bear it to thy master?"
"Who art thou that dares to send a message of defiance to the great
Coryon?" Dakla asked.
"One who can carry out his words; one who, as the ally of the king,
will bring upon your heads that which has been so long deserved. One
who, though he spared thy myrmidons to-day, will spare no more. Beware!
Attack us, and we show no mercy!"
With each succeeding sentence he seemed taller, more imposing, and more
menacing; until the last words were fairly thundered out, and his eyes
flashed fire.
The countenance of Dakla fell before his gaze; he hesitated, panted,
turned to go, then turned back, and finally, as one who spoke against
his will, he said, with no show of his former mocking insolence,
"Sir, I will bear thy message." Then, with an obeisance to the king, he
and his attendants left the place.
"I would give something to know what the king and Monella talked about
so long to-day," said Elwood to Templemore that night, when they found
themselves alone together.
"So far as I can gather," Jack replied, "there is a grand old feud on
here between these rascally old priests, on the one side, and the king
and his followers on the other; and Monella, I suspect, has learnt
enough concerning it to lead him to back up the king. Well! So far as I
am concerned, I am game to back him up, too, against such a murdering
lot as they seem to be. What say you?"
"You need not ask _me_," Elwood answered with some surprise. "But I
thought that you--well--that is----"
"Would be rather more slow to get up enthusiasm, eh?" Jack interrupted
with a laugh. "Not at all. Fooling about in a dark, gloomy forest, with
no apparent end in view, was one thing; taking part in an adventure
of this kind to help a lot of people who have received us kindly, is
quite another; to say nothing of helping the king, who's a regular
brick, and his daughter, who's----"
"An angel!" put in Leonard.
And Jack laughed, but approvingly, and said good-night.