SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT
From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded
night and day by picked men who it was believed could not be corrupted.
As a consequence, the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life more irksome
than ours became at Mur. Of privacy there was none left to us, since
sentries and detectives lurked at every corner, while tasters were
obliged to eat of each dish and drink from each cup before it touched
our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh, whose loss we
mourned as much as though the poor dog had been some beloved human
being.
Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose
opportunities of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this
rigid espionage. Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two
soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out
of their sight? Particularly is this so if the adored happens to be the
ruler of those soldiers to whom the person guarded has no right to be
making himself agreeable. For when off duty even the most faithful
guardians are apt to talk. Of course, the result was that the pair took
risks which did not escape observation. Indeed, their intimate
relations became a matter of gossip throughout the land.
Still, annoying as they might be, these precautions succeeded, for none
of us were poisoned or got our throats cut, although we were constantly
the victims of mysterious accidents. Thus, a heavy rock rolled down
upon us when we sat together one evening upon the hill-side, and a
flight of arrows passed between us while we were riding along the edge
of a thicket, by one of which Higgs’s horse was killed. Only when the
mountain and the thicket were searched no one could be found. Moreover,
a great plot against us was discovered in which some of the lords and
priests were implicated, but such was the state of feeling in the
country that, beyond warning them privately that their machinations
were known, Maqueda did not dare to take proceedings against these men.
A little later on things mended so far as we were concerned, for the
following reason: One day two shepherds arrived at the palace with some
of their companions, saying that they had news to communicate. On being
questioned, these peasants averred that while they were herding their
goats upon the western cliffs many miles away, suddenly on the top of
the hills appeared a body of fifteen Fung, who bound and blindfolded
them, telling them in mocking language to take a message to the Council
and to the white men.
This was the message: That they had better make haste to destroy the god
Harmac, since otherwise his head would move to Mur according to the
prophecy, and that when it did so, the Fung would follow as they knew
how to do. Then they set the two men on a rock where they could be
seen, and on the following morning were in fact found by some of their
fellows, those who accompanied them to the Court and corroborated this
story.
Of course the matter was duly investigated, but as I know, for I went
with the search party, when we got to the place no trace of the Fung
could be found, except one of their spears, of which the handle had
been driven into the earth and the blade pointed toward Mur, evidently
in threat or defiance. No other token of them remained, for, as it
happened, a heavy rain had fallen and obliterated their footprints,
which in any case must have been faint on this rocky ground.
Notwithstanding the most diligent search by skilled men, their mode of
approach and retreat remained a mystery, as, indeed, it does to this
day. The only places where it was supposed to be possible to scale the
precipice of Mur were watched continually, so that they could have
climbed up by none of these. The inference was, therefore, that the
Fung had discovered some unknown path, and, if fifteen men could climb
that path, why not fifteen thousand!
Only, where was this path? In vain were great rewards in land and
honours offered to him who should discover it, for although such
discoveries were continually reported, on investigation these were
found to be inventions or mares’ nests. Nothing but a bird could have
travelled by such roads.
Then at last we saw the Abati thoroughly frightened, for, with
additions, the story soon passed from mouth to mouth till the whole
people talked of nothing else. It was as though we English learned that
a huge foreign army had suddenly landed on our shores and, having cut
the wires and seized the railways, was marching upon London. The effect
of such tidings upon a nation that always believed invasion to be
impossible may easily be imagined, only I hope that we should take them
better than did the Abati.
Their swagger, their self-confidence, their talk about the “rocky
walls of Mur,” evaporated in an hour. Now it was only of the
disciplined and terrible regiments of the Fung, among whom every man
was trained to war, and of what would happen to them, the civilized and
domesticated Abati, a peace-loving people who rightly enough, as they
declared, had refused all martial burdens, should these regiments
suddenly appear in their midst. They cried out that they were
betrayed—they clamoured for the blood of certain of the Councillors.
That carpet knight, Joshua, lost popularity for a while, while Maqueda,
who was known always to have been in favour of conscription and perfect
readiness to repel attack, gained what he had lost.
Leaving their farms, they crowded together into the towns and villages,
where they made what in South Africa are called laagers. Religion,
which practically had been dead among them, for they retained but few
traces of the Jewish faith if, indeed, they had ever really practised
it, became the craze of the hour. Priests were at a premium; sheep and
cattle were sacrificed; it was even said that, after the fashion of
their foes the Fung, some human beings shared the same fate. At any
rate the Almighty was importuned hourly to destroy the hated Fung and
to protect His people—the Abati—from the results of their own base
selfishness and cowardly neglect.
Well, the world has seen such exhibitions before to-day, and will
doubtless see more of them in the instance of greater peoples who allow
luxury and pleasure-seeking to sap their strength and manhood.
The upshot of it all was that the Abati became obsessed with the saying
of the Fung scouts to the shepherds, which, after all, was but a
repetition of that of their envoys delivered to the Council a little
while before: that they should hasten to destroy the idol Harmac, lest
he should move himself to Mur. How an idol of such proportions, or even
its head, could move at all they did not stop to inquire. It was
obvious to them, however, that if he was destroyed there would be
nothing to move and, further, that we Gentiles were the only persons
who could possibly effect such destruction. So we also became popular
for a little while. Everybody was pleasant and flattered
us—everybody, even Joshua, bowed when we approached, and took a most
lively interest in the progress of our work, which many deputations and
prominent individuals urged us to expedite.
Better still, the untoward accidents such as those I have mentioned,
ceased. Our dogs, for we had obtained some others, were no longer
poisoned; rocks that appeared fixed did not fall; no arrows whistled
among us when we went out riding. We even found it safe occasionally to
dispense with our guards, since it was every one’s interest to keep
us alive—for the present. Still, I for one was not deceived for a
single moment, and in season and out of season warned the others that
the wind would soon blow again from a less favourable quarter.
We worked, we worked, we worked! Heaven alone knows how we did work.
Think of the task, which, after all, was only one of several. A tunnel
must be bored, for I forget how far, through virgin rock, with the help
of inadequate tools and unskilled labour, and this tunnel must be
finished by a certain date. A hundred unexpected difficulties arose,
and one by one were conquered. Great dangers must be run, and were
avoided, while the responsibility of this tremendous engineering feat
lay upon the shoulders of a single individual, Oliver Orme, who,
although he had been educated as an engineer, had no great practical
experience of such enterprises.
Truly the occasion makes the man, for Orme rose to it in a way that I
can only call heroic. When he was not actually in the tunnel he was
labouring at his calculations, of which many must be made, or taking
levels with such instruments as he had. For if there proved to be the
slightest error all this toil would be in vain, and result only in the
blowing of a useless hole through a mass of rock. Then there was a
great question as to the effect which would be produced by the amount
of explosive at his disposal, since terrible as might be the force of
the stuff, unless it were scientifically placed and distributed it
would assuredly fail to accomplish the desired end.
At last, after superhuman efforts, the mine was finished. Our stock of
concentrated explosive, about four full camel loads of it, was set in as
many separate chambers, each of them just large enough to receive the
charge, hollowed in the primæval rock from which the idol had been
hewn.
These chambers were about twenty feet from each other, although if there
had been time to prolong the tunnel, the distance should have been at
least forty in order to give the stuff a wider range of action.
According to Oliver’s mathematical reckoning, they were cut in the
exact centre of the base of the idol, and about thirty feet below the
actual body of the crouching sphinx. As a matter of fact this reckoning
was wrong in several particulars, the charges having been set farther
toward the east or head of the sphinx and higher up in the base than he
supposed. When it is remembered that he had found no opportunity of
measuring the monument which practically we had only seen once from
behind under conditions not favourable to accuracy in such respects, or
of knowing its actual length and depth, these trifling errors were not
remarkable.
What was remarkable is that his general plan of operations, founded upon
a mere hypothetical estimate, should have proved as accurate as it did.
At length all was prepared, and the deadly cast-iron flasks had been
packed in sand, together with dynamite cartridges, the necessary
detonators, electric wires, and so forth, an anxious and indeed awful
task executed entirely in that stifling atmosphere by the hands of Orme
and Quick. Then began another labour, that of the filling in of the
tunnels. This, it seems, was necessary, or so I understood, lest the
expanding gases, following the line of least resistance, should blow
back, as it were, through the vent-hole. What made that task the more
difficult was the need of cutting a little channel in the rock to
contain the wires, and thereby lessen the risk of the fracture of these
wires in the course of the building-up process. Of course, if by any
accident this should happen, the circuit would be severed, and no
explosion would follow when the electric battery was set to work.
The arrangement was that the mine should be fired on the night of that
full moon on which we had been told, and spies confirmed the
information, the feast of the marriage of Barung’s daughter to my son
would be celebrated in the city of Harmac. This date was fixed because
the Sultan had announced that so soon as that festivity, which
coincided with the conclusion of the harvest, was ended, he meant to
deliver his attack on Mur.
Also, we were anxious that it should be adhered to for another reason,
since we knew that on this day but a small number of priests and guards
would be left in charge of the idol, and my son could not be among
them. Now, whatever may have been the views of the Abati, we as
Christians who bore them no malice did not at all desire to destroy an
enormous number of innocent Fung, as might have happened if we had
fired our mine when the people were gathered to sacrifice to their god.
The fatal day arrived at last. All was completed, save for the blocking
of the passage, which still went on, or, rather, was being reinforced
by the piling up of loose rocks against its mouth, at which a hundred
or so men laboured incessantly. The firing wires had been led into that
little chamber in the old temple where the dog Pharaoh tore out the
throat of Shadrach, and no inch of them was left unguarded for fear of
accident or treachery.
The electric batteries—two of them, in case one should fail—had
been tested but not connected with the wires. There they stood upon the
floor, looking innocent enough, and we four sat round them like wizards
round their magic pot, who await the working of some spell. We were not
cheerful; who could be under so intense a strain? Orme, indeed, who had
grown pale and thin with continuous labour of mind and body, seemed
quite worn out. He could not eat nor smoke, and with difficulty I
persuaded him to drink some of the native wine. He would not even go to
look at the completion of the work or to test the wires.
“You can see to it,” he said; “I have done all I can. Now
things must take their chance.”
After our midday meal he lay down and slept quite soundly for several
hours. About four o’clock those who were labouring at the piling up
of débris over the mouth of the tunnel completed their task, and, in
charge of Quick, were marched out of the underground city.
Then Higgs and I took lamps and went along the length of the wires,
which lay in a little trench covered over with dust, removing the dust
and inspecting them at intervals. Discovering nothing amiss, we
returned to the old temple, and at its doorway met the mountaineer,
Japhet, who throughout all these proceedings had been our prop and
stay. Indeed, without his help and that of his authority over the Abati
the mine could never have been completed, at any rate within the time.
The light of the lamp showed that his face was very anxious.
“What is the matter?” I asked.
“O Physician,” he answered, “I have words for the ear of the
Captain Orme. Be pleased to lead me to him.”
We explained that he slept and could not be disturbed, but Japhet only
answered as before, adding:
“Come you with me, my words are for your ears as well as his.”
So we went into the little room and awoke Oliver, who sprang up in a
great fright, thinking that something untoward had happened at the
mine.
“What’s wrong?” he asked of Japhet. “Have the Fung cut
the wires?”
“Nay, O Orme, a worse thing; I have discovered that the Prince Joshua
has laid a plot to steal away ‘Her-whose-name-is-high.’”
“What do you mean? Set out all the story, Japhet,” said Oliver.
“It is short, lord. I have some friends, one of whom—he is of my
own blood, but ask me not his name—is in the service of the Prince. We
drank a cup of wine together, which I needed, and I suppose it loosed
his tongue. At any rate, he told me, and I believed him. This is the
story. For his own sake and that of the people the Prince desires that
you should destroy the idol of Fung, and therefore he has kept his
hands off you of late. Yet should you succeed, he does not know what
may happen. He fears lest the Abati in their gratitude should set you
up as great men.”
“Then he is an ass!” interrupted Quick; “for the Abati have
no gratitude.”
“He fears,” went on Japhet, “other things also. For instance,
that the Child of Kings may express that gratitude by a mark of her
signal favour toward one of you,” and he stared at Orme, who turned
his head aside. “Now, the Prince is affianced to this great lady,
whom he desires to wed for two reasons: First, because this marriage
will make him the chief man amongst the Abati, and, secondly, because
of late he has come to think that he loves her whom he is afraid that
he may lose. So he has set a snare.”
“What snare?” asked one of us, for Japhet paused.
“I don’t know,” answered Japhet, “and I do not think
that my friend knew either, or, if he did, he would not tell me. But I
understand the plot is that the Child of Kings is to be carried off to
the Prince Joshua’s castle at the other end of the lake, six hours’
ride away, and there be forced to marry him at once.”
“Indeed,” said Orme, “and when is all this to happen?”
“I don’t know, lord. I know nothing except what my friend told me,
which I thought it right to communicate to you instantly. I asked him
the time, however, and he said that he believed the date was fixed for
one night after next Sabbath.”
“Next Sabbath is five days hence, so that this matter does not seem to
be very pressing,” remarked Oliver with a sigh of relief. “Are you
sure that you can trust your friend, Japhet?”
“No, lord, I am not sure, especially as I have always known him to be
a liar. Still, I thought that I ought to tell you.”
“Very kind of you, Japhet, but I wish that you had let me have my
sleep out first. Now go down the line and see that all is right, then
return and report.”
Japhet saluted in his native fashion and went.
“What do you think of this story?” asked Oliver, as soon as he was
out of hearing.
“All bosh,” answered Higgs; “the place is full of talk and
rumours, and this is one of them.”
He paused and looked at me.
“Oh!” I said, “I agree with Higgs. If Japhet’s friend
had really anything to tell he would have told it in more detail. I
daresay there are a good many things Joshua would like to do, but I
expect he will stop there, at any rate, for the present. If you take my
advice you will say nothing of the matter, especially to Maqueda.”
“Then we are all agreed. But what are you thinking of, Sergeant?”
asked Oliver, addressing Quick, who stood in a corner of the room, lost
apparently in contemplation of the floor.
“I, Captain,” he replied, coming to attention. “Well, begging
their pardon, I was thinking that I don’t hold with these gentlemen,
except in so far that I should say nothing of this job to our Lady, who
has plenty to bother her just now, and won’t need to be frightened as
well. Still, there may be something in it, for though that Japhet is
stupid, he’s honest, and honest men sometimes get hold of the right
end of the stick. At least, he believes there is something, and
that’s what weighs with me.”
“Well, if that’s your opinion, what’s best to be done
Sergeant? I agree that the Child of Kings should not be told, and I
shan’t leave this place till after ten o’clock to-night at the
earliest, if we stick to our plans, as we had better do, for all that
stuff in the tunnel wants a little time to settle, and for other
reasons. What are you drawing there?” and he pointed to the floor, in
the dust of which Quick was tracing something with his finger.
“A plan of our Lady’s private rooms, Captain. She told you she was
going to rest at sundown, didn’t she, or earlier, for she was up most
of last night, and wanted to get a few hours’ sleep
before—something happens. Well, her bed-chamber is there, isn’t it?
and another before it, in which her maids sleep, and nothing behind
except a high wall and a ditch which cannot be climbed.”
“That’s quite true,” interrupted Higgs. “I got leave to
make a plan of the palace, only there is a passage six feet wide and
twenty long leading from the guard chamber to the ladies’
anteroom.”
“Just so, Professor, and that passage has a turn in it, if I remember
right, so that two well-armed men could hold it against quite a lot.
Supposing now that you and I, Professor, should go and take a nap in
that guard-room, which will be empty, for the watch is set at the
palace gate. We shan’t be wanted here, since if the Captain can’t
touch off that mine, no one can, with the Doctor to help him just in
case anything goes wrong, and Japhet guarding the line. I daresay
there’s nothing in this yarn, but who knows? There might be, and then
we should blame ourselves. What do you say, Professor?”
“I? Oh, I’ll do anything you wish, though I should rather have
liked to climb the cliff and watch what happens.”
“You’d see nothing, Higgs,” interrupted Oliver, “except
perhaps the reflection of a flash in the sky; so, if you don’t mind, I
wish you would go with the Sergeant. Somehow, although I am quite
certain that we ought not to alarm Maqueda, I am not easy about her,
and if you two fellows were there, I should know she was all right, and
it would be a weight off my mind.”
“That settles it,” said Higgs; “we’ll be off presently.
Look here, give us that portable telephone, which is of no use anywhere
else now. The wire will reach to the palace, and if the machine works
all right we can talk to you and tell each other how things are going
on.”
Ten minutes later they had made their preparations. Quick stepped up to
Oliver and stood at attention, saying:
“Ready to march. Any more orders, Captain?”
“I think not, Sergeant,” he answered, lifting his eyes from the
little batteries that he was watching as though they were live things.
“You know the arrangements. At ten o’clock—that is about two
hours hence—I touch this switch. Whatever happens it must not be done
before, for fear lest the Doctor’s son should not have left the idol,
to say nothing of all the other poor beggars. The spies say that the
marriage feast will not be celebrated until at least three hours after
moonrise.”
“And that’s what I heard when I was a prisoner,” interrupted
Higgs.
“I daresay,” answered Orme; “but it is always well to allow a
margin in case the procession should be delayed, or something. So until
ten o’clock I’ve got to stop where I am, and you may be sure,
Doctor, that under no circumstances shall I fire the mine before that
hour, as indeed you will be here to see. After that I can’t say what
will happen, but if we don’t appear, you two had better come to look
for us—in case of accidents, you know. Do your best at your end
according to circumstances; the Doctor and I will do our best at ours.
I think that is all, Sergeant. Report yourselves by the telephone if
the wire is long enough and it will work, which I daresay it won’t,
and, anyway, look out for us about half-past ten. Good-bye!”
“Good-bye, Captain,” answered Quick, then stretched out his hand,
shook that of Orme, and without another word took his lamp and left the
chamber.
An impulse prompted me to follow him, leaving Orme and Higgs discussing
something before they parted. When he had walked about fifty yards in
the awful silence of that vast underground town, of which the ruined
tenements yawned on either side of us, the Sergeant stopped and said
suddenly:
“You don’t believe in presentiments, do you, Doctor?”
“Not a bit,” I answered.
“Glad of it, Doctor. Still, I have got a bad one now, and it is that I
shan’t see the Captain or you any more.”
“Then that’s a poor look-out for us, Quick.”
“No, Doctor, for me. I think you are both all right, and the
Professor, too. It’s my name they are calling up aloft, or so it
seems to me. Well, I don’t care much, for, though no saint, I have
tried to do my duty, and if it is done, it’s done. If it’s written,
it’s got to come to pass, hasn’t it? For everything is written down
for us long before we begin, or so I’ve always thought. Still, I’ll
grieve to part from the Captain, seeing that I nursed him as a child,
and I’d have liked to know him well out of this hole, and safely
married to that sweet lady first, though I don’t doubt that it will
be so.”
“Nonsense, Sergeant,” I said sharply; “you are not yourself;
all this work and anxiety has got on your nerves.”
“As it well might, Doctor, not but I daresay that’s true. Anyhow,
if the other is the true thing, and you should all see old England again
with some of the stuff in that dead-house, I’ve got three nieces
living down at home whom you might remember. Don’t say nothing of
what I told you to the Captain till this night’s game is played,
seeing that it might upset him, and he’ll need to keep cool up to ten
o’clock, and afterwards too, perhaps. Only if we shouldn’t meet
again, say that Samuel Quick sent him his duty and God’s blessing.
And the same on yourself, Doctor, and your son, too. And now here comes
the Professor, so good-bye.”
A minute later they had left me, and I stood watching them until the two
stars of light from their lanterns vanished into the blackness.