THE IRON CAGE
Tchigorsky made a long pause before he resumed his story. His nerves
appeared to require composing. It was impossible to shake off the horror
of the past. At length he went on again.
"I saw the cruel light flame into the eyes of the princess; I saw that
she was pleased and yet sorry to learn our decision. She gave a sign and
we were brought nearer to her.
"'You understand what your refusal means!' she said. 'You have been here
long enough to know how carefully our secrets are guarded and also how
we punish those who try to read them. Where are those scripts?'
"We had no scripts and I said so. As a matter of fact, such formulæ and
papers as we had managed to become possessed of had been smuggled beyond
Lassa to Ralph Ravenspur's servant, Elphick, who had conveyed them to a
place of safety. But my statement was without effect.
"'Strip them,' she said, 'and put them in the baths.'
"We were going to learn then what those cages were for.
"There is no need to remove our clothing,' I cried. 'We will do it
ourselves!'
"I was afraid our revolvers should be discovered, or the cartridges be
rendered useless by immersion. Ralph seemed to understand, for, like
myself, he quickly discarded his robes and slippers and professed
himself to be ready.
"Then the grating was raised and we were placed on our back in a
shallow bath formed in the shape of a coffin, and not more than ten
inches deep. As first the baths were empty, but gradually they were
filled with water until we had to raise our faces and press them against
the bars to breathe. I thought that we were to be suffocated in this
shallow water--a dreadful idea that filled me with stifling anxiety--but
there was worse to come."
Again Tchigorsky paused and wiped his brow.
"The suspense was torture; the terrible uncertainty of what was going to
happen was agony. Imagine being drowned with a bare half-inch of water
over your lips and nostrils. I turned my head a fraction of an inch on
one side, and then I saw that the water could not rise quite high enough
to drown me without overflowing the edge of the bath. Evidently this was
but the first chapter in the book of lessons. We could breathe by
placing our faces against the bar. What next?
"There was no occasion to ask the question. Though my heart was drumming
like the wings of an imprisoned fly, and though there was the roar of a
furnace in my ears, I could make out the crack and rattle of machinery,
and the bars over the cage began to move. My face, to escape the water,
was so closely pressed to the bars that the friction was painful.
"The bars slid along, and as they did so I remembered the long
projecting ends which were glowing yellow and blue in the braziers. My
heart ceased drumming and then seemed to stand still for the moment. I
had guessed the riddle. A second later and the horizontal bars over my
face were white hot.
"Here was the situation, then--I had either to press my face against
those cruel bars or drown in a few inches of water. Could the mind of
man imagine a more diabolical torture? I cried aloud; I believe my
friend did also, but I cannot say. My face flinched involuntarily from
the scar of the blistering iron; I held my breath till the green and red
stars danced before my eyes.
"Flesh and blood could stand it no longer, and I was literally bound to
raise my head. Into the flesh, as you have seen for yourself, those hot
barriers pressed, while I filled my lungs with a deep draught of
delicious air. But the agony was so great that I had to go down again.
The water cooled the burns for the moment. But you can imagine how it
intensified the agony afterwards.
"When I raised myself again the bars were cool. But only for an instant,
for they came hot once more, this time in a horizontal direction. The
same ghastly business was enacted; again there was the sense of
semi-suffocation, again the long draught of pure air and the pain from
the bars. And then, while wondering, half-delirious, how long it could
last, something gave way and I fainted.
"That I deemed to be death; but it was nothing of the kind. When I came
to I was lying on the floor writhing in agony from my wounds.
Fortunately I had not lost my sight, nor had Ralph at that time. He was
to discover later that the injuries received were fatal to his eyes.
"He was lying by my side and groaning with pain like myself. A more
hideous and more repulsive sight than my companion's face I never wish
to look upon. And doubtless he had the same thoughts of me. But I did
not think of that at the moment.
"We were alone. I staggered to my feet and across to the door. It was
fastened, of course. For a time we were too maddened by pain to take
heed of anything, but gradually reason came back to us. My first idea
was of revenge. Ralph had grasped for his robes and his revolver was in
his hand.
"'Heaven help the first man who comes in!' he yelled.
"Like a drunken lunatic, I applauded the sentiment. For a minute we were
both mad as the drugged Malay who runs amuck. Fortunately nobody did
come in for some time, and gradually wiser counsels prevailed. We
slipped into our garments and hid our revolvers. Then from raging
madmen we passed to tears. We were so spent and exhausted that we cried
like little children.
"But men like ourselves are not easily daunted. The pain was still
great, but this only stimulated our desire to live and gain the better
of those who had so cruelly used us. Later a priest conducted us into
another room, where the princess awaited us.
"She smiled as she looked at our faces. That smile was nearly the end of
her. Many a time since have I regretted that I didn't finish her career
then and there. Had she betrayed the least sign of fear I should have
done so. And by so doing your people would have been saved many a bitter
sorrow."
"At the expense of your life," Geoffrey said.
Tchigorsky shrugged his shoulders.
"What matter?" he said. "The few suffer for the many. Well, as I was
saying----"
The speaker paused suddenly as his eye caught something moving along the
beach. It was the figure of a woman creeping along as if in search of
some missing object. She proceeded very slowly until she approached the
spot where the boat lay filled and sunk, and then she paused abruptly.
For a minute she stood fascinated by the sight, then she flung her hands
high in the air, and a bitter wailing cry escaped her. If she had been a
fisherman's wife suddenly brought face to face with the dead body of her
husband or lover, her wail of anguish had not been more poignant.
"Who can she be?" Geoffrey asked.
Tchigorsky said nothing. The woman stood with her hands raised. As she
turned and ran towards the cliffs, moaning as she went, Geoffrey
started.
"Marion," he said. "Marion."
He would have dashed forward, but Tchigorsky restrained him.
"That is not your Marion," he said. "Your Marion does not dress like
that."
Geoffrey looked again. It was Marion and yet not Marion. It was the
girl in the blue serge dress and red tam-o'-shanter who resembled her so
strikingly. What did this girl know about him, and why did she stand
wailing over his boat? He felt he must solve this mystery.
"Sit down," Tchigorsky said slowly. "Sit down."
"But," Geoffrey cried, "I insist upon knowing----"
"And spoiling everything. Sit down, I say, or I shall have to detain
you. I don't fancy you would care to measure your strength with mine."
Geoffrey dropped into his seat.
"Perhaps not," he said. "I don't believe you want me to know who that
girl is."
"I have heard worse guesses," Tchigorsky said dryly.