Next moment Razafil went shooting down headlong into the abyss. There
was a projecting ledge of rock about fifty feet down the precipice. On
this the body of the martyr struck, and, bounding off into space,
reached the bottom with incredible violence, a shattered and mangled
heap.
With trembling hearts and straining gaze the other victims watched the
descent. It seemed to be more than human nature could endure to
voluntarily face such a fate when a word would deliver them. So thought
many of the spectators, and they were right; mere human nature could not
have endured it, but these Christians were strengthened in a way that
the ungodly will neither believe nor understand. One by one they were
led to the edge of the cliff, suspended over the edge, and had the
testing-question put to them, and, one by one, the answer was a decisive
"No!"
But where was the tyrant Queen while this scene of butchery was being
enacted? In her chamber in the palace--comparatively, yet not
altogether, regardless of the matter.
Her son Rakota stood beside her. Our friend the Secretary stood at the
door.
"Mother," said the Prince, quietly, "they are being hurled down now--and
little Ra-Ruth is among them."
The Queen looked up, startled. "No, no!" she said, hesitatingly.
"Ra-Ruth must not--but--but--I must not seem to my people to be weak--
yet I would save her."
Rakota gave a gentle nod to the Secretary, who instantly vanished. He
reached the place of execution only just in time. The rope was already
round the girl's slender waist, and the testing-question had been put--
but her timidity had flown, and was replaced by a calm, almost angelic,
expression, as she gazed up to Heaven, clasped her hands, and, with a
flush of enthusiasm, exclaimed--
"No--Jesus--no, I will _never_ cease to worship Thee!"
A murmur of mingled surprise and pity broke from the crowd. At that
moment the Secretary came forward.
"The Queen," he said, "has sent me to ask you, Ra-Ruth, whether you will
not worship our gods and save your life."
"No," answered the girl, firmly. "I have been weak--a coward--but now
God has sent me strength by His own Holy Spirit, and my fixed
determination is to go this day with my dear brothers and sisters to
Heaven."
"You are a fool! You are _mad_!" exclaimed an officer standing by, as
he struck her on the head.
"Yes, she is _mad_," said the Secretary to the officer in command.
"Send a messenger to tell the Queen that Ra-Ruth has lost her reason.
Meanwhile, let her be taken away and guarded well till the Queen's
pleasure regarding her is known."
But although this poor girl was thus snatched from death at the last
moment, no mercy was extended to the others. All were thrown over the
cliff and dashed to pieces at that time except Ramatoa. When the
question was put to her, last of all, she, as might have been expected,
was not less firm in her reply than her companions; but, instead of
being thrown over, she was informed that as it was not allowable to shed
the blood of one of noble birth she was to be burnt alive!
At this dreadful announcement she turned paler than before, but did not
flinch. At the same moment poor Mamba lost control of himself. He
sprang to her side, put an arm round her waist, and shouted--
"This shall not be! I, too, am a praying man. Ye shall not touch her!"
He glared fiercely round, and, for a moment, the soldiers did not dare
to approach him, although he was totally unarmed. But they sprang on
him from behind, and he was quickly overpowered by numbers. At the
command of their officer, they tore him from Ramatoa, carried him to the
cliff, and hurled him over. His head struck the ledge, and his brains
were dashed out there. Next moment he lay dead among the rocks at the
bottom.
This awful sight Ramatoa was spared, for, at the same instant, they had
dragged her away to the spot where a pile of wood had been prepared for
herself. Four stakes were fixed in the midst of the pile, as three
other Christian nobles were to be burnt along with her, one of whom was
a lady. While Ramatoa watched the preparations for her death, her
fellow-sufferers arrived--singing, as they walked, a hymn which begins
with, "When our hearts are troubled," and ends with, "Then remember us."
Ramatoa raised her voice and joined them. There was no wavering or
shrinking from the fiery ordeal. When all was ready the martyrs quietly
suffered themselves to be bound to the stakes, and, strange to say, when
the flames roared around them, the song of praise still went on, and the
voices of praise and prayer did not cease until they had culminated in
glad shouts of praise and victory before the throne of God!
We write facts just now, reader, not fiction! Men talk of the cruelty
of devils! Assuredly there is not a devil in or out of hell who can
sink to lower depths of cruelty than fallen man will sink to when left
to the unrestrained influence of that hateful thing--_sin_--from which
Jesus Christ came to deliver us, blessed be _His_ name!
It is said that while these four martyrs were being fastened to the
stakes, an immense triple-arched rainbow stretched across the heavens,
one end of which appeared to rest upon them, and that rain fell in
torrents. This so terrified many of the spectators, that they fled in
consternation from the scene.
But the cup of iniquity was not yet filled up. While the martyrs were
still in the fire, and praying, "O Lord, receive our spirits, and lay
not this sin to their charge," a shouting yelling band arrived, dragging
after them the corpses of the men and women who had perished at the
Place of Hurling Down. These were tossed upon the pile to serve as fuel
to the fire. The poor unrecognisable remains of Mamba were among them;
and thus, even in their death, he and Ramatoa were not divided!
At this time of terrible suffering and trial--as in the previous
persecutions during the reign of this tyrant queen--hundreds of
Christians willingly submitted to the loss of position, wealth, and
liberty for the sake of Jesus, besides those who witnessed a good
confession, and sealed their testimony with their blood. Thirty-seven
native preachers, with their wives and families, were consigned to a
life of slavery. More than a hundred men and women were flogged and
sentenced to work in chains during their lives. Some were heavily
fined, and many among the "great and noble" were stripped of honours and
titles, reduced to the ranks, and forced to labour at the hardest and
most menial occupation.
Among these last was Prince Ramonja, who had been the means of
sheltering, secreting, and saving many Christians. Fortunately Prince
Rakota retained his influence over his mother, and his power to do
good--a circumstance for which our three adventurers had ultimately
reason to thank God, though, for a considerable time after that, they
remained in prison, in company with their friends Ravonino, Voalavo,
Laihova, and others.
These last were not delivered from their chains, but lived in hourly
expectation of being led out to execution. After Ra-Ruth's removal,
Laihova was at first overwhelmed with despair, but when a friendly
jailor informed him of her having been spared under the supposition that
she was insane, hope revived a little, though he could not help seeing
that the prospect ahead was still very black.
Another prisoner who was inconsolable was poor Reni-Mamba. From the
time that she was told of her son's fate she seemed to sink into a state
of quiet imbecility, from which no efforts of her friends could rouse
her. She did not murmur or complain. She simply sat silent and callous
to everything around her. She, Rafaravavy, Sarah, and the other
females, were removed to another prison, and for a long time their male
friends could learn nothing as to their fate.
"It is this prolonged uncertainty that's so hard to bear," remarked
Ravonino to Mark one day, lifting his hands high above his head, and
letting them fall, with the clanking chains, into his lap.
"True, true," replied the youth, shortly--for confinement was beginning
to tell unfavourably on himself.
"Das w'ere it is," remarked Ebony, endeavouring to brighten up a little,
but with only moderate success, "it's sottin still an' doin' nuffin dat
kills. What you tink, 'Ockins?"
"Ay, ay," assented the seaman; and as for a long time nothing more than
"ay, ay," had been got out of Hockins, Ebony relapsed into silence.
Things had reached this lugubrious pass when an event occurred which
materially affected the condition of the prisoners, and considerably
altered the history of Madagascar.