Leonie of the Jungle

by Joan Conquest

  CHAPTER XLV

  "Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, thou art fair!"--_S. of Solomon_.

  "Yea! he is altogether lovely."--_S. of Solomon_.

  With her bearer's hand to balance her, Leonie stepped off the gangwayinto the rocking, canoe-shaped boat, made in the dim past by diggingout the interior of some tree trunk, and in the bows of which werehuddled the coolies with her luggage.

  Two bronze-hued rowers, nude save for the loin cloth, paddled the boatround the bends of the narrow creek with a dexterity due to habit; andthen by chance or misfortune wedged her firmly into a glutinousmud-bank from out of which it took the five men two hours and everyounce of their united strength to push her.

  It is not wise to wade waist or knee deep in a Sunderbunds creek, andclear a boat with a yo-heave-ho, for fear of some festive mugger, whichmeans alligator, lurking in the mud.

  She had therefore no option but to pass the night well above the jungleperils in the _suapattah_ hut, like a cockatoo screeching defiance at acat from the safety of its perch; and to which safety you climb almostflat on your face by means of a rocking, slender bamboo ladder, andwith about as much grace as a monkey manipulating a stick.

  There was a sharp tussle of wills after the dinner of which Leoniepartook on the small platform which comes between the top of the ladderand the low door of the hut.

  Having arranged her bedding and mosquito curtains as best he could, andseen to it that one of the low caste coolies negotiated the ladder witha gourd of water upon his head and placed it upon the floor in themem-sahib's bed-chamber, her bearer, when Leonie retired for the night,drew up the ladder and curled himself up in a corner.

  Almost stifled by the heat of the interior she came out again in searchof fresh air, and stared in amazement at the white figure as he sprangto his feet perilously near the edge of the platform.

  No! nothing would move him from his post during the night, nothing.

  "But I am perfectly safe up here," remonstrated Leonie, "when you havegone to the other hut I can quite easily pull the ladder up!"

  "Even so, mem-sahib," quietly replied the man, "but the mem-sahib isnot accustomed to these heights; there are no railings to the platform,and one false step would send her crashing to the ground."

  "But I am going to _bed_," Leonie persisted. "Besides, if I did move Ican see quite plainly, it's almost full moon!"

  There was a barely perceptible pause and then;

  "Yes, mem-sahib, it is the full moon!"

  Leonie, stricken dumb in the belief that the story of her mental plighthad reached even to the bazaar, turned back and re-entered herso-called bedroom, drawing a purdah made of _golaputtah_ leaves acrossthe door, and leaving her bearer to his own devices and thoughts.

  Which were utterly of her as he divested himself of his outer raiment,and nude save for the loin cloth, sat like a bronze statue in theoverpowering heat of the night; and even as "the eagle flying forthbeats down his wings upon the earth," his thoughts beat down soforcibly upon her mind that at midnight she arose in her sleep andlifting the purdah walked out on to the platform.

  She walked straight forward, too far from the man for him to pull herback; and in too deep a trance for him to have stopped her with safetyto her brain. His face was that of one tortured as he rose to his feetand threw out his hands; and the sweat came out in great beads upon hisforehead under the supreme effort of will, which pulled her up withinan inch of certain death.

  For one long moment she stood with arms upstretched to the moon shiningin all its glory, then swung round and crossed to where he stoodagainst the hut.

  "Yes?" she said gently. "You called me!"

  The man drew his breath quickly as he looked at her, and forgot hisgods in his love, and his passions in the innate nobility of his soul.

  She looked for all the world like a mere schoolgirl in her over-long,kimono-shaped, diaphanous night garment, with her hair hanging in twogreat plaits, and her eyes and mouth lit by the suspicion of a smile.

  "Sit down!" he said gently, and she sank to the ground as easily andwith all the graceful suppleness of a native woman.

  "Yes!" she repeated. "You called me! What is it you desire?"

  She made a little gesture inviting him to sit beside her, and he sankto the ground, lying prone at her knees with his chin in his hands,staring straight into the green eyes which shone strangely, and lookedat him unblinkingly.

  "Tell me what you think of me," he said, speaking in the merest whisperout of the depth of his love. "Tell me, and I will tell you what Ithink of you--thou lotus bud," he finished desperately in his owntongue.

  Leonie answered in the sweetest, purest Hindustani, using the beautifulstrange metaphors of India to describe the human body.

  "Thou art," she said. "Thou art--how can I tell thee I----"

  She stopped, laughing down at him as she put both hands out on a levelwith her chin, palm upwards, towards him, in a little supplicatinggesture.

  "_Tell_ me!"

  "Behold," she said softly as she passed the tips of her fingers fromhis forehead to his chin. "Behold is thy face softly rounded like theegg of a bird, and thy brow is even as a tautened bow----"

  A great tremor shook the man at the touch of her hand, but he made nomovement as he broke across her words.

  "And thy face so fair, so dear, is even like the _pan_ leaf, and thydark brows like the _neem_ leaf disturbed by the wind, when thou artdispleased with him who so loveth thee. Yet when thou art not angry,are thy drooping lids like the water-lily in their sweet repose. Thyears, those can I not see--ah!"

  Leonie laughed softly as the very tips of her fingers passed down theside of his face.

  "And thine are like vultures with drooping head, and thy nose----"

  "Thine," he interrupted, twisting his head to evade the exquisite agonyof her touch, "is like a _sesame_ flower, and thy nostrils even untothe seed of the barbarti, and thy lips--oh! thy lips are the_bandihuli_ flower."

  He raised his face with agony in his eyes, closing them as she lightlytouched his mouth.

  "_Thy_ mouth is even as the _bimba_ fruit, which is warm and soft, andthy chin is like a mango stone, and thy neck like unto a conch shellwhich I encircle with both hands."

  She spanned his neck with the outspread thumbs and little fingers ofboth hands, and laughed as he pulled them apart and buried his face inhis arms.

  "Dost fear?" she said. "Dost fear that I shall strangle thee? _Dostfear_?" she repeated with a certain sharp note in the voice whichcaused the man to look up quickly and straight into her eyes, uponwhich she laughed quietly.

  "Tell me," he insisted gently, "tell me what thou thinkest of me!"

  "Ah!" she whispered, "thy shoulders are like the head of an elephantand thy long arms are as the trunk, and the strength of thy breast iseven as that of a fastened door--which love perchance may open," theheavy lids half-closed over her eyes as she slowly drew the finger-tipsof both hands down towards the slim waist, and the man's teeth drewblood from his under lip.

  "Thy middle is like a lion's, so slender is it, and----"

  He stopped her fiercely as he twisted on to his right elbow and seizedboth her hands in his left.

  "And the suppleness of thy arms, and the softness of thy limbs are likethe young _plaintain_ tree, and thy fingers are the buds of the_champaka_ flower." He spoke rapidly, crushing her hands cruelly."The bone of thy knee showing whitely through thy garment is shapedeven as the shell of a crab, and the whiteness of the bone from thyknee to thy slender ankle is like a full-roed fish----"

  "And thy feet and thy hands, O Lord, are as the young leaves of plants!"

  To which he replied through the teeth that were closed.

  "And thine so small, so dear, are as lotus buds--lotus buds swaying atdawn in the wind of love."

  She smiled divinely as she stretched one perfect bare foot from underher garment, and bent her head to catch the words as he passionatelywhispered the Vega hymn.

&nb
sp; "Want thou the body of me, the feet; want thou the eyes; want thethighs; let the eyes, the hair of thee, desiring me, dry up in love.

  "I make thee cling to my arm, cling to my heart; that thou mayest be inmy power, come unto my intent.

  "They----"

  He stopped, convulsed with passion, and bending kissed her feet.

  "Ah! thy hands, thy feet, are like lotus buds--lotus buds which I love,even if they be drenched in blood."

  He leapt to his feet and caught Leonie's wrist in the vice of his handas she sprang upright in one movement, laughing as she pointed at hismouth.

  "Blood," she whispered, "blood--it is warm--it drops slowly--slowly----"

  She ran her fingers across his mouth, and shook with hideous silentlaughter as she showed him the tips stained red.

  "Come," she said, "come--she is calling--calling----" and she struck atthe hand which gripped her shoulder, and tried to shake herself free.

  "Come!" said the man, looking straight into her eyes, "come with me."

  She slid her hand into his, and followed him docilely as he lifted thereed purdah and entered her bedroom.

  "Lie down!"

  He lifted the netting and pointed to the bed.

  As he towered above her the scarlet mouth in the uplifted face was on alevel with his shoulder, as she smiled distractingly and raised herhands palm upwards in a little supplicating gesture.

  "My Lord!" she whispered. "My Lord!"

  The temptations of all the ages, and the overpowering passion of hisown glowing East rose about him like a flood; he shook from head tofoot as she laid herself down and drawing the sheet about her whisperedagain, "My Lord!"

  They were alone in the jungle, and his will was hers; she was as a bitof wax upon which he might imprint his seal; there was no one to sayhim nay if he should draw her unto his intent.

  And he loved her.

  Yes! he loved her, and because of the overpowering strength of thislove he knelt beside her and placed his fingers upon her temples.

  "Sleep, beloved," he whispered, "sleep--the women that are of pureodour--all of them--we--make--sleep."

  And Leonie slept peacefully and undisturbed until the dawn, becauseMadhu Krishnaghar, with his face buried in his arms, who lay across thethreshold of her bedroom, was one of the splendid type that Indiabreeds--an Indian nobleman.