A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder

by James De Mille

  CHAPTER XXX

  THE DAY OF SACRIFICE

  At last the time came.

  It was the end of the dark season. Then, as the sun rises for itspermanent course around the heavens, when the long day of six monthsbegins, all in the land of the Kosekin is sorrow, and the last of theloved darkness is mourned over amid the most solemn ceremonies, andcelebrated with the most imposing sacrifices. Then the most honoredin all the land are publicly presented with the blessing of death,and allowed to depart this hated life, and go to the realms of thateternal darkness which they love so well. It is the greatest ofsacrifices, and is followed by the greatest of feasts. Thus the busyseason--the loved season of darkness--ends, and the long, hatefulseason of light begins, when the Kosekin lurk in caverns, and live inthis way in the presence of what may be called artificial darkness.

  It was for us--for me and for Almah--the day of doom. Since theceremony of separation I had not seen her; but my heart had beenalways with her. I did not even know whether she was alive or not, butbelieved that she must be; for I thought that if she had died I shouldhave heard of it, as the Kosekin would have rejoiced greatly over suchan event. For every death is to them an occasion of joy, and the deathof one so distinguished and so beloved as Almah would have given riseto nothing less than a national festival.

  Of time I had but a poor reckoning; but, from the way in which thepaupers kept account of their joms, I judged that about three monthshad elapsed since the ceremony of separation.

  The paupers were now all joyous with a hideous joy. The Chief Pauperwas more abhorrent than ever. He had the blood-thirst strong uponhim. He was on that jom to perform his horrible office of SarTabakin, and as he accosted me he smiled the smile of a demon, andcongratulated me on my coming escape from life. To this I had no wordof answer to make; but my hands held my rifle and pistol, and these Iclutched with a firmer grasp as my last hour approached.

  The time of departure at length arrived. Soldiers of the Kosekin came,following the paupers, who went first, while the guards came after me.Thus we all emerged into the open air. There the broad terrace alreadymentioned spread out before my eyes, filled with thousands uponthousands of human beings. It seemed as though the entire populationof the city was there, and so densely packed was this great crowd thatit was only with great difficulty that a way was laid open for ourpassage.

  Above was the sky, where the stars were twinkling faintly. There wasno longer the light of the aurora australis; the constellationsglimmered but dimly, the moon was shining with but a feeble ray; forthere far away over the icy crests of the lofty mountains I saw a longline of splendid effulgence, all golden and red--the light of the newdawn--the dawn of that long day which was now approaching. The sightof that dawning light gave me new life. It was like a sight ofhome--the blessed dawn, the sunlight of a bright day, the gloriousdaybreak lost for so long a time, but now at last returning. I feastedmy eyes on the spectacle, I burst into tears of joy, and I felt asthough I could gaze at it forever. But the sun as it travelled wasrapidly coming into view; soon the dazzling glory of its rim wouldappear above the mountain crest, and the season of darkness would end.There was no time to wait, and the guards hurried me on.

  There in the midst of the square rose the pyramid. It was fully ahundred feet in height, with a broad flat top. At the base I saw agreat crowd of paupers. Through these we passed, and as we did soa horrible death-chant arose. We now went up the steps and reachedthe top. It was about sixty feet square, and upon it there was aquadrangle of stones set about three feet apart, about sixty innumber, while in the midst was a larger stone. All of these wereevidently intended for sacrificial purposes.

  Scarcely had I reached the top when I saw a procession ascend fromthe other side. First came some paupers, then some hags, and then,followed by other hags, I saw Almah. I was transfixed at the sight. Athrill passed through every nerve, and a wild impulse came to me toburst through the crowd, join her, and battle with them all for herlife. But the crowd was too dense. I could only stand and look at her,and mark the paleness of her face and her mute despair. She saw me,waved her hand sadly, and gave a mournful smile. There we stoodseparated by the crowd, with our eyes fastened on each other, andall our hearts filled with one deep, intense yearning to fly to oneanother's side.

  And now there came up from below, louder and deeper, the awfuldeath-chant. Time was pressing. The preparations were made. The ChiefPauper took his station by the central stone, and in his right hand heheld a long, keen knife. Toward this stone I was led. The Chief Pauperthen looked with his blear and blinking eyes to where the dawn wasglowing over the mountain crest, and every moment increasing inbrightness; and then, after a brief survey, he turned and whetted hisknife on the sacrificial stone. After this he turned to me with hisevil face, with the glare of a horrid death-hunger in his ravenouseyes, and pointed to the stone.

  I stood without motion.

  He repeated the gesture and said, "Lie down here."

  "I will not," said I.

  "But it is on this stone," said he, "that you are to get the blessingof death."

  "I'll die first!" said I, fiercely, and I raised my rifle.

  The Chief Pauper was puzzled at this. The others looked on quietly,thinking it probably a debate about some punctilio. Suddenly he seemedstruck with an idea.

  "Yes, yes," said he. "The woman first. It is better so."

  Saying this he walked toward Almah, and said something to the hags.

  At this the chief of them--namely, the nightmare hag--led Almah to thenearest stone, and motioned to her to lie down. Almah prepared toobey, but paused a moment to throw at me one last glance and wave herhand as a last farewell. Then without a word she laid herself downupon the stone. At this a thrill of fury rushed through all my being,rousing me from my stupor, impelling me to action, filling my brainwith madness. The nightmare hag had already raised her long keen knifein the air. Another moment and the blow would have fallen. But myrifle was at my shoulder; my aim was deadly. The report rang out likethunder. A wild, piercing yell followed, and when the smoke clearedaway the nightmare hag lay dead at the foot of the altar. I wasalready there, having burst through the astonished crowd, and Almahwas in my arms; and holding her thus for a moment, I put myself infront of her and stood at bay, with my only thought that of defendingher to the last and selling my life as dearly as possible.

  The result was amazing.

  After the report there was for some moments a deep silence, which wasfollowed by a wild, abrupt outcry from half a million people--the roarof indistinguishable words bursting forth from the lips of all thatthrong, whose accumulated volume arose in one vast thunder-clap ofsound, pealing forth, echoing along the terraced streets, and rollingon far away in endless reverberations. It was like the roar of mightycataracts, like the sound of many waters; and at the voice of thatvast multitude I shrank back for a moment. As I did so I looked down,and beheld a scene as appalling as the sound that had overawed me. Inall that countless throng of human beings there was not one who wasnot in motion; and all were pressing forward toward the pyramid asto a common centre. On every side there was a multitudinous sea ofupturned faces, extending as far as the eye could reach. All were inviolent agitation, as though all were possessed by one common impulsewhich forced them toward me. At such a sight I thought of nothing elsethan that I was the object of their wrath, and that they were all withone common fury rushing toward me to wreak vengeance upon me and uponAlmah for the slaughter of the nightmare hag.

  All this was the work of but a few moments. And now as I stood thereholding Almah--appalled, despairing, yet resolute and calm--I becameaware of a more imminent danger. On the top of the pyramid, at thereport of the rifle, all had fallen down flat on their faces, andit was over them that I had rushed to Almah's side. But these nowbegan to rise, and the hags took up the corpse of the dead, and thepaupers swarmed around with cries of "Mut! mut!" (dead! dead!) andexclamations of wonder. Then they all turned their foul and blearyeyes toward me, and st
ood as if transfixed with astonishment. Atlength there burst forth from the crowd one who sought to get at me.It was the Chief Pauper. He still held in his hand the long knife ofsacrifice. He said not a word, but rushed straight at me, and as hecame I saw murder in his look. I did not wait for him, but raising myrifle, discharged the second barrel full in his face. He fell down ashattered, blackened heap, dead.

  As the second report thundered out it drowned all other sounds, andwas again followed by an awful silence. I looked around. Those on thepyramid--paupers and hags--had again flung themselves on their faces.On the square below the whole multitude were on their knees, withtheir heads bowed down low. The silence was more oppressive thanbefore; it was appalling--it was tremendous! It seemed like the dreadsilence that precedes the more awful outburst of the hurricane whenthe storm is gathering up all its strength to burst with accumulatedfury upon its doomed victim.

  But there was no time to be lost in staring, and that interval wasoccupied by me in hastily reloading my rifle. It was my last resourcenow; and if it availed not for defence it might at least serve to beused against ourselves. With this thought I handed the pistol toAlmah, and hurriedly whispered to her that if I were killed, she coulduse it against herself. She took it in silence, but I read in her faceher invincible resolve.

  The storm at last burst. The immense multitude rose to their feet, andwith one common impulse came pressing on from every side toward thepyramid, apparently filled with the one universal desire of reachingme--a desire which was now all the more intense and vehement fromthese interruptions which had taken place. Why they had fallen ontheir knees, why the paupers on the pyramid were still prostrate, Icould not tell; but I saw now the swarming multitude, and I felt thatthey were rolling in on every side--merciless, blood-thirsty,implacable--to tear me to pieces. Yet time passed and they did notreach me, for an obstacle was interposed. The pyramid had smoothsides. The stairways that led up to the summit were narrow, and didnot admit of more than two at a time; yet, had the Kosekin been likeother people, the summit of the pyramid would soon have been swarmingwith them; but as they were Kosekin, none came up to the top; for atthe base of the pyramid, at the bottom of the steps, I saw a strangeand incredible struggle. It was not, as with us, who should go upfirst, but who should go up last; each tried to make his neighbor gobefore him. All were eager to go, but the Kosekin self-denial,self-sacrifice, and love for the good of others made each oneintensely desirous to make others go up. This resulted in a furiousstruggle, in which, as fast as anyone would be pushed up the steps alittle way, he would jump down again and turn his efforts towardputting up others; and thus all the energies of the people were wornout in useless and unavailing efforts--in a struggle to which, fromthe very nature of the case, there could be no end.

  Now those on the pyramid began to rise, and soon all were on theirfeet. Cries burst forth from them. All were looking at us, but withnothing like hostility; it was rather like reverence and adoration,and these feelings were expressed unmistakably in their cries, amongwhich I could plainly distinguish such words as these: "Ap Ram!""Mosel anan wacosek!" "Sopet Mut!" (The Father of Thunder! Ruler ofCloud and Darkness! Judge of Death!) These cries passed to thosebelow. The struggle ceased. All stood and joined in the cry, which wastaken up by those nearest, and soon passed among all those myriads, tobe repeated with thunder echoes far and wide.

  At this it suddenly became plain to me that the danger of death hadpassed away; that these people no longer regarded me as a victim, butrather as some mighty being--some superior, perhaps supernaturalpower, who was to be almost worshipped. Hence these prostrations,these words, these cries, these looks. All these told me that thebitterness of death had passed away. At this discovery there was, fora moment, a feeling of aversion and horror within me at filling such aposition; that I, a weak mortal, should dare to receive adoration likethis; and I recoiled at the thought: yet this feeling soon passed; forlife was at stake--not my own merely, but that of Almah; and I wasready now to go through anything if only I might save her: so, insteadof shrinking from this new part, I eagerly seized upon it, and at oncedetermined to take advantage of the popular superstition to theutmost.

  Far away over the crests of the mountains I saw the golden edge of thesun's disc, and the light flowed therefrom in broad effulgence,throwing out long rays of glory in a luminous flood over all the land.I pointed to the glorious orb, and cried to the paupers, and to allwho were nearest, in a loud voice:

  "I am Atam-or, the Man of Light! I come from the land of light! I amthe Father of Thunder, of Cloud and Darkness; the Judge of Death!"

  At this the paupers all fell prostrate, and cried out to me to givethem the blessing of death.

  I made no answer, but leading Almah to the edge of the pyramid, toldher to fire the pistol. A million eyes were fixed on us. She held upthe pistol and fired. Immediately after, I fired both barrels of therifle; and as the reports rang out and the smoke cleared away, I hearda mighty murmur, and once more beheld all prostrate. Upon this Ihurriedly loaded again, and waited for further revelations. All thetime I could not help wondering at the effect produced by the riflenow, in comparison with the indifference with which it had beenregarded at my first arrival in the country. I could not account forit, but supposed that the excitement of a great religious festival andthe sudden death of the Chief Pauper and the Chief Hag had probablydeeply impressed them. In the midst of these thoughts the wholemultitude arose; and once more there came to my ears the universaluproar of innumerable cries, in the midst of which I could hear thewords, "Ap Ram!" "Mosel anan wacosek!" "Sopet Mut!"