A QUEEN'S FAVOURITE
Three days after my coming to the Island of Gems I discovered, to my
embarrassment, that Queen Melannie regarded me with more than royal
favour. It had been her custom to seclude herself from her people
except upon occasions, but now she preferred to walk with me daily upon
the cliffs, or among the rich foliage, which made a natural garden in
the valleys. None molested us, for those to whom the queen showed
favour were taboo to the rest of the tribe, so that as long as I
retained her goodwill I was safe. But who would be dependent upon a
woman's whim?
"You do not love me, Peter," she said, for I had told her my name, "not
as I love you. Your blood is cold. It does not run warm as mine does
when I hold you to me."
I tried to pacify her, but she would not be satisfied.
"You do not love me! You cannot love me!" she repeated. "They want me
to give you to the snake god. Why should I keep you if you do not love
me?"
This was the first time she had threatened me, and I began to realize
that the love she professed was tempered by a degree of venom which at
any moment might consign me to some cruel death.
Surely no man was placed in such a dilemma as that in which I now found
myself. In all my adventures I had never felt so helpless as I did when
dealing with this wilful queen. I dared not tell her of my love for
Anna Holstein, for I knew that such a confession would quickly seal my
doom. Yet I could not return her love, for Anna was never out of my
thoughts. Meanwhile Ackbau watched us closely, content to bide his
time.
The people upon this island were unlike any I had previously met with.
I conjectured that in ages past some tribe of Indians had migrated to
it, for that Indian blood flowed in the veins of its present
inhabitants seemed beyond doubt. Their intelligence exceeded that of
aborigines, and their language contained words of Hindu origin. As for
the queen, I set her down for a Portuguese maiden, whose mother must
have accompanied the captain of some trading vessel, probably in search
of the Island of Gems, when, by a stroke of fate, the ship, with all
hands, had foundered, leaving Melannie the sole survivor.
Ackbau seldom spoke to me, and when he did his tone was unfriendly.
"The white man will make good sport at the coming of the snake god," he
said to me once when I had angered him by walking out with the queen,
and those with him had laughed, and had looked at me in a manner that
made me speculate upon what cruel fate it was to which they, in their
own minds, had already consigned me.
Of the tortures practised by the islanders upon those who offended
them, I was not left long in doubt. There had lately been a war, so
Melannie told me, between this people and those of an adjacent island
in which some captives had been taken who, according to custom, would
be offered in sacrifice to propitiate one of the many evil spirits whom
these benighted people worship. On the day of the sacrifice I was
bidden to be present, and not daring to refuse, I accompanied the queen
to a barren spot at the foot of the mountain where some gaunt trees
rose out of a bed of lava. Here we found Ackbau haranguing the victims,
and describing to them the tortures they would shortly be called upon
to suffer. One of the captives had been prepared for the sacrifice,
and, but for the gravity of his position, his appearance might have
excited mirth. His body was encased in a kind of basket from which his
head, arms, and legs protruded, giving him the appearance of a gigantic
insect. To the top of the basket, or tamgky, to give it its native
name, was attached a rope of flax, the end of which had been thrown
over a branch of one of the trees to the height of about forty feet
from the ground. By command of Ackbau, a file of warriors now began to
pull upon this rope, when the victim was drawn up to the branch over
his head, where Melannie told me he would be allowed to remain until,
in the course of time, the rope rotted away, when the skeleton would
fall to the ground. The object of enclosing the vital parts of the
victim in a basket was that death might come as slowly as possible.
Some would live, so the queen assured me, for many days, during which
time of agony their faces and the exposed parts of their bodies would
be devoured by ants and other venomous insects. Yet Melannie sat
unmoved by the sight of these tortures, and even smiled when the poor
wretch had been drawn up to his awful doom, and cried out in his agony.
For that smile I felt that I could kill her.
Unable to control myself in the presence of such barbarities, I
abruptly left the place of execution and began to ascend the mountain,
at the foot of which the sacrifices were made, which I could see was
the cause of a commotion among the natives. As none offered to stay me,
however, I continued my way up the steep sides, which I found to be
composed of rocks and scoria, with occasional patches of coarse grass.
Among the slag of metals between the crevices of the rocks I unearthed
a number of gems, though none so large as those which Melannie had
given me, which I added to the collection I carried in a belt I had
made for the purpose. I knew it was unlikely these bits of coloured
crystal would ever be of value to me, but I carried them in the hope
that some day I might be rescued, when I would return home possessed of
the wealth I had coveted, and which I had risked my life to obtain.
As I explored the mountain I could hear the rumbling of the volcanic
fire within, while as I proceeded a rain of fine dust descended, making
further progress disagreeable. Earth tremors also warned me that the
crust here was thin, and therefore dangerous. The mountain seemed on
the verge of eruption, and I wondered that no alarm for the safety of
the town built at the foot of it had been shown by Melannie and her
people. But I remembered that volcanoes, like all great works of
Nature, measure time by the lapse of ages, and that a thousand years
will often pass between the convulsions of the internal fires which
find an outlet through the earth's craters. The smoke and heat of the
mountain, however, reminded me of my tinder-box, and I gathered some
flints, of which there were a number lying round, before returning to
my dwelling in the native town. I had kept my ability to make fire, so
far, secret, but if my life was threatened I resolved to kindle a
conflagration that would sweep the island.
When the queen and her followers returned from the place of execution
Melannie sent for me.
"Have a care, Peter," she said. "We are ruled here by customs which may
not be changed. Already Ackbau is jealous of the favour I have shown
you. To go upon the mountain, which is forbidden country, may be made
an argument in favour of thy death, from which even I cannot save you."
I pleaded an excuse for infringing the taboo, but Melannie shook her
head. Then she embraced me and begged me to forgive her ill-humour.
"You will not leave me, Peter," she pleaded. "You are strong--stronger
than Ackbau, and will protect me from him."
"But you are queen, are you not?" I answered.
"Yes, I am queen," replied Melannie, "but I do not love my people as I
should do. I wish they would make Ackbau king, so that I might be free
as others are."
She tried to embrace me, but I disengaged myself from her. I could not
take her to my heart, coming, as she did, a willing spectator from the
place of sacrifice.