The scene which burst upon me was so unexpected and startling, that at
first I found myself doubting my own senses, and was inclined to believe
that it was merely a mirage, or some fantastic chimera of my own
imagination. As I continued to gaze upon it, taking in all the details
discernible from that distance, I was compelled to admit that the
objects I saw existed in reality, and to congratulate myself that I was
actually within sight of my longed-for goal.
Behind me the sun was fast declining, but deep below, there stretched on
either hand a broad river, winding far away into the distant, purple
haze. At the foot of the giant mountain whereon I stood was a great
stretch of grassland, across which ran a road paved like those the
Franks construct in Algeria, and straight as a spear shaft, leading to a
most wonderful and amazing city.
Surrounded by stone walls of colossal size and enormous height, houses
extended as far as the eye could reach, and even from where I stood I
could detect that the thoroughfares, running at right angles to each
other, were all broad and handsome. The architecture, as far as I could
distinguish, was such as I had never before seen, and the houses, built
upon a great hill rising abruptly from the plain, rose tier upon tier to
the summit, which was crowned by an enormous palace with a roof of
burnished gold, which glistened with blinding brightness in the
brilliant rays of the declining sun. Close by, from the extreme summit
of the hill, rose a square tower of such colossal proportions that it
seemed to reach to such a height that the building, at its summit, was
in the gathering clouds of evening. The highest portion of the tower
was of silver, then, counting downwards, it was blue, then pale yellow,
then bright gold, red, orange and black. Each of these stages, I knew,
represented one of the chief heavenly bodies--the silver being that of
the Moon, the blue Mercury, the yellow Astarte, the gold the Sun, the
red Mars, the orange Jupiter, and the black Saturn. I had read long
ago, in the records of Babylonia, of the similar temple-tower that
Nebuchadnezzar built at Birs-i-Nimrud, and, glancing in other
directions, saw similar edifices dotted everywhere.
The great palace on the hill-top was so extensive that its buildings and
gardens stretched away into the blue distance, and its walls and
colonnades were, like everything within that wonderful place, so
enormous in their proportions as to be amazing. Through the centre of
the palace gardens ran a beautiful river, spanned by many bridges, and
as it wound away, it branched out into another stream that meandered
through the city. Upon the very summit of the hill, in close proximity
to the temple tower, and within the impregnable walls of the palace,
rose a pavilion, the walls of which appeared to be constructed entirely
of gold.
But it was not only there where the eye was dazzled. The hundred
enormous gates in the strong walls that girt the city were of gold, and
even as I looked I saw a cavalcade of horsemen crossing the plain, the
sun's rays slanting upon the breastplates of polished gold, giving the
well-drilled band the appearance of a broad, glittering thread.
At each entrance to the city were high watch-towers whereon soldiers
stood ever-watchful night and day, and the wonderful walls, that even
Time could not throw down, were evidently used for promenading, for I
could distinguish many objects, like tiny, black specks, moving over the
broad thoroughfare formed thereon. On either side, as far as my keen
vision could penetrate, nothing presented itself but a colossal and
magnificent city of villas, palaces and temples, of pavilions of red and
silver, of beautiful, shady gardens, and wonderful structures in tiers
of various colour, of temple and tomb towers, of square, solidly-built,
flat-roofed residences, of bridges of polished marble and alabaster, and
wonderful brazen gates. The proportions of its buildings, even though I
could only obtain but a bird's-eye view, were marvellous, the wideness
of its thoroughfares astounding; its thousand towers and pinnacles
beggared description; its extent so great as to cause me to stand
aghast.
This, then, must be the majestic city of Ea, the wonderful capital,
founded by the beautiful but frail woman who had constructed it in
imitation of Babylon. While the latter city had ages ago fallen to
decay, and sunk forgotten beneath the earth's surface, this magnificent
place, with its ostentatious display of wealth, even in its very gates,
had remained through a hundred generations; the same amazing,
impregnable citadel of the great queen's faithful followers; the same
collection of palaces of bewildering luxury; the same time-defying
stronghold of a warlike race, the same stupendous centre of incredible
extent; the same unapproachable capital of an unapproachable land, as
when Semiramis herself, surrounded by her lovers and courtiers, entered
its brazen gates with pomp and splendour, amid the clash of cymbals, the
beating of drums, and the flourish of trumpets.
Her great temple, with its unequalled colonnade, which I had passed some
days ago, had, for some reason unaccountable, been allowed to crumble
and fall away, but here, in this marvellous city of a thousand wonders
of imposing forms and harmonious outlines, the memory of one of the most
notable of queens was perpetuated. And I was the first man from the
outer world to gaze upon this one glorious and unique monument of a
long-forgotten past!
I stood leaning upon my staff, lost in astonishment, watching agape the
incredible scene. Fascinated and stupefied by its magnificence, I
contemplated it in bewilderment, while the afterglow, shedding a ruddy
light upon its wonderful towers, caused the burnished gates and roofs to
shine red as blood. Soon it died away, and when the sun sank in the
mists behind me, a sudden gloom fell, and chill night crept rapidly on.
As the stars appeared in the heavens, a million lights shone everywhere
in the city, the broad streets of which seemed bright as day. Great
sacrificial fires threw an uncertain light from the summits of some of
the taller towers, and from the wonderful fabric on the summit of the
hill one single light of intense whiteness shone brilliant as a star.
An hour sped by, yet still I remained lost in astonishment. The myriad
lights gave the strange city a curiously weird aspect, and I feared to
meet any of its denizens. Were they, I wondered, of the same form as my
fellows of the outer world, or were they veritable giants in stature,
that they should build structures of such incredible proportions?
Though I dreaded to meet them, yet I longed to be able to pass those
ponderous brazen gates, to tread those wondrous streets, to enter those
curiously graduated temple towers, and wander in those shady gardens
beside the running waters.
With my bejewelled sword and girdle strapped over my dirty, ragged
gandoura, should I be enabled to pass those gates and enter the city
forbidden to those outside the rock-girt boundary of this unknown
kingdom? This question I asked myself a hundred times, compelled to
doubt whether such attempt would not result in my arrest and perhaps
execution as a spy. I had faced without fear the thousand perils of my
journey from the City of the Mirage; but to encounter the guards of
mighty, mystic Ea would, I knew, require all the courage of which I, as
an adventurer, was possessed.
When, however, the moon shone out, I began slowly to descend towards my
goal. With exceeding difficulty I let myself down over those slippery,
snow-covered rocks, treading ofttimes on perilous ledges, where a false
step meant instant death on the crags beneath. Naught cared I of the
risks I ran in descending so rashly, but, eager to set foot upon the
plain, I stumbled on, now jumping, now crawling, until I gained a
grass-grown slope where progress was not fraught by so many dangers.
Suddenly I came to a rocky gorge, down which roared a broad, swift
torrent, and, as it came into view, a scream of pain and despair broke
upon my ear. The sound seemed suddenly smothered, then, a few moments
later, echoed again. I listened, and found that it sounded with
regularity above the roaring of the waters. Whence it proceeded was a
mystery, but, as I followed the stream in my descent, I suddenly
encountered a great chasm in the earth, before which was an enormous
wooden wheel, revolved by the current which flowed beneath, and then
disappeared to feed some subterranean river.
As I watched it in the full moonlight, puzzled as to its use, the scream
startled me again, and, at the same moment, I perceived something white
upon the moss-grown wheel flash above for a moment, and then plunge
beneath the water. Again it rose, and was again plunged in. A third
time it rose, and my eyes, now on the alert, caught the form of a man,
who, tightly bound to the wheel, was being every moment plunged into the
icy stream.
Then I knew that the wheel was used for one of the most horrible forms
of torture and death. Alone, the wretched victim was slowly dying,
dreading every moment to meet the water, and each time, as he rose in
the air, awakening the echoes by his despairing cries for rescue. He
passed me so closely that I could touch him with outstretched hand where
I stood, but so swiftly that, although a dozen times I strove to cut his
cords with my sword, I failed. The manner in which the wheel could be
stopped I knew not, and was thus compelled to stand and see the poor
wretch die before my eyes. Apparently he recognised that my efforts to
release him had been unavailing, and swooned, his unconsciousness being
quickly followed by suffocation.
Even as I stood watching, I heard footsteps, and, slinking back in the
shadow behind a great rock, saw approaching four tall men of fine
physique, wearing shining breastplates, bearing between them the frail,
inanimate form of a woman. They were followed by two other men, who, by
screwing down a block of wood on the axle of the wheel, raised it above
the raging torrent. With a few swift strokes of their swords, the men
severed the bonds that held the body of the victim, and, as it fell with
a splash into the whirling stream, it was speedily engulfed, and swept
down the chasm into the bowels of the earth.
The men, who spoke a tongue unknown to me, laughed roughly among
themselves as it disappeared, and then, tearing from the woman her
golden ornaments, they bound her upon the wheel. While doing so she
recovered consciousness, and, recognising her impending fate, gave vent
to a shrill, heart-rending scream. But her cruel captors merely jeered,
and, having ascertained that she was secure, again lowered the wheel,
which immediately began to revolve.
For a few moments the soldiers watched the monotonous punishment, then,
in response to a word from the one apparently in authority, descended
the path and were lost to view.
As soon as they were out of hearing I emerged from my hiding-place, and,
acting as I had seen the men act, succeeded at length in raising the
wheel, and, grasping the trembling form of the woman, severed her bonds
and dragged her from her perilous position, afterwards lowering the
terrible wheel and allowing it to again revolve.
Taking her in my arms I bore her some little distance, and, after some
effort, restored her to consciousness. Her hair, which fell to her
knees, was like golden sheen, and her complexion as pale as those of the
women of the Infidels who come to see the Desert at Biskra, or seek
renewed health from the waters of Hamman R'hira. Indeed, the people of
Ea all seemed white-skinned, for the brutal soldiers had in their faces
no trace of negro origin.
When the woman I had rescued opened her eyes there was a terrified look
in them, but on finding that I was supporting her head and endeavouring
to bring her round, she uttered some words. Not being able to
understand her, I shook my head. Again she addressed me with like
result. Then, sitting up, she suddenly asked me yet another question,
but again I shook my head.
Springing to her feet as if electrified, she gave me one look of abject
fear and fled away among the bushes, screaming, leaving me standing in
mute astonishment. Was it my ragged, unkempt appearance that had caused
her such terror? She had apparently been seized with a sudden insanity;
but whether the horrible torture of the wheel had unhinged her mind I
knew not.
Retracing my steps to the torture-wheel, I followed the path which the
soldiers had taken, and in half-an-hour reached the plain.
Then I hesitated, undecided whether to walk forward and inspect the
walls and closed gates of the gigantic city, or wait until its brazen
portals were opened at dawn. It occurred to me that, if detected by the
watchmen, I should be seized as a spy, therefore I decided to snatch a
brief rest and wait for morning.
Finding a great tree at the foot of the mountain, I made a pillow of
leaves and was soon dreaming of weird adventures and tortures applied by
fiendish captors. I had evidently been more fatigued than I had
imagined, for suddenly I found myself roughly handled by two soldiers of
colossal stature, wearing curiously-fashioned robes, reaching nearly to
the ground, and was surprised to discover the sun shining brilliantly.
They addressed to me a question which I could not understand; then, next
second I found myself surrounded by men with drawn swords as my arms
were quickly pinioned by a dozen eager hands, then amid loud shouts of
triumph I was dragged across the plain towards the brazen gate, to enter
which had been my sole desire.
My courage failed me. Had I not read on the tablet of Semiramis that no
stranger was permitted to enter the Kingdom of Ea on penalty of death?
It was plain that my fierce-bearded captors had discovered I was not of
their world, and as they hurried me towards their mysterious stronghold
I felt that, by my own recklessness in sleeping within an enemy's camp,
I had sought my doom.