PRINCESS ILALAH
Leaning over the side of the machine, her chin resting upon her hands at
the edge of the car, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her
form was tall and slender, her features exquisitely regular in contour
and her eyes deep brown and soft as velvet. Her fleecy white tunic was
without color save a broad band of green that formed a zigzag pattern
around its edge, and in her dark hair was twined a wreath of white
blossoms with delicate green leaves.
I noticed that her skin was almost white in the sunshine, the bronze hue
being so soft as to be scarcely observable. She had not the same
expression of sadness that seemed an inherited characteristic of her
people, but gazed upward with a faint smile that showed her dainty white
teeth, full at the face of Duncan Moit. When I appeared upon the scene
the inventor was sitting on the side of the car opposite the girl and
returning her frank regard with a look of wonder and admiration.
A little back stood a silent group of young women, whose demeanor
indicated that they were the girl’s attendants. Their eyes, I noticed,
roved over the strange machine with eager curiosity.
Chief Ogo uttered an exclamation of impatience and strode quickly
forward.
“This is no place for you, my Princess!” he said, addressing the girl.
“You must retire at once to your rooms.”
She turned her head without altering her position and said in a calm,
sweet tone:
“Does my lord Ogo command Ilalah, then?”
“When the king is not present it is my duty to guard his women,” he
returned, brusquely.
With a contemptuous shrug as her only reply she looked toward Duncan
again, and as if continuing a conversation already begun, she said to
him in soft but awkward English:
“And shall it fly like a bird, too?”
“It can almost fly, but not quite, miss,” he answered.
“But it swims like a fish?”
“Yes, miss.”
“And runs like a deer?”
“Exactly, miss.”
“It would be to please me if it did that,” she remarked, very gently.
Duncan was puzzled for a moment; then his face brightened, and he said
eagerly:
“If you will get in, I will take you to ride—you and three of your
women.”
She did not hesitate at all, but turned and called three of the young
women by name, who came at once to her side.
Ogo the chief, who could not follow very well the English words, was
scowling fiercely, but had kept at a respectful distance since the girl
had repulsed him. Enjoying his discomfiture, I promptly opened the door
of the car and motioned the princess to enter. She ascended the steps
lightly and I pushed her attendants after her, for I scented a lark and
wanted to prevent Ogo from interfering.
I could see he was uncertain how to act, and the other bystanders were
equally undecided. But no sooner had I jumped in after the women than
Moit threw over the lever and started the engines, so promptly that the
machine leaped forward with a bound.
We circled the king’s palace three times, while the dainty princess
clung to the back of her seat and laughed delightedly and her women
huddled together in abject terror. Every inhabitant flocked to the doors
and windows to see us, nor could the natives control their amazement at
our rapid flight.
Then Duncan headed for the arched opening in the wall, and ignoring
Ogo’s wild shout to halt darted through and out upon the plains. The
chief instantly notched an arrow, but the princess sprang to her feet
and faced him from the rear of the car, so that he dared not shoot for
fear of wounding her.
Another moment and we were out of range; and now Duncan, inspired by a
natural desire to show his fair passenger what his invention could do,
increased the speed until the wind whistled past our ears and our eyes
were not quick enough to note the objects we passed.
I own that, being myself a sailor, I was a little frightened at this
terrific dash; but Ilalah laughed gleefully and cast a slim brown arm
around Duncan’s neck to steady herself as she gazed straight ahead and
enjoyed to the full the excitement of the wild ride.
There was no real danger, however. The meadows were as smooth as any
highway, and in an incredibly short period of time we were almost out of
sight of the village.
The thought now came to me that it would not be wise for us to offend
Nalig-Nad by carrying our prank too far, so I called to Duncan to
return. Rather reluctantly, I imagined, he described a great circle and
headed at last for the village, never abating his speed, however, until
we had flown through the arch and narrowly escaped knocking over a dozen
or so of the throng assembled in the enclosure.
Around the king’s palace we again sped, so as not to slacken our pace
too abruptly, and then the inventor brought his wonderful machine to a
halt in almost the same spot from whence we had started.
We now observed Nalig-Nad standing at the entrance to his dwelling with
Nux and Bryonia on either side of him. Now that he stood upright I saw
that he towered far above all his people, and was moreover straight as a
gun-barrel.
As soon as we halted I opened the door and assisted the frightened
attendants to reach the ground. Duncan, however, sprang out and gave his
hand to Ilalah, who needed no such support. Her cheeks glowed pink
through their rich tinting, her eyes sparkled brightly and there could
be no question of her delight in her recent novel experience.
As soon as her feet touched the ground she ran to the king and seized
his arm affectionately, crying aloud in her native tongue:
“Oh, my father, it is a miracle! The white man’s wagon is alive, and
more fleet than an arrow.”
“It is not the white man’s wagon,” said Bry, quickly. “It is our
wagon—the wagon of kings—and the white man is a slave, whose duty it is
to make it go.”
“A slave? Oh, I am sorry!” said Ilalah, with disappointment.
“Why?” asked her father, putting an arm around her.
“Because the white man is beautiful as a spirit, and he is good and
kind,” answered the princess.
I glanced at the unconscious Duncan and nearly laughed outright. That
the thin-faced, stooping, dreamy-eyed inventor could by any stretch of
the imagination be called beautiful was as strange as it was amusing.
But the girl was doubtless in earnest, and being so rarely beautiful
herself she ought to be a judge.
The king was plainly annoyed at this frank praise of a hated white. He
presented his daughter, with much ceremony, to Nux and Bryonia, and she
touched their foreheads lightly with her finger-tips, and then her own
brow, in token of friendship.
“Will your Majesty take a ride in our magic travelling machine?” asked
Bry, with proud condescension.
“Not now,” said the king, drawing back thoughtfully.
Presently he walked close to the machine and eyed every part of it with
great intentness. But it was clear the thing puzzled him, as well it
might, and he shook his grizzled head as if he despaired of solving the
problem.
Then he escorted the blacks around his village, showing them the various
huts and storehouses for fruits and grain; and while they were thus
occupied the princess came nearer and leaned again upon the side of the
car, Moit and I being seated within it.
“If you are slaves,” she said, in a low voice, “I will befriend you. Do
not fear, but call on Ilalah if you meet trouble or enemies threaten
you.”
“Thank you, sweet Princess,” replied Duncan. “We may be slaves at
present, but soon we shall be free. We fear no danger.”
She nodded, brightly, as if the answer reassured her, and walked away to
enter the palace, her train of attendants following at a respectful
distance.
Ogo and his villagers stood several paces away, silent and motionless.
When the king returned with his “noble” guests he noticed the chief and
at once dismissed him, telling him to return to his village and be
vigilant until the visitors had departed from their dominions.
Ogo promptly departed, but not without a final glance of hatred at the
inventor and me. Then the king, with many expressions of friendship,
retired into his palace, and Bry and Nux were again permitted to join
us.
“Let us put up the top,” said I, “so that we may talk without being
overheard.”
We drew up the sections of the glass dome and fastened them in place,
while the natives looked on with renewed curiosity. Then, quite alone
although we could see anything that happened around us, we sat at our
ease and canvassed the situation.
“If you fellows had been with us,” said Moit, “I would have run away
with the princess and held her as hostage to secure our safe return to
the ship.”
“Would you have let her go then?” I enquired, mischievously.
He did not deign to reply.
“We could not abandon Bry and Nux, though,” I continued, more seriously,
“so there is nothing to regret.”
Bry seemed very thoughtful.
“We in bad box, Mars’ Sam,” he said in his broken English, which
contrasted so strongly with the ease with which he expressed himself in
his own tongue; “dat king is old fox, sure ’nough, an’ won’t let us go
’way from here to get de di’monds.”
“He seemed to treat you and Nux very politely, I thought.”
“All seem, Mars’ Sam; no be.”
“But isn’t he friendly? Didn’t he break bread with you?”
“Dat don’t ’mount to nuffin, seh. If a friend lie to him, he frien’ship
is broke.”
“Well, Bry; what then?”
“He know I lie to him.”
“What makes you think so?”
“He make de chalk mark.”
“But how could he know you were lying?”
“His people see our wreck ship, when we not see dem. Dey see from de
trees me cook de breakfas’ an’ Nux wait on de white folks. Dey see Mars’
Dunc put de machine in de ribber, an’ we-all ride away on it. Ev’yt’ing
de king know befo’ we come an’ lie to him. He know we fin’ de body in de
canoe, an’ bury dead man in ribber. He know dead man wanted di’monds, so
he kill him. He think we want di’monds, too; so he kill us if he can.”
This was indeed a gloomy prophecy. I had no doubt my man had put the
exact truth clearly before us. Our folly in imagining we could so easily
deceive these clever Indians was all too evident.
“I noticed that Nalig-Nad seemed suspicious and unbelieving,” I
remarked, after a period of silence during which we sat staring
despondently into one another’s faces. “He was telling himself all the
time, perhaps, that we were fools, and he had us in his power. Only once
was he at all disturbed, and that was when Nux threatened to ‘explode’
him and his people. He is not quite sure that we cannot do that.”
“Nor am I,” said Duncan Moit, musingly.
“But they must know about fire-arms, and Maurice Kleppisch wrote in his
book that they despised them,” I observed.
“Fire-arms do not explode people. I did not refer to them,” Moit
returned. “But, tell me: if these natives are aware of our imposture,
what is the use of keeping up the game? Let us get hold of the girl,
make a dash for the diamonds, and then escape the best way we can.”
“The girl!” I exclaimed, as if surprised; “why should you want the girl
when, as you say, we defy the natives and no hostage will be required?”
Moit looked confused.
“She knows the country,” he said, after a moment, “and would make a good
guide.” Then he glanced up at me and added, more honestly: “She’s very
nice and pretty, Sam.”
“She’s a darling, old man; I agree with you there. But it strikes me
that to capture the princess and run away with her would be to stir up
no end of a rumpus. We cannot run the machine through the tangled
forests, so the only way to get back is by the river—the same way we
came. The king could assemble a thousand warriors to oppose us, and the
chances are he’d win out.”
“Well, what shall we do?” he asked; “fight it out?”
“Of course.”
“Got to fight, anyhow,” remarked Nux, philosophically.
“And we may as well keep up the fable of our being slaves to Nux and
Bry,” I added. “They may know a good deal by observation, but the
chances are they have guessed at a lot; so as long as we pretend to be
two black kings and two white slaves they haven’t any good excuse for
attacking us.”
During the afternoon several chiefs arrived at the village, coming in
one by one as if from different parts of the country. All had more or
less green in their robes, and they were a lot of remarkably shrewd and
imposing looking fellows. We decided that they had been summoned by the
king to a conference concerning us, for after pausing in the enclosure
to take accurate note of our appearance and study the queer machine in
which we were seated, they passed on into the royal dwelling.
Toward evening we prepared our supper, while many of the inhabitants
came to watch us through our glass case. Presently some one rapped
softly upon the glass, and going to the place I saw a woman standing
there and holding out a basket made of rushes. I opened a window near
and took in the basket.
“Ilalah sends it to the big white slave,” said the woman, in her native
dialect.
“The big white slave thanks Ilalah and sends her his love in return,” I
answered, laughing. But she nodded and turned away with a serious
countenance, as if the message was no more than she had expected.
I handed the basket to Duncan and gave him the message of the princess.
His face lighted up and he blushed like a school-boy, but made no
comment.
In the basket were some fresh eggs and a roasted fowl that resembled a
pheasant in size and flavor. We cooked the eggs over our alcohol stove
and blessed the girl for her thoughtfulness, for her contribution was a
grateful addition to our tinned foods.
As darkness came on we lighted our lamps and drew our curtains and after
a little further discussion as to our future actions we lay down upon
our blankets and prepared to pass a second peaceful night in the heart
of the enemy’s country.
It must have been about midnight when I was awakened by a strange
crackling sound. For a moment I lay still, wondering what it could be;
then I sprang up and opened one of the little windows.
Dense smoke was rising all around the automobile, and thrusting out my
head I saw a mass of flames underneath us. I drew back quickly, my eyes
smarting from the smoke, and closed the orifice.
The interior of the car was now dimly illumined by a dull red glow. Moit
was sitting up when I reached out to touch him.
“What is it?” he asked sleepily.
“They have built a great bonfire underneath us,” I answered. “Will it be
likely to do any damage?”
He shook his head.
“All the harm it could possibly do would be to melt the rubber of the
tires, and as they are vulcanized I do not believe any open fire would
be powerful enough,” he said. “But it may get rather close and warm for
us to sleep, so we will move on a bit.”
He reached for the lever and the machine started and slowly moved over
the blazing logs, bouncing us around somewhat but creating no other
discomfort. By raising the curtain in front Duncan could see when we
were at a safe distance from the fire, so he stopped about twenty yards
away and we prepared to lie down again.
“Some one ought to stand watch,” said the inventor; “for if we are sound
asleep while they are wide awake they may get into more dangerous
mischief than building bonfires.”
We cheerfully agreed to so necessary a precaution, and I was glad to
find myself selected for the first watch, because by that time I had
become as wakeful as an owl. When the others returned to their blankets
I settled myself comfortably on a seat and listened intently for the
slightest sound that might indicate danger.
Presently I heard another crackling, from which it appeared that our
unseen foes had dragged the blazing logs toward us and were making
another effort to burn our stout metal car. So I aroused Duncan, and
this time we moved around to the other side of the enclosure, halting
close to a wing of the king’s house. For while the car itself could not
burn, a good bed of coals under us would convert it into a frying-pan,
and we had no mind to sizzle and brown for the entertainment of the San
Blas.
Perhaps it was a fear of setting the royal palace on fire that deterred
our enemies from annoying us further; for after this second move we were
not molested and my comrades were allowed to finish their sleep in
comfort.