have already explained to you, namely, that I love her--and mean to make
her my wife, please God, if we should by any chance get out of this fix.
And the second is, that if we don't and I die, I have nobody else to
whom to leave my property. You look astonished, Dick; and, come to
think of it, I suppose it is only natural. For while you were kept
busy, way back there in Liverpool, over the inquiry into the loss of the
_Everest_, I saw a good deal of your sister, with, I believe, the full
approval of your friends, McGregor and his wife. I was attracted to
Grace from the very first, and the more I saw of her, the greater grew
my admiration of her. McGregor saw what was happening, I guess, and at
length he brought me to book upon the matter, pointing out that my
attentions to Grace were such as threatened ultimately to engage her
affections. I was glad that he did so, for it enabled me to come to a
clear understanding with myself. It enabled me to realise that your
sister was the one woman in all the world for me; and the upshot was
that, after a very frank exchange of views, I was able to satisfy
McGregor, and ultimately to come to an understanding with Grace. But,
of course, she knows nothing about my will, although I made up my mind
what I would do immediately that she consented to wait for me. And the
reason why I have not mentioned this matter to you before is that I
preferred we should, for a time at least, remain upon our original
footing as simple comrades and co-adventurers. But, say, Dick, now that
I have told you, are you agreeable to accept me as your brother-in-law?"
"My dear chap," exclaimed Dick, grasping Earle's outstretched hand with
a strength which made the latter wince--"of course I am. I have seen
enough of you and your character to convince me that you will be good to
Grace--if we survive long enough to return to her. And if she loves
you--and I know that she would never have encouraged you if she didn't--
why--that's all that really matters. But--poor girl, it will be worse
than ever for her if we should both be wiped out."
"It will," agreed Earle, gloomily. There was silence in the hut for a
few moments as the two friends faced the doom that seemed to be
impending; but neither of them was of a pessimistic nature, and
presently Earle turned to his companion and said:
"Look here, Dick, you and I have got to buck up, for Grace's sake as
well as for our own. We are not going to take it for granted that we're
down and out, just because we happen to have fallen into the hands of a
lot of savages. We're not going to take, lying down, anything and
everything that they choose to hand out to us. I guess I am going to
have a chance to make these ginks sit up and take notice before they
have done with me, and you bet I mean to do it. Give me a quarter of an
hour's talk with them, and I'll make them believe I'm the boss
medicine-man of South America. If only we could get into touch with
Inaguy and prompt him what to say, I would soon make it all right. But,
anyway, I'm some conjurer as well as a ventriloquist, and it will be
strange if I can't get a chance to astonish them before the end comes."
The two friends continued to chat far into the night, discussing various
schemes of escape; but the difficulty in every case was their Indian
servants, whom neither of them for a moment dreamed of deserting; and at
length, quite unable to hit upon any practicable plan, they composed
themselves to sleep in preparation for the possible ordeal of the
morrow.
Nine days passed, however, and nothing happened, except that--as the
prisoners discovered, by peeping through a small chink in the wail of
the hut, by way of beguiling the time--day after day the town became
more crowded with people, who seemed to be pouring into it from all
directions, as though mustering for some great event; while singing,
hideous blasts from trumpets made of burnt clay, and the pounding of
drums made from hollowed sections of trees, created a deafening din that
lasted from early dawn until far into the night. On the ninth day this
state of things reached its climax, for the din lasted all through the
night without intermission, raging with especial fury in the great
square, in the centre of which an enormous fire was kindled, round which
multitudes of people, mostly naked, danced furiously, shouting and
yelling themselves hoarse, while the trumpeters and drummers seemed to
vie with each other in the effort to drown all other sounds.
"I guess," yelled Earle into Dick's ear, when the babel of sound was at
its height--"this is the eve of some great festival; and before
twenty-four hours more have passed, you and I will know our fate. Now,
there is just one thing that I want to say, Dick. You and I have done
our level best to devise some scheme by which we might save the lives of
not only ourselves, but also of Inaguy and the rest of our followers;
and we have failed.
"Now, if the worst should come to the worst, there will be no sense in
throwing away our own lives because we can't save those of the others--
that would be carrying sentiment to a perfectly ridiculous extreme;
therefore, in the last extremity, and if all other efforts should fail,
you and I must endeavour to break away, make a sudden dash for the hut
where all our belongings are stored, and get hold of a weapon or two.
And if we should succeed in that, we must then be guided by
circumstances, fight our way out, if there is a ghost of a chance; and
if not, shoot ourselves rather than go tamely to the torture stake. How
does that strike you?"
"I'm with you," shouted Dick in reply. "I shall watch for your signal,
and act directly you give the word."
"Good!" returned Earle. And with a grip of the hand the two parted and
made their way to opposite corners of the hut where, seating themselves,
each in his own way proceeded to prepare himself for the anticipated
tremendous ordeal of the morrow.
That ordeal seemed very near when, about an hour after dawn, the door of
the hut in which Dick and Earle were confined was flung open, and a
gigantic Indian, fully armed, and arrayed in a gorgeous mantle composed
of the skins of brilliant plumaged birds, and with a narrow band of gold
around his head, clasped to which, one above either ear, was a great
scarlet and black wing, like that of a flamingo, beckoned the two
prisoners forth. Hitherto they had been treated fairly well, having
been supplied with three good meals per day; but no food was now offered
them, and both thought the omission tragically ominous.
With a quick grip of the hand, which each felt might be his farewell to
the other, the two stepped into the blazing sunlight, and, surrounded by
a numerous guard, were led across the square and halted before the
altar, which stood at the foot of the idol. But what a change had taken
place within the last hour. The great square, as well as the streets
leading to it was, with the exception of a small space, packed with
people, as were the roofs of the buildings abutting on the square, yet
the silence was so profound that, to use the hackneyed expression, one
might have heard a pin drop. The small space left vacant consisted of
an area some thirty feet square, bounded on one side by the sacrificial
altar, and on the other by the front row of spectators, squatting on the
ground, these evidently being, from the magnificence of their feather
robes and the splendour of their barbaric ornaments, chiefs, to the
number of about sixty, in the middle of whom sat an Indian who, by the
superlative richness of his garb, the two white men at once decided must
be the paramount chief, or king. The third side of this small open
space was occupied by a front row of fantastically garbed men who
eventually proved to be priests, behind whom stood a dense mass of
ordinary spectators, while the fourth side was bounded by a row of nine
massive posts, or stakes, to which--ominous sight--were securely bound
Inaguy and the remaining eight of Earle's followers.
Arrived at a spot some five paces from the altar, the two white men were
turned with their backs to the altar and the idol, and their faces
toward the long array of chiefs, and then the armed guard stationed
themselves to the right and left of the prisoners, while the silence
hovering over the scene seemed to become more intense than ever.
It was broken by Earle, who turned to Dick and murmured in a low voice:
"That scheme of mine for making a dash at the hut containing our weapons
won't work, Dick. We could never force our way through this crowd. I
must try another stunt."
"All right," murmured Dick in return. "Go ahead. But I'm afraid it's
all up with us. I don't see how--"
"You wait," interrupted Earle, and fell silent again.
Meanwhile, all eyes were intently fixed upon the line of priests who,
presently, at a signal from him who seemed to be their chief, prostrated
themselves with their faces to the earth, and so remained.
For the space of some thirty seconds nothing happened. Then that vast
assemblage was suddenly electrified by a loud voice, issuing apparently
from the mouth of the idol, saying, in the Indian language:
"Inaguy, son of Mali, and servant of my son Toqui, speak to this people
and say that if they dare to hurt so much as a hair of the heads of the
white men, or of you and the others, those white men's servants, I will
visit them in my wrath and pour out upon them pestilence and famine,
drought and fire, until not one remains alive. For the white man with
black hair is a great medicine-man, capable of working wonders; he has
come into this land to do good to my people, and it is my will that no
harm shall come to him or his."
The incredible wonder of the thing, the marvel that their god, who had
never before been known to speak, should at this particular and solemn
moment see fit to break his long silence, absolutely paralysed the
thousands who heard the voice. They could do nothing but stare,
open-mouthed, at the gigantic figure, afraid almost to breathe, lest
something frightful should happen to them. There were many present who
comprehended the meaning of the words, although they were spoken in a
different tongue from that generally in use among them, and these began
to question themselves:
"Inaguy, son of Mali! Who is he? We know no priest of that name. Is
he one of us? Why does he not speak?"
Meanwhile Inaguy, who had once before witnessed such a phenomenon, was
not altogether surprised that a god should again intervene to save his
master; and turning his face to the idol, he cried:
"Lord, first bid them to release me. It is not meet that I, thy
servant, should deliver thy message, bound here to the torture stake."
"Nay, the man is right," murmured Jiravai, the king, who understood
Inaguy's speech, and who began to fear that he was like to get into very
serious trouble if he was not exceedingly careful. And, rising to his
feet, he looked toward Inaguy and demanded:
"Art thou Inaguy, son of Mali?"
"Lord, it is even so," answered Inaguy.
"Then, release him," ordered the king. Turning toward the idol and
prostrating himself, he continued:
"Great Anamac, god of the Mangeromas, forgive us, thy servants. What we
have done was in ignorance--"
"Tell him, Inaguy, that I am displeased with him and his people, for
acting as he has done without first consulting me, and that I refuse to
listen to him or communicate with him, save through thee," interrupted
the idol sternly.
At the king's command a crowd of officious guards dashed forward, and
with the hardened copper blades of their spears quickly severed Inaguy's
bonds, whereupon the latter strode forward and, puffed up with pride at
again being made the mouthpiece of a god, stood before the grovelling
figure of Jiravai, haughtily awaiting the moment when it should please
his Majesty to rise and receive Anamac's message. And presently the
king, realising perhaps that his grovelling was not doing any good, rose
to his feet, and the message was duly delivered.
"It is well," returned Jiravai. "It must be as the Great Anamac
pleases. Yet, say to him, good Inaguy, that if I have erred, it was
through ignorance. To-day is his festival, and when the news was
brought to me that two white men had been taken alive in my country, I
rejoiced, and bade them and their followers be brought hither; for I
thought that to sacrifice them upon the altar would be pleasing to him;
while as for you and those with you, it was a great opportunity for--But
it is as our great Lord Anamac pleases. And now, I would fain know what
is his will toward the white men and you, their followers."
Facing round, Inaguy shouted to the idol, repeating the words of the
king's apology. Whereupon the idol graciously replied:
"It is well. I know that the Mangeromas have erred through ignorance,
therefore I forgive them. But it must never be permitted to happen
again, for I do not forgive twice. There must be no more human
sacrifices offered to me; nor must the Mangeromas ever again eat men;
for both are offences in my sight. And touching these white men and
their servants, it is my will that the king and his people shall make
them welcome in Mangeroma, treating them as honoured guests and doing
all things to help them; so shall the Mangeromas derive great profit and
happiness from their visit. I have spoken."
This message Inaguy repeated in the tongue commonly used among the
Mangeromas, shouting it in tones which were distinctly audible all over
the square, and for some distance beyond it.
"It is good," answered the king. "Say to our Lord Anamac that his will
shall be obeyed in all things, and the white men, ay, and ye, too, his
servants, are henceforth my brothers, the sons of my father's house."
Then, turning to the armed guards, he added, pointing to the eight
figures still bound to the stakes:
"Release those men and take them to my guest house until my white
brother with the black hair shall be pleased to express his wishes
concerning them. As for my brothers, the white men"--he turned to the
chiefs immediately about him--"make ye room for them that they may sit,
the one on my right hand and the other on my left."
These orders having been carried out, Jiravai appeared to be somewhat at
a loss what to do next. For to-day was the annual festival of the Great
God Anamac, and an elaborate programme of proceedings had been prepared,
the chief items of which had been the offering up of the white men as a
sacrifice to the god, and the torturing to death of the white men's
followers, to which festivity all the people of note throughout
Mangeroma had been invited; and now, by the omission of these two "star"
turns, so to speak, the whole affair was likely to fall woefully flat.
In his perplexity, the king faced round toward the array of priests on
the left side of the open space and, addressing the chief of them, said:
"Since the offering of human sacrifices is displeasing to our Lord
Anamac, say now, O Macoma, in what other manner shall we fittingly and
acceptably do honour to him on this day which is especially dedicated to
his service?"
But Macoma, the chief of the priests, was in no humour just then to help
his illustrious master out of a difficulty. He was an exceedingly proud
and haughty man, the greatest man in Mangeroma, next to King Jiravai
himself, and he felt slighted and humiliated to an intolerable extent
that, before all that vast assemblage, consisting of the pick of the
Mangeroma nation, Anamac should have absolutely ignored him, the chief
priest, and have chosen instead to make his wishes known by the mouth of
an obscure stranger, coming from heaven only knew where. Therefore, in
response to the king's question, he rose to his feet and said:
"Nay, Lord, ask me not, for I cannot answer thee. Ask rather the man
Inaguy, whom it has pleased our Lord Anamac so signally to honour this
day before thee and all the people. Doubtless he will be able to tell
thee all that thou may'st desire to know."
And in high dudgeon Macoma resumed his seat.
The king frowned. There was a hint of veiled insolence in Macoma's
manner that at once set his majesty's easily kindled anger aflame; and
it was not the first time that the chief of the priests had so offended,
though never until now had the man dared to flout the supreme ruler of
the Mangeroma nation in public, much less in the presence of all
Mangeroma's nobility. The fellow threatened to get out of hand if he
were not checked, and the present moment seemed to offer an excellent
opportunity not only to check Macoma's growing insubordination, but also
that of the priesthood in general, which had for some time past
manifested a disposition to claim for itself rights and privileges which
Jiravai was by no means willing to concede. Therefore he said to
Macoma:
"Thou can'st not answer me, Macoma? Then will I act as seems good to
myself. A sacrifice of some sort has always been offered to Anamac on
this day, and he shall have one now. And what better sacrifice can we
offer him than those who have devoted their lives to his service?
Therefore, stand forth, Macoma; we will offer thee and ten other
priests, to be chosen by lot, in the place of these strangers whom our
Lord Anamac has forbidden us to sacrifice."
In a paroxysm of mingled anger and consternation Macoma sprang to his
feet--as did all the rest of the priests--and for several seconds the
king and the chief priest faced each other, the one smiling sardonically
at the effect of the bomb which he had hurled into the enemy's camp,
while the other stood clenching and unclenching his hands as he racked
his brain in the effort to find an answer to what he had sense enough to
understand was a personal challenge on the part of the king, and a
challenge, moreover, which, unless he could quickly find the right
answer to it, might very easily result in utter disaster to himself.
For Jiravai, like most savage kings, was an absolute monarch whom none
might beard with impunity, and now, when it seemed too late, the chief
of the priests heartily execrated that sudden ebullition of ill-humour
which had in a moment brought him and ten of his following to the brink
of the grave. Then, suddenly, in a flash of memory and inspiration, the
right answer came to him and, lifting his head, he said:
"Be it so, as my lord the king has said. Let him sacrifice us to
Anamac, if he will. Doubtless, the man Inaguy was speaking only idle
words when he said that our Lord Anamac forbade human sacrifice
henceforth. Sacrifice us then, O my Lord Jiravai; and let all Mangeroma
see what will happen, and whether any dependence is to be placed on the
words of Inaguy."
The battle was won, and Macoma knew it. So also did the king; for
absolute monarch though he was, there were certain things which he dared
not do, and to go against the directly spoken word of the god Anamac,
and that, too, when the word was the first which the god had ever
condescended to utter--was one of them. Therefore, making the best of
what he now perceived to have been a serious mistake, King Jiravai
smiled across the open space at the now triumphant Macoma, and said:
"It is well, Macoma, I did but try thee. But now, perhaps, having had
time to think, thou may'st be able to say what sacrifice, other than
human, we may acceptably offer to Anamac."
Macoma shook his head. The king had given him, to say nothing of the
other priests, a very nasty five minutes, and even now, when the danger
was past, his nerves were all a-quiver from the shock of finding himself
suddenly looking into the eyes of death; moreover he was a man who did
not easily forgive; he was unwilling to abate one jot of his triumph,
therefore he answered:
"Nay, Lord, I am still unable to answer thee, excepting in so far as
this. Let Inaguy be recalled, and let him put thy question to our Lord
Anamac, and if the god refuses to reply, then I say let Inaguy be
sacrificed as a deceiver."
"Thou hast answered well, Macoma," retorted the king. "It shall be as
thou sayest; and if our lord replies through his mouth it shall be a
sign that Anamac prefers Inaguy to thee, and Inaguy shall be chief
priest in thy stead."
Thus neatly did Jiravai turn the tables upon the man who, a moment
before, had been congratulating himself upon having got the best of the
king in a public battle of wits.
Meanwhile, Dick and Earle had been interested watchers of the scene; and
although the language in which the king and the chief priest had been
sparring was strange to them, they caught a word here and there which
sounded so nearly like words with the same meaning in the language with
which they were by this time becoming fairly conversant, that they were
able to follow, without very much difficulty the general trend of the
conversation, including that portion of it in which Macoma had ventured
to cast a doubt upon Inaguy's _bona fides_. And although Earle had no
great liking for the task of exercising his ventriloquial powers while
seated in such close proximity to the king, he felt that he must make
the effort, and make it successfully, too, if Inaguy's life was to be
saved. Therefore, when a few minutes later, Inaguy was led forth, and
the king put to him the question which Macoma had declared himself
unable to answer, and Inaguy had in turn passed it on to the idol, the
latter was heard to reply, sharply:
"Let a young bull be found, without blemish, and let him be slain upon
the altar and his carcass be burned before me, and I shall be satisfied;
for ye can offer me no more acceptable sacrifice than this and your
obedience to my commands. It is enough. I have spoken. Henceforth,
trouble me not, for I will speak no more."
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
A DEFINITE CLUE AT LAST.
This final communication from the god Anamac was received by the vast
multitude with great shouts of rejoicing, for it was accepted as putting
an end finally and for ever to the practice of offering annually human
sacrifices to him. And upon those occasions the choice of victims was
usually made jointly by the king and the chief priest; and the choice
was always of so capricious a character that, when invited to attend the
festival, no man could ever know whether he would survive to return from
it. Therefore the substitution of a single animal for several human
victims--seldom less in number than half a dozen--was regarded as a
national boon; and never, perhaps, was Anamac worshipped with more
sincerity, or with more gratitude, than he was upon the day when Dick
Cavendish and Wilfrid Earle so narrowly escaped dying upon his altar.
The festivities not only lasted through the entire day, but were
continued far into the night, some fifty oxen being slaughtered and
roasted to provide a feast for the numerous visitors whom King Jiravai
had invited to Yacoahite to participate in the great annual festival;
and when at length it was all over, and the guests had departed to their
respective homes, everybody agreed in the opinion that it had been the
most joyous and successful festival within living experience. As for
Dick and Earle, they were lodged in the king's own house, with Inaguy to
act as their interpreter--that astute individual having soon made up his
mind that service with the white men was safer, and likely to be more
profitable in the end, than even the position of chief of the Mangeroma
priests. And on the night of the festival, when the great square of
Yacoahite was given up to the populace, and all the great chiefs were
being entertained at a banquet given by the king, Earle, "the white man
with the black hair," availed himself of the opportunity to demonstrate
his capabilities as a great medicine-man by performing a few very clever
conjuring tricks before the king and his guests, which the simple
Mangeromas regarded as absolute miracles. It was a stroke of sound
policy on Earle's part; for after seeing him cause a pack of cards to
vanish into thin air, extract coins--a few of which he still had in his
pocket--from the hair, ears and noses of great warriors, and perform
sundry other marvels, there was not a Mangeroma in all that great
assemblage who did not regard the American as something superhuman, or
who would have ventured, even in the most secret recesses of his soul,
to meditate treachery to him or anybody connected with him.