The queen seemed numbed and struck speechless by the sudden apparition.
Kane stepped from among the tapestries and slowly approached her.
"You!" she found her voice at last. "You must be he of whom the
guardsmen spake! There are not two other white men in Negari! They said
you fell to your death! How then----"
"Silence!" Kane's voice cut in harshly on her amazed babblings; he knew
that the pistol meant nothing to her, but she sensed the threat of the
long blade in his left hand. "Marylin," still unconsciously speaking
in the river-tribes' language, "take cords from the hangings and bind
her----"
He was about the middle of the chamber now. Nakari's face had lost much
of its helpless bewilderment and into her blazing eyes stole a crafty
gleam. She deliberately let her dagger fall as in token of surrender,
then suddenly her hands shot high above her head and gripped another
thick cord. Kane heard Marylin scream but before he could take another
step, before he could pull the trigger or even think, the floor fell
beneath his feet and he shot down into abysmal blackness. He did not
fall far and he landed on his feet; but the force of the fall sent
him to his knees and even as he went down, sensing a presence in the
darkness beside him, something crashed against his skull and he dropped
into a yet blacker abyss of unconsciousness.
_4. Dreams of Empire_
"For Rome was given to rule the world
And gat of it little joy--
But we, we shall enjoy the world,
The whole huge world a toy."
--Chesterton.
Slowly Kane drifted back from the dim realms where the unseen
assailant's bludgeon had hurled him. Something hindered the motion of
his hands and there was a metallic clanking when he sought to raise
them to his aching, throbbing head.
He lay in utter darkness but he could not determine whether this was
absence of light, or whether he was still blinded by the blow. He
dazedly collected his scattered faculties and realized that he was
lying on a damp stone floor, shackled by wrist and ankle with heavy
iron chains which were rough and rusty to the touch.
How long he lay there, he never knew. The silence was broken only
by the drumming pulse in his own aching head and the scamper and
chattering of rats. At last a red glow sprang up in the darkness and
grew before his eyes. Framed in the grisly radiance rose the sinister
and sardonic face of Nakari. Kane shook his head, striving to rid
himself of the illusion. But the light grew and as his eyes accustomed
themselves to it, he saw that it emanated from a torch borne in the
hand of the queen.
In the illumination he now saw that he lay in a small dank cell whose
walls, ceiling and floor were of stone. The heavy chains which held him
captive were made fast to metal rings set deep in the wall. There was
but one door, which was apparently of bronze.
Nakari set the torch in a niche near the door, and coming forward,
stood over her captive, gazing down at him in a manner rather
speculating than mocking.
"You are he who fought the men on the cliff." The remark was an
assertion rather than a question. "They said you fell into the
abyss--did they lie? Did you bribe them to lie? Or how did you escape?
Are you a magician and did you fly to the bottom of the chasm and then
fly to my palace? Speak!"
Kane remained silent. Nakari cursed.
"Speak or I will have your eyes torn out! I will cut your fingers off
and burn your feet!"
She kicked him viciously, but Kane lay silent, his deep somber eyes
boring up into her face, until the feral gleam faded from her eyes to
be replaced by an avid interest and wonder.
She seated herself on a stone bench, resting her elbows on her knees
and her chin on her hands.
"I never saw a white man before," she said, "Are all white men like
you? Bah! That can not be! Most men are fools, black or white. I know
most black men are fools, and white men are not gods, as the river
tribes say--they are only men. I, who know all the ancient mysteries,
say they are only men.
"But white men have strange mysteries too, they tell me--the wanderers
of the river tribes, and Mara. They have war clubs that make a noise
like thunder and kill afar off--that thing which you held in your right
hand, was that one of those clubs?"
Kane permitted himself a grim smile.
"Nakari, if you know all mysteries, how can I tell you aught that you
know not already?"
"How deep and cold and strange your eyes are!" the queen said as if he
had not spoken. "How strange your whole appearance is--and you have the
bearing of a king! You do not fear me--I never met a man who neither
loved nor feared me. You would never fear me, but you could learn to
love me. Look at me, white man--am I not beautiful?"
"You are beautiful," answered Kane.
Nakari smiled and then frowned. "The way you say that, it is no
compliment. You hate me, do you not?"
"As a man hates a serpent," Kane replied bluntly.
Nakari's eyes blazed with almost insane fury. Her hands clenched until
the long nails sank into the palms; then as quickly as her anger had
arisen, it ebbed away.
"You have the heart of a king," she said calmly, "else you would fear
me. Are you a king in your land?"
"I am only a landless wanderer."
"You might be a king here," Nakari said slowly.