CHAPTER XV
ROBERTSON IS LOST
So I went and was conducted by Billali, the old chamberlain, for suchseemed to be his office, who had been waiting patiently without all thiswhile, back to our rest-house. On my way I picked up Hans, whom I foundsitting outside the arch, and found that as usual that worthy had beenkeeping his eyes and ears open.
"Baas," he said, "did the White Witch tell you that there is a big_impi_ encamped over yonder outside the houses, in what looks like agreat dry ditch, and on the edge of the plain beyond?"
"No, Hans, but she said that this evening she would show us those inwhose company we must fight."
"Well, Baas, they are there, some thousands of them, for I crept throughthe broken walls like a snake and saw them. And, Baas, I do not thinkthey are men, I think that they are evil spirits who walk at nightonly."
"Why, Hans?"
"Because when the sun is high, Baas, as it is now, they are allsleeping. Yes, there they lie abed, fast asleep, as other people do atnight, with only a few sentries out on guard, and these are yawning andrubbing their eyes."
"I have heard that there are folk like that in the middle of Africawhere the sun is very hot, Hans," I answered, "which perhaps is whyShe-who-commands is going to take us to see them at night. Also thesepeople, it seems, are worshippers of the moon."
"No, Baas, they are worshippers of the devil and that White Witch is hiswife."
"You had better keep your thoughts to yourself, Hans, for whatever sheis I think that she can read thoughts from far away, as you guessed lastnight. Therefore I would not have any if I were you."
"No, Baas, or if I must think, henceforth, it shall be only of gin whichin this place is also far away," he replied, grinning.
Then we came to the rest-house where I found that Robertson had alreadyeaten his midday meal and like the Amahagger gone to sleep, whileapparently Umslopogaas had done the same; at least I saw nothing of him.Of this I was glad, since that wondrous Ayesha seemed to draw vitalityout of me and after my long talk with her I felt very tired. So I tooate and then went to lie down under an old wall in the shade at a littledistance, and to reflect upon the marvellous things that I had heard.
Here be it said at once that I believed nothing of them, or at leastvery little indeed. All the involved tale of Ayesha's long life Idismissed at once as incredible. Clearly she was some beautiful womanwho was more or less mad and suffered from megalomania; probably anArab, who had wandered to this place for reasons of her own, and becomethe chieftainess of a savage tribe whose traditions she had absorbed andreproduced as personal experiences, again for reasons of her own.
For the rest, she was now threatened by another tribe and knowing thatwe had guns and could fight from what happened on the yesterday, wishednaturally enough for our assistance in the coming battle. As for themarvellous chief Rezu, or rather for his supernatural attributes and allthe cock-and-bull story about an axe--well, it was humbug like the rest,and if she believed in it she must be more foolish than I took herto be--even if she were unhinged on certain points. For the rest, herinformation about myself and Umslopogaas doubtless had reached her fromZikali in some obscure fashion, as she herself acknowledged.
But heavens! how beautiful she was! That flash of loveliness when out ofpique or coquetry she lifted her veil, blinded like the lightning. Butthank goodness, also like the lightning it frightened; instinctively onefelt that it was very dangerous, even to death, and with it I for onewished no closer acquaintance. Fire may be lovely and attractive, alsocomforting at a proper distance, but he who sits on the top of it iscremated, as many a moth has found.
So I argued, knowing well enough all the while that if this particularhuman--or inhuman--fire desired to make an holocaust of me, it could doso easily enough, and that in reality I owed my safety so far to a lackof that desire on its part. The glorious Ayesha saw nothing to attracther in an insignificant and withered hunter, or at any rate in hisexterior, though with his mind she might find some small affinity.Moreover to make a fool of him just for the fun of it would notserve her purpose, since she needed his assistance in a business thatnecessitated clear wits and unprejudiced judgment.
Lastly she had declared herself to be absorbed in some tiresomecomplication with another man, of which it was rather difficult tofollow the details. It is true that she described him as a handsome butsomewhat empty-headed person whom she had last seen two thousand yearsago, but probably this only meant that she thought poorly of him becausehe had preferred some other woman to herself, while the two thousandyears were added to the tale to give it atmosphere.
The worst of scandals becomes romantic and even respectable in twothousand years; witness that of Cleopatra with Caesar, Mark Antony andother gentlemen. The most virtuous read of Cleopatra with sympathy, evenin boarding-schools, and it is felt that were she by some miracle to beblotted out of the book of history, the loss would be enormous. The sameapplied to Helen, Phryne, and other bad lots. In fact now that one comesto think of it, most of the attractive personages in history, male orfemale, especially the latter, were bad lots. When we find someone towhose name is added "the good" we skip. No doubt Ayesha, being veryclever, appreciated this regrettable truth, and therefore moved hermurky entanglements of the past decade or so back for a couple ofthousand years, as many of us would like to do.
There remained the very curious circumstance of her apparentcorrespondence with old Zikali who lived far away. This, however, afterall was not inexplicable. In the course of a great deal of experience Ihave observed that all the witch-doctor family, to which doubtless shebelonged, have strange means of communication.
In most instances these are no doubt physical, carried on by help ofmessengers, or messages passed from one to the other. But sometimes itis reasonable to assume what is known as telepathy, as their link ofintercourse. Between two such highly developed experts as Ayesha andZikali, it might for the sake of argument safely be supposed that itwas thus they learned each other's mind and co-operated in each other'sprojects, though perhaps this end was effected by commoner methods.
Whatever its interpretations, the issue of the business seemed to bethat I was to be let in for more fighting. Well, in any case this couldnot be avoided, since Robertson's daughter, Inez, had to be saved at allcosts, if it could possibly be done, even if we lost our lives in theattempt. Therefore fight we must, so there was nothing more to be said.Also without doubt this adventure was particularly interesting and Icould only hope that good luck, or Zikali's Great Medicine, or ratherProvidence, would see me through it safely.
For the rest the fact that our help was necessary to her in thiswar-like venture showed me clearly enough that all this wonderfulwoman's pretensions to supernatural powers were the sheerest nonsense.Had they been otherwise she would not have needed our help in her tribalfights, notwithstanding the rubbish she talked about the chief, Rezu,who according to her account of him, must resemble one of the fabulous"trolls," half-human and half-ghostly evil creatures, of whom I haveread in the Norse Sagas, who could only be slain by some particular heroarmed with a particular weapon.
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