"QUOD DIXI DIXI."
As soon as opportunity offered, Grenville closely questioned the
Chieftain of the Stick as to the manner in which his party, commanded by
Leigh, had been expelled from the cavern, where all had thought them so
securely entrenched, and now it was that our friends received another
striking proof of Zero's intense cunning, and of the absolutely perfect
knowledge which the man possessed regarding the mountain fastnesses in
the immediate neighbourhood of his quarters.
Foolishly enough, the little band had failed to notice the singular fact
that the air in the cave was at all times fresh and crisp, instead of
being extremely heavy and "muggy," as is ordinarily the case in long,
unventilated caverns; and it was only now that they realised the truth,
which was that Muzi Zimba's home was situated in the very heart of an
immense volcano, which had been extinct for ages, but whose final
convulsions had probably torn the range in two, and formed the kloof, or
pass, of the Dark Spirit of Evil.
This fact, however, was perfectly well-known to their astute and
unscrupulous foe, and, appreciating his knowledge at its right strategic
value, and sending on by night a large party provided with an immense
rope-ladder, Zero had occupied the adjacent heights above and in the
rear of Leigh's position, and had actually dropped three hundred men
down through the very crater of the extinct volcano; and the first
intimation which the defenders of the cave had received of the presence
of this large force in their immediate rear, came to them in the
objectionable form of a well-aimed volley poured into their very backs
at point-blank range, just at the moment of the delivery, by Zero with
his main army, of a furious attack upon their defences in the mouth of
the cave.
To turn their attention to the force ambushed in their rear would, of
course, have been to let the slaver-chief in upon them, when the cavern
would have literally become a shambles, and every man of the party would
have died a dog's death, for the ambushed foe was securely entrenched
between the position of our friends and the entrance of the mountain
burrow leading to the old well.
Choosing the least of two evils, Leigh drew his men together, and then
launched them like a thunderbolt down the hill and into the very heart
of Zero's force, which they drove before them like chaff before the
wind. Then, getting right through the ranks of the slavers, our
friends, to the utter bewilderment of the foe, ignored altogether the
cover of the forest, and commenced to fall back steadily upon Equatoria,
in order, of course, to effect a junction with Grenville and Kenyon,
whom Zero, perhaps naturally, imagined to be lying dead in the cavern
along with poor Ewan and upwards of a score of the Atagbondo, who had
fallen victims to the first treacherous and fatal discharge of the
ambushed foe.
In the running fight which had ensued, the loss on the side of our
friends had not been worth speaking of, whilst Leigh, with his repeater
charged with explosive bullets, had dropped an enemy on every hundred
yards of ground from the mountain to the skull-shaped knoll. But when
the slavers once sighted the mighty volumes of smoke ascending from
their burning town, they naturally scented something extremely wrong,
and Zero's active mind instantly jumped to the likeliest solution of the
mystery, and told him that Grenville and the great Zulu, both of whom he
hated beyond expression, were revenging themselves upon his force at
home, and stamping out his town.
This caused the slaver to throw the whole of his available force, at any
cost, upon the desperate little band, and drive them in upon the town
pell-mell, with fearful loss upon both sides, for the Atagbondo had
contested every inch of ground, with a stubborn valour little short of
incredible when it is borne in mind that to rifle, spear, and axe, they
could only oppose their rough-hewn wooden clubs.
Of the Zanzibari carriers nothing had been seen since the very
commencement of the fight, for they had been placed for safety in the
hindmost cavern of all, as being worse than useless to the fighting
brigade; but whether the cowards were still in hiding there, or whether
the ambushed slavers had found and massacred the wretched men forthwith,
was, of course, as yet unknown, though, as the slavers in the cavern had
followed our friends out when they fled the spot, it was more than
probable that the fellows were still where their masters had left them.
Seeing, however, that the Mormon leader was almost certain to have their
old location searched for the baggage and belongings of the party,
Grenville thought it much better to make a virtue of necessity, and to
communicate the position of affairs to the old man without further
delay, adding that, on the whole, he almost thought he would prefer to
let even the Mormons divide the goods and chattels of his friends,
rather than see them calmly appropriated by such a wretched craven crew.
Our friend accordingly asked an audience of the aged Prophet--for by
this high-sounding, but somewhat empty, title the old man was designated
by his own people--and informed him that in the old hermit's cave upon
the northern mountains there lay very much valuable baggage and
ammunition, which, unless it was instantly looked after, would probably
be opened and appropriated by the thievish bearers, and he added that it
would be quite unnecessary to send an armed force to take possession, as
the wretched cowards would run away at the first sight of an armed man.
The prophet briefly acknowledged the information, and then dismissed
Grenville, first, however, promising that the little party should have
the use of their own well-stocked medicine-chest immediately upon its
arrival in Equatoria--a favour which Kenyon had most earnestly impressed
upon our friend the absolute necessity of inducing the Mormon to grant,
if by any means in his power he could prevail upon him to do so.
Just before nightfall the Zanzibaris made their unwilling appearance,
bearing their master's baggage, and being driven along, like sheep for
the slaughter, by a couple of formidable-looking and heavily-armed
Mormons, and the whole property of the little band was at once deposited
in the public hall, with the exception of the much-desired
medicine-chest, which was delivered, without loss of time, to the
waiting Kenyon, who particularly required its contents for immediate use
in poor Leigh's case, the complications of which were already causing
this amateur doctor much mental worry and very grave anxiety, as the
patient after becoming conscious for a few moments, had again relapsed
into a state of complete coma.
That night all slept an uneasy, troubled sleep, for the common hall was
packed to suffocation with men, women, and children; and as almost all
the late combatants were more or less wounded--many very severely so--
the building was more like a hospital than anything else, and no one was
particularly sorry when the great doors were opened in the morning, and
an announcement was made by the officer on guard that all must leave the
place to obtain food, and that the Holy Three would sit in judgment upon
the prisoners at high noon that very day.
This judgment was a very impressive affair, and was held in the public
hall. In two long lines sat the combatants of the previous day, facing
one another on opposite sides of a square, and all closely guarded by
the Mormon host. At the head of the room sat the Ancient Prophet,
supported by two other very venerable-looking men--these three being the
accredited representatives in Africa of the Mormon Holy Three--whilst at
the lower end of the square, huddled together like frightened sheep,
were the women and children of Equatoria, who knew not what to expect
from the stern judges, whose iron code of laws was, they were well
aware, as unchanging as the laws of the Medes and Persians.
Kenyon, who was, of course, by profession, a physiognomist, completely
forgot all his own personal danger in the absorbing interest which he
took in the varied and changing expressions of the anxious faces which
surrounded him on every hand.
The fallen and discomfited slavers looked what they were--partly sullen,
partly indifferent, and wholly despairing, for well they knew that no
mercy could be expected at the hands of the tribunal into whose clutches
they had fallen; Zero, utterly mad with rage, and sulky as a bear;
whilst it almost made the beholder laugh to notice the striking faces of
Amaxosa the Zulu, and Barad, the Chieftain of the Stick. The eyes of
these men were positively like coals of fire, and were absolutely
riveted on the hated countenance of the slaver-chief, who seemed almost
uneasy under the burning intensity of their threatening gaze.
Grenville, chivalrous as ever, was busily endeavouring to infuse hope
and comfort into the heart of poor Lady Drelincourt, who was the only
person in the assembly allowed to sit in the presence of the judges.
When perfect silence had been obtained, the old Prophet rose to his feet
and commenced a direct and startling indictment of Zero and his band of
ruffians, who had, he said, robbed and pillaged the fraternity of the
Elect in the most impudent and bare-faced manner, and had, moreover,
murdered out of hand a number of messengers, who had been sent to them
with positive instructions from head-quarters, to return at once to Salt
Lake City, report themselves without delay to the Holy Mormon Trinity,
and render a full account of their stewardship; and in consequence of
Zero's disregarding these definite and repeated commands, the Prophet
had, he explained, been sent out with a very great array of the Saints
by the Three Unsleeping Ones, who watched over the welfare of the one
true faith, and whose written instructions he carried with him, to
demolish the stronghold of these audacious rebels, and to execute fully
retributive justice upon these men of sin, whose evil and wicked doings
had come up, with very evil savour, into the nostrils of the Holy Ones
who dwelt across the seas, whilst in Africa he had himself found that,
owing to the outrageous conduct of these reprobates, the very name of
Mormonism had become a by-word for all that was wholly and irredeemably
bad.
The Prophet then brought forward a number of witnesses to prove
unauthorised deeds of violence and of blood against Zero and his band,
all being without exception classed in the one dreadful category, and
the testimony of one of these not only proved the slaver-chief to have
been guilty of countless murders in Africa, but deposed that, in the
speaker's own un-regenerate days, he had himself been an eye-witness of
the shooting of Mr Harmsworth in New York--this diabolical and
cold-blooded murder having, as Kenyon had opined, been committed by the
hand of Zero, in revenge for what he considered to be a personal slight.
The aged Prophet then consulted briefly with the two elders who were his
co-representatives in Africa of the Mormon Trinity, and, once again
rising to his feet, briefly and clearly pronounced _sentence of death_.
The whole of the renegade band would die by the rifle at sundown that
very night, and their carcases would be thrown to the wild beasts of
prey, whilst Zero himself would be _crucified at noon on the following
day_, and his body would be left to the vultures and the crows.
The sentence was evidently what all had foreseen; for, with the
exception of a very few despairing shrieks from the women, there was
neither voice nor sound.
The old Mormon concluded his harangue by saying that the women and
children would be conveyed by his men to the nearest seaport town, and
their passage paid to any civilised country they desired to reach, after
which the Brotherhood of the Saints entirely washed their hands of them.
For a brief instant one could have heard a pin drop, then from the poor
creatures at the bottom of that living square there went up one mighty
gasp of intense relief, followed by a babel of blessings upon their
ancient judge, from which it was quite clear that the poor wretches, who
were, most of them, more sinned against than sinning, had fully expected
to find themselves and their little ones devoted to the same red grave
as their wicked lords and masters.
As the old Prophet ceased speaking, Kenyon suddenly started to his feet,
holding up his hand to attract the attention of the judges, and when
silence again reigned supreme, and when every eye in that vast
assemblage was curiously fixed upon him, quietly but clearly, he spoke
out.
"Sir," he said, "I know, and fully admit, your powers of judgment here,
by the right of might; but you also are an American, as I am, and I,
therefore, ask that, in courtesy to the Stars and Stripes, you will even
yield to my prior claim upon the body of this scoundrel, Zero, and allow
the executioner of the States, to end his sinful life."
"Who art thou, and whence knowest thou me?" queried the astonished
Mormon.
"I, sir," was the cool reply, "am Stanforth Kenyon, of the New York
Detective Force, and I have followed this fellow hither from the New
World, just as you have done, and, having been the first to find him, I,
therefore, think my claim the best, and my case, the Harmsworth murder,
on American ground, being now indubitably proved by your own witness,
this Zero can no longer now escape the law."
"By repute, I know you well, Detective Kenyon," came the answer, "but
Uncle Sam, for once, goes empty-handed. The Elect, as you very well
know, recognise no law outside themselves, and allow no interference
with their affairs, on the part of the unbelieving and accursed
Gentiles. Nay," as Kenyon attempted to speak again, "I cannot hear you
further. I sit here, with my colleagues, as the representatives of the
heaven-taught Holy Three, and what I _have_ said I _have_ said."
Then, after another short conference with his fellows, the old Mormon
announced that the business of the meeting was now concluded, and that
his decision with regard to the disposal of the remaining prisoners
would be announced at noon next day.
All were at once returned to their prison in the common hall, with the
exception of the wretched slavers, who, to the number of nearly three
hundred, were immediately led out to execution, and were shot, like mad
dogs, in accordance with the unchanging decree of the Mormon Holy Three,
whilst Zero, heavily ironed, was forthwith consigned to the condemned
cell in the public building, knowing that he must, in a few hours,
suffer the extreme agonies of the awful death by torture, which he had
himself often and often inflicted upon his helpless and unresisting
fellow-creatures.