



Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




The Eye of Istar
A Romance of the Land of No Return
By William Le Queux
Illustrations by Alfred Pearse
Published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York.

The Eye of Istar, by William Le Queux.

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THE EYE OF ISTAR, BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX.

PREFACE.

_PEACE, O READER!  Constant, blessed and abundant salutations_.

_Of a verity the groves of my hopes have been refreshed by cooling
showers from the clouds of Allah's blessing, my rose garden has been
weeded of the thorns of despondency, and the tree of my prosperity has
become fruit-bearing from the breeze of his bounty.  He is the Giver of
Gifts, the Source of Liberality, the Sovereign, the dust of whose
sandals is deservedly the collyrium of the eyes of mortal men; and I,
called by my fellows El-Motardjim, am the servant who, in compliance
with the exalted command, have placed my finger of acquiescence on the
vision of obedience.  During many hopeless nights I waited for the
radiation of the sun of the benefits of prosperity, and counted the
stars till the rise of dawn, but, by my ill-luck and the machinations of
enemies, was deprived of the felicity of penetrating the mystery of the
Land Forbidden_.

_At length, however, on a happy day when the fire of my anguish burned
so brightly that it was not easy to extinguish it with the water of
patience, the Abolisher of the signs of darkness and aberration invested
me with the robe of the favoured, guarded me through the calamities and
vicissitudes of fortune during long journeys, directed my footsteps
through the mazes of paths untrodden, and revealed unto my dazzled eyes
weird and wondrous marvels stranger than men have dreamed_.

_Therefore, O Reader! wipe the dust of ennui and fatigue from the
speculum of thy mind, withdraw the tongue of blame into thy palate, and
lend a willing ear to this my Tarik; for, verily, I have elucidated the
secret of the mystic Land of the No Return; I have torn the veil that
hideth the Great Sin from the eyes of men, and have gazed into the Eye
of Istar.  "Imsh Allah_!"

PROLOGUE.

Thrice hath the Fast of Ramadan come and gone since the Granter of
Requests last allowed my eyes to behold the well-remembered landscape,
scarcely visible in the pale light of dawn.  Hills, covered with tall
feathery palms, rose abruptly from the barren, sun-scorched plain, and,
at their foot, stood the dazzlingly-white city of Omdurman, the
impregnable and mysterious headquarters of Mahdiism, while beyond, like
a silver ribbon winding through the marshes, the Nile glided, half
veiled by its thin white cloud of morning vapours.

Within the walled and strongly-guarded city was a scene, strange and
fantastic.  The air, heavy with war rumours, was rent by the deafening
strokes of enormous brazen tamtams, mingling with the loud shouts of
dark-faced Jalins, half-naked <DW64> fanatics of the Kunjara and the
Dinka, armed _cap a pie_, ready for battle at a moment's notice.  The
excitement, which had increased daily for many months, had risen to
fever heat.

Throughout the short, hot night, the great _nahas_--those huge brass war
drums of the Khalifa Abdullah, Ruler of the Soudan--had been beaten by
relays of perspiring <DW64> slaves, glittering with beads and trinkets,
the indescribable monotonous rhythm causing the wildly-excited populace
to cry, "_Nakelkum_!" and "_Naklulkum_!" as, in the fresh, cool hour,
when the Wolf's Tail--the first brushes of grey light which appear as
forerunners of dawn--showed in the heavens, they seized guns, spears and
shields, and rushing from their houses across the great square of Abu
Anga they congregated in the wide, open space near the Tree of Hadra,
where the Raya Zerga, or dreaded black standard of the Khalifa, hung
ominous and motionless in the morning air.

Wild-haired men sped fleetly to and fro, brandishing their gleaming arms
and apostrophising Eblis; women left their millet unbeaten and followed,
while musicians chanted war songs softly in a sad falsetto, accompanying
themselves upon their little _ginkris_--those queer, two stringed
guitars, fashioned from a tortoise shell, which give forth a dismal
sound like the chirping of a grasshopper of the oasis.  The servants of
the Merciful are those who walk meekly on the earth, and when the
ignorant speak to them, answer, "Peace"; and who pass the night adoring
Allah, and standing up to pray unto him, and who say, "O Allah, avert
from us the torment of hell, for the torment thereof is perpetual;
verily, the same is a miserable abode"; and who, when they bestow, are
neither profuse nor niggardly, but observe a just medium between these,
and who invoke not another god together with the One Allah, neither slay
the soul which Allah hath forbidden to be slain, unless for a just
cause.  The Dervishes were going forth to battle.

On one side of the spacious review ground frowned the castellated walls
of the imposing white fortress, held so long by Faragallah Pasha against
the fierce hordes of the Mahdi; on the other, the ill-built quarters of
the Genadien, or regular soldiers, while the single tree in the centre
was historical by reason of the head of Gordon, the brave Pasha of the
Infidels, having been exhibited thereon by order of our tyrannical lord,
the Madhi.  It was at this spot that the wild multitude heaped curses
upon the last grim relic of the gallant, deserted hero of Khartoum, the
man whose matchless bravery and dogged perseverance were alike admired
by my own co-religionists, as well as by the Infidels themselves.

But the Mahdi, Khalifat-er-Rasul--the great False Prophet, renowned
throughout the world, who, by inducing us to believe that, by his
supernatural influence, he could transform the bullets of the white men
into water, caused us to flock to his standard and attempt to conquer
the Soudan--was now dead, and the power of the Khalifa Abdullah supreme.
Seven years ago had the hand of Allah's justice fallen heavily upon the
hypocritical imitator of the Great Prophet, who asserted that he could
part the waters of the Nile, that his body was invulnerable, and who was
so successful in his ingenious impostures that the people threw
themselves down frantically to kiss the spots his crimson slippers had
touched, while the water in which he performed his ablutions was drunk
as an unfailing remedy for every sort of malady.  The very dust of his
sandals was declared to be the collyrium of the eyes of men.  But the
struggle with the English, the fall of El Obeid, the capture of Galabat,
and the defeat and death of the King of Abyssinia were events now long
past and forgotten.

In this record of fact, adventure and strange marvels, I,
Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz, called by some, El-Motardjim ("the translator"), on
account of my knowledge of many tongues, am compelled to speak of
myself.  I am not a Soudanese, but an Arab, son of the Hadj Yakub
Sarraf, Kaid of the Aures.  I passed my childhood at my birthplace,
El-Manaa, two days' journey from Batna.  Then my father, having trading
relations with an Arab merchant living in London, the giant city of the
English, I was sent there for two years to learn the tongue.  But I
cared not for the English, nor the ways of life in a city where the
women go abroad unveiled and laugh in the faces of the men, where speech
is carried along wires, where light is shed by two wires in contact and
where carriages are propelled along the roads without horses.  Of a
verity, the London of the English is a city full of marvels, infidel
customs, amazing sights, and the accursed inventions of Eblis himself.
To the English the One Accursed has imparted the secret of his wiles and
miracles, whereby they are the powerful people on the face of the earth.
After two years rubbing shoulders with the white men who believed not
in the Prophet, but worshipped a cross as emblem of their deity, I grew
weary, for, during the whole time, mine eyes were never refreshed by
seeing the interior of a mosque, although once or twice I entered their
churches without removing my shoes, as is their custom.

During my absence in the land of the Infidels my mother died, and six
moons after my return my father was taken into Certainty.  Then life
among my people, the Chawi--the beauty of whose women is world famous--
had but little charm for me, born Bedouin that I am.  I longed for the
journeys afar by camel, the free life, the burning sun and the limitless
horizon.  I felt the need of the devouring heat.  I sighed for the
desert and the endless sands, and all my youthful dreams were radiant
with rosy anticipations.  Therefore, after a few months of idleness, I
resolved to quit my studies and travel south across the Great Desert.
At sunrise, one day, I left behind my native mountains, and, with a
camel caravan, journeyed to Mourzouk.  Thence I travelled with various
caravans to El Fasher, Dem Zibehr, Lado, and other places in the Soudan,
on many occasions finding myself in Khartoum, where several times I saw
the grave-faced Gordon, the heroic White Pasha, who was afterwards so
treacherously murdered.  At the age of twenty-one I had succeeded in
establishing a small caravan of my own to journey between Khartoum and
Suakin, but suddenly the Mahdi rose against the Christians, and all
trade was stopped.  Unfortunately, being an Arab from Algeria, I was an
alien, therefore my camels were at once seized, and, against my will, I
was pressed into military service, forced to take the _bea'a_, and bear
my part in the holy war under the dreaded standard of the Madhi.  At
Tamai and Abu Klea I fought the English invaders, afterwards carrying
arms in Dongola, Berber, Galabat, Karkoj and Kordofan, where I fought
Infidels, slave-raiders and rebellious tribes, witnessing many fierce
combats and scenes of massacre too horrible to describe.  "Allah
encompasseth the Infidels," says our Koran.  "The lightning wanteth but
little of taking away their sight; so often as it enlighteneth them they
walk therein, but when darkness cometh on them they stand still."  I
loved the brilliant nights and the ruddy splendour of the moonbeams
reflected on the sands; even the sinister howls of the jackals on the
plains of Kababich had become a familiar sound and no longer disturbed
me.

Such, briefly, is the story how, from a student at the French Lycee at
Algiers, and a clerk in a London merchant's office, I developed into a
Dervish.

Now, however, as one of the renowned Ansar-ed-Din of the False Prophet's
successor, I, with face seared by sun-scalds, sat my milk-white horse in
the square of Abu Anga, ready to take part in the monster parade, prior
to setting forth upon an expedition across the Great Desert, westward to
Kano, the great capital of the powerful Sultan of Sokoto, which all knew
would be fraught with many perils.

But it was the Khalifa's will; none dare demur.

In the Koran, our perspicuous Book of Everlasting Will, it is written
that "Allah, the One Worthy of Praise, alone knoweth the heart of man,"
therefore he is aware that the profane chicanery of the Mahdi had
impressed me not, neither did I admire the fanatical teaching of the
Khalifa's speeches and sermons.  But to speak in Omdurman against
Mahdiism, or the Khalifa, meant death, therefore silence and obedience
were best.  Indeed, life was at all times uncertain in the Dervish
capital.  The Khalifa was intensely vain and proud, professing the
religion of Al-Islam, but leading an idle, dissolute life, shut up in
his great white Palace, surrounded by all the pomp and splendour of a
Soudanese Sultan.  Cruel, quick-tempered and distrustful, he was fearful
and jealous of his authority, and the smallest infringement of it was
looked upon as a heinous offence, to be punished accordingly.  By an
elaborate system, he was surrounded by villainous, despicable spies, who
all pandered to his jealous and tyrannical nature.  These spies were
everywhere, and besides obtaining admission to private houses in order
to ascertain if the inmates were loyal, their duty was also to seek out
the most attractive girls to grace their master's extensive harem.
Wherever a pretty woman was found throughout his dominions he at once
received information about her, and in a very short time she was
conveyed to the palace of Omdurman, where the hundred fountains were
refreshing, the marble courts were cool, and the Garden of Enchantment
was red with flowers and green with many leaves.

CHAPTER ONE.

THE BLAST OF THE ONBEIA.

We were leaving Omdurman, on an expedition to the far west, beyond the
high misty mountains of Marran and the great glaring Saharan plains.
Our forces, consisting of over fifteen thousand armed warriors, were
assembling to parade and receive our Ruler's blessing ere we departed.

Red and fiery the sun rose, the houses shone milk-white against the
intense blue of the sky, the monotonous thumping of the _nahas_
continued, the yelling of the fanatical multitude increased, and the
black silken standard, planted in the centre of the parade-ground,
stirred by a breath of hot wind, suddenly spread itself out lazily,
revealing its inscription in sprawly Arabic characters of bright yellow.
The excited populace, the black-faced warriors of the Tumali, the
Tegeleand the Fajelu, regarding this as a good omen, shouted themselves
hoarse in cursing our enemies, but a few seconds later the sound of loud
trumpets echoed across the square, and a silence, sudden and complete,
fell upon the multitude.  Drawn up in long lines, we were facing in the
direction of the Holy City, ranging ourselves in order, attending the
commands of Allah and the Khalifa and celebrating the divine praise.
From where I sat I had full view of the great arched gate of the Palace,
which next second was thrown open as the Khalifa himself, stout,
dark-bearded, and hawk-eyed, rode forth, accompanied by his officers and
bodyguard.  Mounted on a fine camel, and wearing a suit of golden mail
armour and a helmet with spotless plume, he was surrounded by about two
hundred horsemen also clad in mail, with thick, red turbans around their
helmets, their horses all wearing brass head armour to protect them from
sword cuts.  Four _onbeia_ blowers walked in front, and, in turns,
sounded the great elephant's tusk, while, headed by the dreaded sable
standard and moving very slowly, came the Khalifa, stern, stately,
statuesque, with drawn sword.  Behind, followed the gaudily-attired
_mulazimin_, or body-servants, riding, while his black guards, veritable
giants in stature, formed a compact square around him.

The spectacle was brilliant and imposing.  In the bright morning
sunshine the spears and armour of the cavalcade flashed and glittered,
and, as the Khalifa drew up his camel within a few yards of me, his keen
black eyes wandered around us, as if in search of absentees.  Thrice the
deafening plaudits of the multitude rent the air; thrice he bowed an
acknowledgment with regal gesture.  With one voice the people cried,
"Alhamdolillah!"--the pious expression which leaves the lips of True
Believers on all occasions of concluding actions--the review began, and
the wild enthusiasm and confusion knew no bounds.  Remington rifles with
ammunition were distributed to us, in addition to the customary three
spears and sword, and, amid the endless shouting and recitation of suras
from the Koran, with bows and protestations we dashed at a wild gallop
hither and thither past the powerful Ruler of the Soudan, raising clouds
of white dust.  At length, in obedience to a long, loud blast from the
_onbeia_, we halted, and the Khalifa--whose custom it was to attend the
mosque five times a day and to enforce the presence of all his principal
emirs--commenced the second portion of the parade.  The review, or
_arda_, as it was called, was a religious ceremony, and those who took
part in it were supposed to obtain special advantages and blessings.

Gazing slowly around him, with an expression of restlessness and revenge
clearly portrayed upon his gross, bloated features, he waved his fat
hand, with imperious gesture, exclaiming in a loud, firm voice,--

"Harken unto me, O my people!  The believer doth not escape from the
chastisement of Allah--whose glory be glorified,--until he leaveth four
things--lying, pride, niggardliness and evil-thinking.  Paradise
desireth four kinds of men: the first of them are they who feed the
hungry; the second, they who lend succour unto the naked; the third,
they who fast in Ramadan; and the fourth, they who read the Koran.  Fear
ye Allah in secret, O my people!"

Every head bent low in obedient submission, every voice cried with one
accord, "May the peace of Allah cover thee like a cloak, O august Ruler!
O Pearl of the conch of Prophecy!"

"Our kingdom is made flourishing through justice, is protected by
courage, and ruled by good government," he continued.  "Good government
is that the gate of the Chief be guarded in the proper time of being
guarded, and opened in the proper time of being open, and the
gate-keeper friendly.  Verily, the One Merciful hath servants whom he
distinguisheth with his favours, and whom he rewardeth for fighting for
the Faith with great rewards.  To go forth into battle against the
Sultan of Sokoto is necessary for the well being of our State, and of
our people; therefore, O men-at-arms, gird your loins and sharpen your
spears, so that ye may enter the great city of Kano, vanquish your
enemies, trample their country underfoot, deliver it over to fire and
sword, and return hither to your ease within yonder walls of this, your
dwelling-place.  In the darkness of night, as in the sunshine of noon,
ye carry with ye upon thy wanderings the ever-anxious thoughts of your
Khalifa, into whose keeping the welfare of our kingdom was entrusted by
the holy Mahdi whom Allah, who liveth in Heaven, hath been pleased to
remove from amongst us."

"His name be exalted and praised!" roared the excited, dark-faced
multitude.  "May it endure as long as time lasts!"

"True, O my people," continued the autocrat, with well-feigned
reverence.  "May our great Chief, El-Mahdi, drink of the stream
Al-Cawthar, whiter than milk or silver, and more odoriferous than musk,
with as many cups set around it as there are stars in the firmament, of
which water whosoever drinketh will thirst no more for ever.  May he
wander through the groves of Jannat-al-Ferdaws with the glorious
Hur-al-oyun, whose dark eyes are a pleasure to beholders, and whose
pavilions are as hollow pearls."

Then, after the people had given vent to loud acclamations, he repeated,
in a loud voice, two long prayers from the Koran, followed by the
_khutba_ for days of the Jihad, "Praise be to Allah, the One Merciful,
who is the best of helpers; for we say, verily, help us against the
Infidel people.  He who is dissatisfied with the licentious, we ask Him,
`Do help us against the Infidel people.'  Glory to Him who scattereth
the strength of the unbelievers; so we say, verily, `Do help us.'  He
who surroundeth with His aid His grateful worshippers, help us.  He whom
Allah sent to give vigour unto the lukewarm, help us.  Know ye that
Allah, whose name be exalted, has written upon you the Jihad against the
wicked.  Therefore, exert yourselves and say, `Help us against the
Infidels, and may their place be in Al-Hawiyat.'  And be ye patient in
the fatigues of the expedition; for, verily, His help maketh bold those
who watch.  Then say ye, `Help us against the Infidels.  Thou art our
Allah.  Then help us against the people of the Infidels.'"

This concluded, he delivered a further invocation for the victory of the
religion of Al-Islam, long life for himself, and the continual success
of his arms, following it up with a prayer, calling down the vengeance
of Allah on all unbelievers and those who had erred from the paths of
Mahdiism, especially the enemies we were about to attack, and asking
that their wives and children might be given as booty unto us.  At the
end of the prayers he repeated the _Fatiha_, the whole gigantic assembly
joining in the declaration of the Unity, loud, fervent, impressive.

Every head again bowed for a second, then wild yelling, shrill
battle-cries and deafening war gongs sounded, mad, enthusiastic
confusion becoming general everywhere as the Khalifa Abdullah and his
black bodyguard slowly moved back along the Nile bank towards the great
white Palace, the ponderous iron-studded gates of which opened wide to
receive them.  Men and women, giving vent to cries of "_Sidi!  Khalifat
el Mahdi_!" and "_Ya Sidi ana mazlum_!" threw themselves upon their
faces, craving his blessing as he passed, and some of the more fanatical
struggled and fought with his bodyguard of ebon-faced Taisha in a vain
endeavour to touch the hem of the garment of the Great Ruler inspired by
Allah.

Thus, while the shouting multitude followed our Master, we dismounted,
ate the handful of dhurra allotted to each of us, and took leave of our
women and relations prior to setting forth on the first stage of an
expedition to Kano, the City of the Mirage, which most probably would
occupy us many months, and from which many of us would certainly never
return.

CHAPTER TWO.

SUN AND SILENCE.

Headed by the great Raya Zerga, held in awe throughout the Soudan from
Assouan even unto Lado, we of the Jihadieh, two hours later, under the
heat of the brilliant sun, rode forth from the city gate, amid the
vociferous shouting of the women, the frantic beating of war drums, the
ear-piercing blast of great _onbeias_ and the encouraging yells of old
men and children.  Then, with a parting war-cry, our gleaming swords
flourishing in air, we left the cupolas and minarets of Omdurman behind,
and spurred forward in huge compact bodies towards the low, distant
hills, half hidden in their mystic haze, but supposed to be the abode of
the Jinns, or genii, which our dead lord, the Mahdi, declared always
fought in thousands on our side.  Some of my comrades-in-arms declared
that they had had visions of these strange creatures, but I confess I
have never seen one, and am inclined to agree with what one of the White
Fathers once told us in El Obeid, that their existence is purely
imaginary.  But perhaps I am a sceptic.  Indeed, my white skin betrayed
my Arab parentage, and, because of it, I had long ago been nicknamed by
my dark-visaged comrades, "The Unbeliever."  Not because I had ever
expressed doubt as to the truth of the Mahdist teaching, but my pale
face was alone responsible for the epithet which had, in fun, been
bestowed upon me.

My personal appearance, as a horseman of the great Khalifa, was,
perhaps, not such as would commend itself to the Roumis, the enemies of
Allah and His Prophet.  My Jibbeh, or Dervish uniform coat, was dirty
and patched with multi- strips of cotton; on my head was the
white skull-cap, called the _takia_, bound by a broad white turban;
while I wore a pair of loose cotton unmentionables with a red girdle,
and my bare feet were thrust into rough slippers of undressed cowhide.
My weapons consisted of a circular shield which bore the deep dints of
past combats, two small spears, one long one, a rifle, and a heavy sword
with cross hilt strapped up under my left arm.

Light-hearted, laughing among ourselves, and eager for the fray, we
crossed the hills, but saw nothing of the mysterious Jinns; then,
continuing our ride into the stony, waterless desert of Bayuda, that
immense country forgotten of Allah, we halted at sundown for the
_maghrib_, and journeyed forward yet another three hours before
encamping.  The expedition was under the leadership of Ali Wad Helu,
chief of the Baggara Arabs, upon whose crimson flag, borne before him,
was inscribed in gold in the Arabic character, `_Nekhrib ed Dunia wa
nammir el Akher_.'  (We shall destroy this, and create the next world).
This was his motto.  A fierce and fanatical warrior, he had acted a
conspicuous and unenviable part in that terrible storm of 1885 which
deluged the Soudan with blood, and now thought not of sparing the lives
of his men, but urged that, by dying by the sword, we should go direct
to the Jannat-al-Ferdaws, where the great lote-tree throws a cool shade,
and where the houris have lips of musk and eyes bright and sparkling as
stars of night.

Resting during the day, on account of the furnace-heat of sunshine, and
travelling during the clear, starlit nights over the sands with our
black standard ever waving at our head, the hosts of the Khalifa swept
onward through the land of sun and silence, like a great swarm of
locusts, bent upon ruthless pillage and destruction.  Day by day, week
by week, we travelled over the immense plain, always in the crimson
track of the dying day.  Everywhere spread vast solitudes, an
interminable country of desolation and sad monotony, without a plant or
a vestige of life--only shifting, brown sand-hills, boundless horizons
and a blinding glare of sun.  Through Foja and El Fasher we passed, then
over the great, bare mountains to Kol-Kol.  Three journeys from that
place, however, Ali Wad Helu, fearing attack by hostile tribes, sent
forward fifty spearmen--of whom I was one--to act as scouts.  The orders
we received we obeyed promptly, and, heedless of heat and sand storms,
we travelled rapidly onward to Abu Guerra, across infinite, mysterious
solitudes, where the blazing heat and the loose sand retarded our
advance, until, at last, we reached El-Asagga, on the shore of Lake
Tsad, exactly one moon after our departure from Omdurman.

Inured as the cavalry of the Khalifa were to the burning breath and
silent gloom of the desert, the privations of the march and the fatigue
of long travel, we found in this journey that our horses were utterly
unfit to negotiate the stony wilderness that lay between ourselves and
Kano, known to the desert wanderers as the City of the Mirage by reason
of the amazing mirages seen in the vicinity almost daily; therefore, on
arrival at the Well of Sabo-n-Gari, four days' journey south from the
Lake, and two days' beyond the boundary of the territory of the Sultan
of Sokoto, we resolved to encamp under the palms and await our main body
in order to utilise the spare camels which they had brought with them in
case of need.  To attempt to approach nearer to the city we intended to
attack would, we knew, result in speedy death.

The last fires had faded from the west; moonless night had fallen.  The
poison-wind blew in sharp hot gusts, the heat from the sand was
reflected into one's face, black clouds hung low and ominous, and the
atmosphere, laden with particles of grit, was stifling.  We prayed our
_isha_, ate our dhurra, and leaving three of our comrades on the alert,
in case of surprise, stretched ourselves in our tents and endeavoured to
snatch a brief repose.  The neighbourhood of the well was not a safe
place after sundown, for wild beasts came there for water, and we had
seen the marks of lions on the sands.  Wearied, my eyes at length closed
in sleep, and I was dreaming of cool, idle hours at my mountain home in
the far-off Aures, and of bygone days amid the civilisation of London,
when suddenly I was startled by the quick rattle of musketry, followed
by fiendish yells, while, at the same moment, there was a flash of
powder as a bullet tore its way through the canvas of my little tent,
whistling unpleasantly near my head.  Seizing my rifle, I sprang up,
and, with my comrades who had been sleeping by my side, rushed forth.

Next second I knew the truth.  The place was alive with horsemen, led by
a minor sheikh mounted upon a splendid grey.  We had fallen into the
trap against which our spies had repeatedly warned us, and were
evidently being attacked from every side by the Tuaregs.  In the Great
Desert there are two terrors ever present--the sand and the Tuaregs.
The latter are the forbidding-looking pirates of the desert, held in awe
from El Fasher to Timbuktu.  It is said that ages ago they were
compelled to migrate south from the fertile Atlas into the Great Desert,
and owing to their eyes being unaccustomed to the terrible glare, nor
their lungs to the sand storms, they adopted a head dress with two
veils.  One, the _nicab_, is rolled round the temples, hanging down in
front to protect the eyes; the other, the _litham_, reaches from the
nostrils to the edge of the clothing, completely covering the lower part
of the face.  Hence they are known to-day, everywhere in the Soudan, as
the "Veiled Men of the Desert," while upon all those who do not adopt
their mysterious-looking costume they bestow the sobriquet, "mouths for
flies."  The veils are never removed, even at meal times, and the garb
has become so much a part of them that any one, being deprived of it, is
unrecognisable to his friends and relatives.  If one of their number is
killed in battle and divested of his veil, no one can identify him until
it has been restored to its place.  And this, in spite of the fact that
the bridge of the nose and the eyes alone are visible.  Their power is
felt in nearly every part of the Great Desert, and to such an extent
have they carried their depredations that until quite recently almost
every town was compelled to pay them tribute.  These nomads are thieves
of the worst character, travellers and merchants being their principal
victims.  Their vague form of Islamism they have reduced to a belief in
talismans, and their chest and back are covered with bags of black and
yellow, like a cuirass.  Ruse is their principal weapon, even though
they never show themselves without spear or gun, a sword at their side
and a poniard attached to the left arm.  We, of the Khalifa's army, had
bestowed upon them three epithets which epitomise their
psychology--"Thieves, Hyenas, and the Abandoned of Allah."

There had been a deadly feud of long standing between us, and they,
learning that a small party of Dervishes was in the vicinity, had
apparently come forth to check our advance.  But the horsemen of the
Khalifa Abdullah, Sultan of the Soudan, know not fear, as their valiant
actions at Abu Klea, Berber, El Obeid and Toski had already proved, and
now, even though we saw ourselves surrounded by hundreds of yelling
"Veiled Men," who poured into us a withering fire from their
long-barrelled guns, not a man among us was dismayed although many bit
the dust ere reaching cover.

That it must be a struggle to the death we knew, therefore, unable to
mount, we obtained what protection we could among the few palm-trunks,
and replied to the hail of bullets with careful precision, picking off a
white-robed figure whenever one showed itself.  Behind every rock or
tree large enough to shelter a human form a veiled man lurked, and,
well-practised in the use of fire-arms, they proved themselves superior
shots.  As far as we could discern in the gloom they outnumbered us by
about ten to one, and their weapons, aimed deliberately at us from the
security of the ambuscade, had already taken deadly effect.  On every
side white robes fluttered as rifles shed their weird red light, and ere
long many of our men, stumbling forward, sank upon the sand and died
with fierce curses upon their lips.  Unable to approach our opponents
sufficiently near to effectively use our long spears we continued our
erratic fire, determined to make a stubborn stand until the end.  During
a quarter-of-an-hour this continued, when suddenly wild piercing yells
sounded above the incessant rattle of musketry as, with one accord,
about two hundred Tuaregs, their villainous faces encircled by their
black veils, and standing in their stirrups, swept down upon us with a
ringing shout of triumph.  In a moment a fierce hand-to-hand struggle
ensued, for horses and riders plunged upon our spears, and dozens of the
desert pirates fell impaled, their burnouses dyed with blood.  One man,
tall and sinewy, his breast loaded with talismans, riding a
magnificently-caparisoned horse, and evidently a sheikh, I held in the
grip of death, and he fell by my hand.  Indeed, so strenuous was our
defence that, on glancing round, I felt half inclined to believe that
the fierce onslaught would not be repeated; yet, almost before this
thought had crossed my mind, another shrill war-cry resounded as an
additional force on foot emerged from the dark clump of trees with
burnouses flying, eyes blazing, and firing as they ran they rushed
together upon us in such numbers as to prove absolutely overwhelming.
With rifles held high above their heads, and yelling fiercely, they sped
onward, driving us from our cover, and shooting us down, although we
slashed, stabbed and hacked like very demons.  Prodigies of strength and
valour were performed by my comrades, the Dervishes, in their last
defence.  The struggle inflamed them, as it ever does men courageous by
nature and born brave.  They sold their lives dearly, but to effectually
repulse the attack or to crave for quarter were alike futile.  Alas, the
soldiers of the Black Standard, who for years had fought long and
fearlessly for the holy Mahdi and his successor, were now falling
helpless victims to the cunning and rapidity with which the Tuaregs had
delivered their terrible onslaught.

Full of breathless anxiety were those fatal moments.  Elated by their
success and filled with a deadly hatred against us, our enemies were
evidently determined to sweep us into eternity.  The ground was
encumbered with dead and dying.  Several of my comrades, believing that
the Jinns had deserted us, and therefore resistance was useless, threw
down their arms, and falling on their knees, cried, in the name of the
_One_ for their lives to be spared, but the Veiled Men of the Desert
only jeered, and shot them down as ruthlessly as they would slaughter
dogs, crying, "Kill the black-faced sons of offal!  Let not one escape,
or he will give warning unto the hosts of the accursed tyrant, the
Khalifa.  Kill the dogs!  Kill them!"  My comrades' death-wail uplifted,
and, sharpened in soaring, hung in anguish at its height; then, like
hope's expiring sigh, it faltered downward and fell mute.

Escape was hopeless; we had fallen into an ambush.  Our enemies had
surrounded us by hundreds.  Amid the shrieks, the firing, the fiendish,
exultant cries of the victors and the fierce, hoarse curses of the
dying, I fought on with spear and shield, unhorsing more than one of our
deadly foes.  My comrades were apparently all being ruthlessly
slaughtered, when suddenly a gigantic son of the desert, lithe as a
deer, black veiled, and sitting his white horse as if he were part of
it, galloped straight towards me with a loud cry, his whirling blade
flourishing in mid-air ready to match me, strength to strength.  In a
second my spear left my hand, and striking him full in the breast,
felled him to earth a corpse, but ere I could draw breath, another
piercing yell sounded behind me, and I felt a sharp twinge in the left
shoulder.  Then a horrible, choking sensation seized me, and I have a
vague recollection of a man's dark face, hideously distorted by hatred,
and with a black _rawani_, or shawl wrapped around it, within a few
inches of mine, so near that I could feel his hot, foetid breath upon my
cheek.

A sudden darkness next instant fell upon me, and all consciousness
became blotted out.

Of events that immediately followed, or of how long I remained
insensible I have no knowledge.  Thoughts, strange and confused, grim
and pleasant, incongruously mixed flitted through my unbalanced mind,
but I had no idea of place, of time, of anything.  A darkness, black and
impenetrable, had obliterated my senses and held me powerless, until a
sharp spasm of pain shot through my limbs, and then I recollected, in a
half dreamy manner, that I had fallen in the desperate fight.  I tried
to repeat the first _sura_, but my lips, cold and clammy, refused to
utter sound.  The pain increased in intensity until my whole body became
racked by a torture so acute and horrible that I believe I must have
fainted.  Many are the scars I had received in battle, but never had I
experienced such suffering.  Indeed, the pain was so intense that I felt
myself writhing in terrible agony, while the perspiration stood in great
beads upon my neck and brow, and the tightness in my chest held me, as
in a vice, breathless, with all the horrible pangs of asphyxiation.

An interval of senselessness was followed by a brief period of calm;
then gradually, with a feeling that I was struggling hand-to-hand with
Azrael, the dreaded Angel of Terrors, I slowly struggled back to
consciousness.  Blindly enduring, I suffered alternately torments of
fire and of ice.  Memories haunted me, vivid, voluptuous; scenes of a
passionate past recurred.  I stood in a magical Hall of Echoes, where
every echo seemed the voice it mocked, and through some flaw in each
illusion drove the shattering spear of truth.

In the impenetrable darkness my fingers wandered involuntarily to seek
the objects around.  On either side I stretched forth my hands, but
clutched at air.  Faint sibilations, like the sound of hushed whispering
fell upon my ear, and in that moment filled me with a strange fear.  My
resting-place seemed soft and comfortable, and as again my hands sought
to discover something that would give me a clue to my whereabouts, my
fingertips suddenly came into contact with embroidered satin.  I could
feel the raised pattern upon the smooth, glossy surface at my side, and
became aware that I was not stretched upon the sand, where I had fallen,
but upon a divan.  I felt the cushion upon which my aching head was
pillowed.  It was also of satin, soft as down.  The air seemed heavy
with the sensuous intoxicating odour of attar of rose rising from a
perfuming-pan--a subtle scent that still vibrates my memory--and as I
touched the pillow I made a further discovery.  Raising my hand to wipe
my clammy brow, I became aware of the reason of my obscurity of vision.

My forehead and eyes had been bandaged with a folded square of thick
black silk.

By frantic movement I endeavoured to tear away the tightly-bound fabric,
but failed.  It had been dexterously knotted, and no effort of mine
could remove it.  Again, with words of haste upon my lips, I tried to
tear it from my eyes, but did not succeed, for when I tried to lift my
left hand to my head I again experienced a spasm of pain that was
excruciating.

Suddenly I was conscious of the presence of someone near me, and a voice
in low, soft, musical tones, scarcely above a whisper, exclaimed in the
Hausa tongue,--

"_Barka, sanu sanu_."

My acquaintance with this language of the people beyond Lake Tsad was
very imperfect, but I nevertheless knew that the words gave me peace,
and, being translated, were, "Allah, bless thee.  Gently, gently."

"Peace be upon thee, O unknown friend," I answered fervently, in Arabic.
"Thou who hast given succour unto the wounded, I beseech of thee allow
mine eyes to behold the mirror of thy face."

"Of a verity thine eyes shall ere long witness things that,
peradventure, will amaze thee," answered the low voice of the unknown,
in tones in which severity and gentleness were strangely mingled.

Soft hands deftly unloosed the double knots at the back of my head, the
scarf was drawn away, and on eagerly opening my bewildered eyes they
were dazzled by a strange flood of bright light that poured down upon
them.

Next second, however, my vision grew accustomed to the extraordinary
brilliance, and the scene which met my wondering gaze was so strange and
bewildering, so inexplicable and stupendous, so awe-inspiring yet
entrancing, that, in sheer amazement, I slowly raised myself upon my arm
and gazed aghast in stupefaction, fascinated, open-mouthed, petrified.

CHAPTER THREE.

AZALA.

My transition had been remarkable; the sight that met my eyes was,
indeed, sufficient to cause breathless wonderment.

What time had elapsed since, in the darkness of night, I had fallen
senseless beneath the palms of the oasis of Sabo-n-Gari, or by what
means I had been rescued from the tortures of a lingering death by fever
and thirst, I knew not.  I had lapsed into unconsciousness at a moment
when the last of my brave comrades had been slain, only to awaken and
find myself stretched on a divan in a spacious apartment, the walls of
which were richly hung with rose- silk.  The marble floor was
half hidden by the profusion of rugs of beautifully blended hues, while
around, near the arched roof, verses and good counsels from the Koran
were written in Arabic characters, in long lean letters of gold.  There
were many dainty coffee-stools of inlaid silver and pearl, and a number
of soft divans of gold- silk.  The place was windowless, but the
sunlight, apparently reflected and intensified by mirrors, was admitted
from the roof, and so directed that it fell in a golden bar across my
face, presumably for the purpose of bringing me back to consciousness.

At one end of this brilliant apartment was a door with horse-shoe arch,
like all the others, leading to a little retreat, the gloom of which
was, to me, impenetrable.  In a corner, close to me, was a great gold
perfuming-pan from which rose sweet odours in a column of thin blue
smoke, while two gilded derboukas and a pair of slippers, cast aside
upon one of the larger mats, showed that the occupants had indulged in
those terpsichorean exercises in which Eastern women delight.

Almost before I could realise the luxury of my surroundings, a soft,
cool hand was laid upon my fevered brow, and, turning my head with
difficulty, I suddenly beheld a vision of wondrous beauty.  Over me
there bent a fair face, so perfect in feature that I became entranced.
The eyes, dark and large, expressive of the soul that lay behind, held
me in fascination, and I gazed, tongue-tied, in amazement.

She was young, not more than twenty, with a countenance white as those
of the Englishwomen who come to Algiers at Ramadan; soft brown eyes
denoting the mildest, tenderest nature, and a mouth sweetly pursed like
the bud of a rose.  Tendrils of soft, brown, wavy hair strayed across a
fair forehead, hung heavily with strings of golden sequins, the centre
of which was formed by a great oval pearl surrounded by diamonds, the
finest my eyes had ever beheld, and in her ears were large,
delicately-chased rings of gold.  Her dress was the gorgeous costume of
the harem: the tiny skullcap thickly embroidered with gold and seed
pearls, set jauntily upon her head, the zouave of palest amaranth
velvet, similarly embroidered, worn over a gauzy, low-necked vest, and
the flimsy _serroual_ or trousers of pale pink China silk.  Her white,
delicately-moulded arms were bare, adorned by heavy _mesais_ of gold and
jingling bangles set with gems, while her feet, likewise uncovered, were
thrust into dainty little embroidered slippers of pale green velvet, her
_redeefs_ being composed of single bands of curiously worked gold set
with beautiful jacinths.  Her necklets, of which she wore fully a dozen,
were of various patterns, several being composed of strings of golden
coins, or discs of gold thickly encrusted with rubies and turquoises,
her oval perfume bottle, suspended at her breast, being conspicuous on
account of the top being formed of a single emerald, while the diamonds
set in the ornament itself were of amazing lustre.

My mouth was parched, but she knelt beside me, and supporting me with
her left arm, with her right held a goblet to my lips.

How it came about I never knew, but before the draught was finished a
change passed over me.  Whether it was her soft touch, her strange and
fawnlike loveliness, or the tender pity in her eyes matters not, the
issue was the same; she struck some chord in my turbulent nature, and in
a moment it was filled full with passion for her.  I did not for a
moment mistake the significance of the flood of feeling that surged
through my veins.  I have never shirked facts.

"I thank thee," I said; "thine hand is kind."

As she smiled upon me, moving slightly, her sequins tinkled, and the ray
of sunlight, streaming full upon her, caused her jewels to flash and
gleam with a thousand iridescent fires, producing an effect that was
dazzling.

Opening her lips she displayed an even set of beautiful pearly teeth, as
she exclaimed, in the soft speech of my mother tongue,--

"Peace, O stranger.  May the blessing of the One, whose name be exalted,
rest eternally upon thee.  Let not fear oppress thee; of a verity thou
art with friends."

"Mine eyes are bewildered, O One of Beauty, whose countenance is as the
glorious light of day, and whose eyes are brilliant as stars in the
desert.  Upon thee be perfect peace and the fervent blessings of one who
hath approached near unto Certainty," I answered with difficulty.  Then,
as I raised my hand and it came into contact with bandages about my
shoulder, I added "The darkness of unconsciousness hath long obscured my
mind, and I know not under whose roof I rest.  Allah hath been gracious
unto me.  Verily, He bestoweth abundant provision on such of His
servants as He pleaseth."

"Yea, O stranger," she answered, piously.  "Everything shall perish
except Himself; unto Him belongeth judgment.  Accursed be those who
struck thee down, for Allah, Gracious Bestower of abundant benefits,
knoweth both the secret malice which their breasts conceal and the open
hatred which they discover."

In a fit of renewed weakness, brought about by the turmoil of my blood,
I lay back upon the silken pillows watching her face.  It almost seemed
as though something of what was passing in my mind communicated itself
to her.

"Knowest thou mine enemies?"  I asked, raising myself, and, to my
astonishment, discovering, for the first time, that the loose garments I
wore were of finest silk, and that I was veiled and disguised as a
woman.

"I know that thou wouldst kill me," she answered briefly, with a curious
smile, standing before me with hands behind her back, a veritable houri.

"Kill thee!  Why?"

"Because thou art a soldier of the great Khalifa of Omdurman, enemy of
my people, and Ruler of the Soudan."

"What name bearest thou?"  I asked.

"I am called Azala Fathma."

"Daughter of whom?"

"Daughter of 'Othman, Sultan of Sokoto."

"Thou--Princess of Sokoto!"  I gasped, struggling slowly and with
difficulty to my feet, scarcely believing my ears.  "Where, then, have I
taken mine ease?"

"For three days past hast thou been concealed here, in the harem of
thine enemy," she answered, in low, placid tones, looking seriously at
me.  Then, noticing the uneasy glance I cast in the direction of the
dark alcove beyond, she added quickly, "Let not apprehension fall upon
thee.  To this my apartment none dares enter unbidden, therefore thou
art safe, even in the midst of those whom thou didst seek to destroy."

"Chastise me not with a scourge of words, O Daughter of the Sultan," I
said, apologetically.  "Thy servant Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz, Arab of the Chawi,
horseman of the Khalifa, armeth not himself against those who give him
succour, nor seeketh he the overthrow of the city of thy father."

Leaning gracefully, with her back against the twisted column of polished
marble, inlaid with gold, supporting the arched roof, she clasped her
hands behind her handsome head and gazed at me.  Then, half
reproachfully she said,--

"Whoso doth that which is right, doth it to the advantage of his own
soul; and whoso doth evil, doth it against the same: hereafter shall we
return unto Allah.  Thou earnest with scouts to reconnoitre--perchance
to enter this our city singly or in company--so that on the advance of
the ruthless legions of thy Sultan thou mightest, by treachery, admit
them within our walls.  But Allah, who hath placed the twelve signs in
the heavens, is merciful and knoweth the hearts of men.  Thine
encampment was discovered and destroyed."

"How was my life spared?"  I asked.

"I was present when thou wert forced to bite the dust," she explained.
"I had journeyed unto Katsena, where I had lingered one moon, and was
returning hither to Kano when my Tuareg guards, warned of thine
approach, watched thee by stealth, and in the darkness fell upon thee at
a moment when thou wert unprepared.  On the rising of the sun I searched
the spot, and found that thou alone still lived.  Secretly thou wert
attired in the haick belonging to one of my handmaidens, and by my
orders conveyed hither in a _jakfi_ on one of mine own camels.  Still
dressed as a female slave thou wert able to pass the guards of the outer
courts and of the harem, to rest and recover on mine own divan."

"Then to thee, O Azala, Princess of Sokoto, whose beauty is peerless, I
owe my life," I answered, fervently.  "Truly hast thou snatched me back
from the grave, even though I sought to assist in the sacking of this,
the palace of thy father, and in the holding of thy people in bondage.
Tell me, why shouldst thou interest thyself in my well-being?"

Hesitating, apparently confused at my question, Azala moved uneasily,
toying with the silken fringe of her broad girdle.

"Is it not written that we should bear no malice?" she answered, after a
pause.  "Al-Sijil registereth our deeds."

"Wisdom falleth from thy lips," I said, smiling.  "But hadst thou no
motive in bringing me into this thine apartment, even at the imminent
risk of detection and disgrace?"

"I am not compelled to answer thy question," she replied, with a forced
laugh.  "Reason underlyeth most of our actions."

"And wilt thou not explain thy reason?"

"No.  At present my lips must remain sealed," she answered calmly, her
bejewelled breast heaving and falling in a long-drawn sigh.
"Peradventure thou mayest learn my motive some day; then will thine eyes
open in astonishment, for thou wilt gain knowledge of things undreamed
of and behold marvels amazing."

"Thou speakest in enigmas.  When may these secrets be revealed unto me?
Of what character are they?"

"Seek not to unloosen my tongue's strings, O mine enemy--"

"Nay, not enemy, friend, grateful and ever devoted," I interrupted.

"Then, if thou art my friend seek not to discover mine innermost
thoughts," she said, earnestly.  "As the wicked are in Sajin, beneath
the seventh heaven, where dwelleth Eblis and his host, so assuredly will
those who seek to discover the hidden marvels without mine aid or
sanction taste of the bitter fruit of Al-Zakkum."

"But if thou givest unto me a pledge that thou wilt render explanation,
I will be content," I said.

"Not only will I, when the time is ripe, explain the strange secret unto
thee, but, likewise, shall I seek thine assistance in elucidating a
strange and incomprehensible mystery."

"I am thine to command," I answered gallantly, taking her slim, white
hand in mine.  "When thou desireth me to serve thee, O Azala, thou wilt
find me ever ready, for to thee I owe my life; my future is in thine
hands."

"To seek the key of the hidden mystery, to vanquish the angel Malec who
hath charge of the gates of hell, will require a stout heart and lion's
courage," she said slowly, fixing her clear, wonderful eyes upon mine,
and allowing her soft bejewelled hand to linger for a second within my
grasp.

"When the day dawneth thou wilt not find me wanting in defiance of
danger, for, of a verity, I fear nothing with the beauteous daughter of
the Sultan 'Othman as my pole-star."

For a second a blush suffused her pale cheeks.

"As thou trusteth me, so also will I trust thee," she said, in deep
earnestness.  "Even though my position is exalted as Princess of Sokoto;
even though I am surrounded by all that is beautiful, with many slaves
to do my bidding, yet unhappiness eateth like a canker-worm into my
heart."

"Wherefore art thou unhappy?"  I asked, sympathetically.

"Ah! the reason none may know," she sighed.  "Until I call upon thee to
render thine aid in seeking to discover things that are forbidden, thou
must necessarily remain in the outer darkness of ignorance.  Here, in
the palace of my father, thou must remain in hiding until the time for
action cometh.  Then will I show thee that which will fascinate and
astound thee."

"Thy words of mystery arouse curiosity within me," I said.  "Canst thou
not reveal to me anything now?"

"Nothing.  Save to tell thee that thou canst, if thou wilt, shield me
from a fate worse than death.  A disaster, horrible and complete,
threateneth to overwhelm me, and thou alone canst prevent it."

"How?"

"By patience, silence, and passive obedience to my commands."

"I am thine," I said, as, entranced by her marvellous grace and beauty,
my arm slowly encircled her slim waist, begirt with dull gold and
flashing jewels.  I strove to draw her to me, but without any violence
of movement, and with the most perfect dignity, she disengaged herself
from my embrace.  Yet I held her to me and breathed into her ear words
of devotion.  Then, as her beautiful head at last turned slowly toward
me, and her eyes, looking into mine, spoke mutely of reciprocated
affection, our lips met in a hot, passionate caress.

I was trembling upon the pinnacle of Al-Araf, that partition that
divides pleasure from misery, love from hatred, hell from paradise.  She
was the proud and handsome daughter of the Sultan 'Othman, the woman,
the fame of whose exquisite beauty had long ago reached us even in
far-off Omdurman; I, a mere Dervish, without home or property, one of a
band paid by the all-powerful Khalifa to plunder, murder and destroy.

What words of tenderness I uttered I scarcely remember.  The sensuous
fragrance, rising from the perfuming-pan, seemed to induce a sweet,
dreamy half-consciousness, but for the first time I experienced the
passion of love.  I loved her with all the strength of my being, and the
only words that impressed themselves upon me in those moments of mad
infatuation were those uttered by the woman I adored,--

"Yea, O Zafar, I will place my trust in thee."  Resting in my embrace,
her bright eyes betrayed her perfect happiness, and as I softly stroked
her silky hair and implanted a kiss upon her white, sequin-covered brow
she clung to me with her long bare arms clasped tightly around my neck
in an ecstasy of joy.

"Never will I forsake thee," I answered, fondly.  "With the faithfulness
and obedience of a slave will I carry out thy commands, for thou art my
queen and I thy devoted bondman."

Tears dimmed her bright, clear eyes; tears of joy she vainly strove to
suppress.

"Truly to-day is the dawn of my life's happiness," she said, in a low
tone, full of emotion.  "To-day Allah hath sent me a friend."

"And, on my part, I pledge myself unto thee with unswerving devotion," I
exclaimed, fervently.  "In veiled words hast thou spoken of certain
solemn secrets.  When thou explainest to me my task of elucidation,
assuredly wilt thou find me ready and eager to undertake it.  In thine
hands thou holdest my future, for life or death."

"Upon those who seek to come between us may the wrath of the One Granter
of Requests fall like an avenging fire; may they find no patron nor
defender, nor may they rest beneath the shadow of the lote-tree," she
said.  "It is written in the Book of Everlasting Will that Allah, who
knoweth all things, joineth man and woman with his bounteous blessing.
Therefore may the rose-grove of thy prosperity and good fortune be
increased daily in freshness and magnificence, and in what difficulty
thou mayest be placed, or into what evil thou mayest peradventure, fall,
bear in thy mind my declaration of love, and remember always that, even
though deserts of great space and rapid waters may separate us, I am
thine and thou art mine alone.  I trust to thee to break asunder the
invisible bonds that fetter me unto misery."

"But surely we shall not be parted," I exclaimed, the mere suggestion
being intolerable.

"Neither sultans nor their kin are capable of ruling events," she said.
"Of what the future may have in store none knoweth but the sorceresses
and the wise women, who, alas! holdeth their knowledge to themselves."

"True, O Azala, my enchantress.  In like manner wilt thou remember
always, if we part, that I shall be striving to return unto thee; that
the one object of my life henceforward is to break asunder the
mysterious fetters of thine unhappiness."

Our hands clasped.  She looked straight into my eyes.  Hers was no
dreamy nature.  With her, to resolve was but a preliminary of to
execute.  No physiognomist would need to have been told that this
beautiful woman, so quick in intelligence, so kind in manner, so buoyant
and joyous in disposition, was at the same time, in force of character
and determination, as firm as adamant.

"And thou wilt not fail to render me assistance in the hour of my need?"
she exclaimed.

"May Allah bear witness that I am prepared to strive towards the
elucidation of thy mystery while I have breath."

Pressing my hand with lingering tenderness, she said,--

"Thy words give peace unto me, O Zafar.  Henceforth shall I rest in the
knowledge that the man who is my friend is prepared to risk his life on
my behalf."

"Yea," I answered; adding, "of a verity this meeting between enemies
hath been a strange one.  Hast thou not warned thy father of the
approach of the hosts of the Khalifa?"

"Even on the same night as thine encampment was destroyed warning was
conveyed unto him, with the result that our troops have been sent
forward into the desert with the object of checking the advance of thy
tribesmen."

"They are not my clansmen," I answered, quickly.  "I am an Arab, a
native of the Aures, the mountains far north beyond the Great Desert."

"Then thou art not a Dervish?" she exclaimed, gladly.

"No," I answered, and at the same moment remembering that the Khalifa's
troops numbered many thousands, and that it was scarcely likely that
they would be turned aside in their onward march by a few squadrons of
the Sultan of Sokoto, I asked,--

"Have the horsemen of the Black Standard been routed?"

"I know not.  Yesterday I overheard the messengers delivering their
report to the Sultan in the Hall of Audience," she replied.

"But if they are still advancing!  Think what terrible fate awaiteth
thee if the soldiers of the Khalifa loot this thy beautiful palace, and
spread death and desolation through thy city with fire and sword!"

"Arrangements have already been made for my secret escape.  In case of
danger I shall assume thy garments, arms and shield, which I have
preserved, and pass as a Dervish."

"Excellent," I said, laughing at her ingenuity.  "But let us hope that
my comrades will never gain these walls.  If they do, it will, alas! be
an evil day for Kano."

"The detection and slaughter of thy scouts placed our army upon its
guard," she said.  "Already the defences of our city have been
strengthened, and every man is under arms.  If the Dervishes attack us,
of a verity will they meet with an opposition long and strenuous, for by
our fighting men the walls of Kano are believed to be impregnable.
See!" she added, drawing aside a portion of the silken hangings close to
her, and disclosing a small window covered with a quaintly-worked wooden
lattice.  "Yonder our men are watching.  Our principal city gate, the
Kofa-n-Dakaina, is strongly guarded by night and day."

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE MARK OF THE ASPS.

Stepping to the window, I found that the apartment in which we stood was
evidently situated in a tower of the palace--which I had heard was built
high on Mount Dala--for the great city, with its white, flat-roofed
houses and cupolas, and minarets of mosques, lay stretched beneath us.
At the massive gate, in the high frowning walls which surrounded the
extensive and wealthy capital of the Empire of Sokoto, the far-famed
_entrepot_ of Central Africa, soldiers, attired in bright uniforms of
blue and gold, swarmed like flies, while cannon bristled on the walls,
and everywhere spears and arms glittered in the sun.  She pointed out
the Jakara, a wide, deep lake, the great Slave Market crowded with
buyers, sellers and human merchandise, the Palace of Ghaladima and the
Kofa Mazuger.  The city was agog, for the hum of life rose from its
crowded streets and busy market-places, mingling now and then with the
ominous roll of the war-drums, the twanging of _ginkris_, the clashing
of cymbals, and the shouts of the eager, ever-watchful troops.  By the
cloudless, milk-white sky I knew it was about noon, and the sun directly
overhead poured down mercilessly upon the immense sandy plain which
stretched away eastward and northward until it was lost in the misty
haze of the distant horizon.  Date palms rose in small clusters near the
ornamental lake in the centre of the city; in the square spreading
_alleluba-trees_ cast their welcome shade, and beautiful _gotuias_
unfolded their large, featherlike leaves above slender and undivided
stems, but beyond the city walls there was not a tree, not a blade of
grass, not a living thing.  Out there all was sun, sand and silence.

"Dost thou reside here always?"  I asked, as together we gazed down upon
the great white city.

"Yes.  Seldom are we in Sokoto itself, for of later years its prosperity
hath declined, and the palace is of meagre proportions; indeed, it is
now half ruined and almost deserted.  The wealth and industry of the
empire is centred here in Kano, for our trade extendeth as far north as
Mourkouk, Ghat, and even Tripoli; to the west, not only to Timbuktu, but
even to the shores of the great sea; to the east, all over Bornu; and to
the south, among the Igbira, the Igbo, and among the pagans and ivory
hunters of the Congo."

"True," I said, gazing round upon the prosperous capital of one of the
most interesting empires in the world.  "It is scarcely surprising that
my ambitious lord, the Khalifa, should desire to annex the land of the
Sultan 'Othman.  Even our own cities of Omdurman or Khartoum are not of
such extent.  How many persons inhabit this, thy palace?"

"In this, the Great Fada, nearly three thousand men and women reside.
In the harem alone are four hundred women and six hundred slaves and
eunuchs, while the Imperial bodyguard numbers nearly a thousand."

Glancing below, I saw the palace was enclosed by white walls as high and
strong as the outer fortifications.  It was built within the great Kasba
or fortress, a veritable city within a city.

Turning, our eyes met, and pointing to the distant, sun-baked
wilderness, I exclaimed,--

"Away there, the vultures would already have stripped my bones hadst
thou not taken compassion upon me."

"Speak not again of that," she answered.  "Thou wert the only man in
whose body the spark of life still burned.  It was my duty to rescue
thee," she replied, rather evasively.

"Now that we understand and trust each other, now indeed, that we are
friends true and faithful, wilt thou not tell me why thou didst convey
me hither unto thine apartment?"

She hesitated, gazing away towards the misty line where sky and desert
joined, until suddenly she turned, and looking boldly into my face with
her clear, trusting eyes, answered,--

"It was in consequence of something that was revealed."

"By whom?"

"By thee."

"What revelation have I made?"  I asked, sorely puzzled.

She held her breath, her fingers twitched with nervous excitement, and
the colour left her cheeks.  She seemed striving to preserve some
strange secret, yet, at the same time, half inclined to render me the
explanation I sought.

"The astounding truth became unveiled unconsciously," she said.

"My mind faileth to follow the meanderings of thy words," I said.  "What
truth?"

"Behold!" she cried, and hitching the slim fingers of both her hands in
the bodice of cream flimsy silk she wore beneath her zouave, she tore it
asunder disclosing, not without a blush of modesty, her white chest.

"Behold!" she cried, hoarsely.  "What dost thou recognise?"

With both her hands she held the torn garment apart, and, as she did so,
my eyes became riveted in abject amazement.  Bending, I examined it
closely, assuring myself that I was not dreaming.

"Hast thou never seen its counterpart?" she asked, panting breathlessly.

"Yea," I answered, with bated breath.  "Of a verity the coincidence
astoundeth me."

The sight caused me to marvel greatly; I was bewildered, for it conjured
up a thought that was horrible.  In the exact centre of her delicate
chest, immediately above her heaving bosom, was a strange, dark red mark
of curious shape, deeply branded into the white flesh, as if at some
time or other it had been seared by a red-hot iron.  The paleness of the
flesh and the firm contour of her bosom rendered the indelible mark the
more hideous, but its position and its shape dumbfounded me.  The
strange blemish constituted an inexplicable mystery.

It was unaccountable, incredible.  I stood agape, staring at it with
wide-open, wondering eyes, convinced that its discovery was precursory
of revelations startling and undreamed of.

The mark, about the length of the little finger, and perfectly defined,
was shaped to represent two serpents with heads facing each other, their
writhing bodies intertwined in double curves.

In itself this mystic brand was hideous enough, but to me it had a
significance deeper and more amazing, for in the centre of my own chest
I bore a mark exactly identical in every detail!

For years; nay, ever since I had known myself, the red scar, not so
noticeable upon my brown, sun-tanned skin as upon Azala's pale, delicate
breast, had been one of the mysteries of my life.  Vividly I remembered
how, in my early youth, in far El-Manaa I had sought an explanation of
my parents, but they would never vouchsafe any satisfactory reply.  On
what occasion, or for what purpose the mysterious brand had been placed
upon me I knew not.  Vaguely I believed that it had been impressed as a
means of identification at my birth, and until this moment had been
fully convinced that I alone bore the strangely-shaped device.  Judge,
then, my abject astonishment to find a similar mark, evidently impressed
by the identical seal, upon the breast of the woman who had thus exerted
her ingenuity to save my life--the woman whose grace and marvellous
beauty had captivated me, the woman who had admitted that she
reciprocated my affection.

In that brief moment I remembered well the strange, ambiguous reply that
my mother had given me when, as a lad, my natural curiosity had been
aroused,--

"Sufficient for thee to know that the Mark of the Asps is upon thee, O
my son.  Seek not to discover its significance until thou meetest with
its exact counterpart.  Then strive night and day to learn the truth,
for if thou canst elucidate the mystery, thine ears will listen to
strange things, and thine eyes will behold wondrous and undreamed-of
marvels."

Since then, twenty long years had elapsed, and I had wandered far and
near, in England, in France, in Algeria and across the Great Desert.
Both my parents had died with the strange secret still locked in their
hearts, for by no amount of ingenious questioning could I succeed in
unloosing their tongues.  Now, however, my mother's prophetic utterance
and counsel, spoken in our white house on the green hill-side, came back
vividly to my memory, and I gazed in silence at Azala full of
apprehensive thoughts.

My mother had more than once assured me that she knew not its meaning,
and that, although she had sought explanation of my father, he had
refused to reveal to her more than she had told me, and he, too, had
died with the secret resolutely preserved.  But the exact counterpart of
the brand burnt into my own flesh was now before me.  What could be the
significance of the two asps? how, indeed, came the daughter of the
great Sultan 'Othman, whom none dare approach, to be disfigured the same
as myself, a free-booter of the Khalifa, a Dervish and an outcast?

"How earnest thou to bear the brand of the serpents?"  I asked, when
again I found speech.  "An identical mark is upon my own breast also."

But ere she could answer my inquiry a stealthy movement behind startled
us, and as I turned, two gigantic black eunuchs sprang upon me, while
two others appeared from behind the rose silk hangings.

"Behold!" cried a man, whom I knew by his gorgeous dress to be the Aga
of the Eunuchs.  "It is a man, not a woman!  The slave hath not lied.
Seize him!"

"May Allah show thee mercy!" gasped Azala, pale and trembling, with
clasped hands.  "We are betrayed!"

I struggled and fought with all the strength I possessed, but my brutal
captors bore me down, and in their sinewy hands I was in a moment
helpless as a babe.  Then I knew that Azala was, alas! lost to me.
Romance, hope, passion, one by one, dropped, emberlike, into the ashes.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE BLACK EUNUCH.

Azala, with blanched face and clasped hands uplifted in supplication,
sank upon her knees before the gigantic Chief of the Black Eunuchs, whom
she addressed as Khazneh, beseeching him with arguments, persuasive,
forcible and passionate, to spare my life.

"All blame be upon my head!" she cried, in earnest appeal.  "He fell
wounded at the fight of Sabo-n-Gari, and I tended him and brought him
hither.  Spare him!  Let not the keen arrow of sorrow enter the soul of
the daughter of thy Master, the Sultan."

"Thy servant hath already received his orders," the high and potent
official replied with imperturbable coolness, resting his hand on the
bejewelled hilt of his great scimitar, looking down at her upturned and
agitated countenance.

"From whom?"

"From my Imperial Master, thine august father."

"May the curse of Eblis rest upon our betrayer!" she cried, with a quick
setting of her mouth.  "The stranger hath done no harm, but by me, it
seemeth, he hath been brought unto his doom."

"He is thy lover.  Thou wert suspected two days ago," the eunuch
answered gruffly, standing statuesque and immovable while my captors
held me, apparently reluctant to move, because they desired to overhear
the argument between the beautiful Azala and their master.

"I deny thine accusation," she replied, rising to her feet quite calmly.
"Thou, Khazneh, who art powerful here in the harem, shall learn a
lesson in politeness thou wilt not easily forget.  Lies and insults may
fall from thy lips, but they neither injure nor distress the daughter of
thy Master, 'Othman."

"Silence, woman!" he cried fiercely, shaking his fat fist in the face of
the trembling, indignant girl, and showing his white teeth.  "Thinkest
thou that thou canst save a man whom thou bringest unto thine apartment
in secrecy, dressed in woman's garments?"

"If thou darest remove him hence I will appeal in person unto my
father."

"Already his Majesty hath full knowledge of this affair," the great
<DW64> eunuch answered, treating her threat with calm indifference.  "By
his order a watch hath been placed upon thee.  We saw the accursed son
of offal caress and kiss thee."

"May Allah cut out thy heart!  Am I a slave, that spies should be set to
report upon my doings?" she asked, her eyes flashing with indignation.
Then, turning to the <DW64>s who held me in iron grip, she said, "I,
Azala Fathma, Princess of Sokoto, order ye to release him."

"And I, Khazneh, Aga of the Eunuchs, order ye to remove him hence.  He
is a Dervish from Omdurman, a traitor, and an enemy of thy Sultan.  Away
with him!" cried the black-faced man with big, blood-shot eyes.  His
gaze was ever on Azala, unless it were fixed on me with a sullen gleam
of hate.

But she rushed across to the heavy silken curtain that hid the secret
door, and, standing boldly before it, uplifted her long, white arm, and
pointing to the towering eunuch, cried,--

"Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz, whom I have long known by report, is not an enemy, but
a firm friend of his Majesty, whose despicable slave thou art.
Therefore I forbid thee to lay hands upon him.  Even though thou findest
him here in the place forbidden; nevertheless, I, as Princess of Sokoto,
claim for him the protection of the Sultan."

In silence, unable to extricate myself, I stood while my fate was thus
discussed.  A spasm wrenched my soul--one of those agonies which leave
their trace, mental or physical, forever.

"Knowest thou not the punishment meted out to those who dare to pass the
Janissaries and tread the sacred courts of the harem?" asked the Aga,
impatiently.

"The punishment is death," she answered.  Her thin nostrils palpitated.
She crushed her finger-nails against the jewels on her bosom.  "But if
Zafar, my friend, suffereth the penalty, I warn thee that thine head
shall be struck off and thy body be given to the dogs as offal before
the going down of the sun."

"Be it so," laughed the hulking brute, insolently, his fingers playing
with the long, keen _jambiyah_ in his belt.  Then, turning to my
captors, he said, "Come, away with him quickly."

Next second the hangings were raised, disclosing an open door, through
which I was unceremoniously hurried, and as I was dragged out into the
dark, inter-mural passage, I heard the Aga of the Eunuchs exclaim
tauntingly,--

"Seek his Majesty if thou wilt, but I may tell thee that he set out for
Katsena at sunrise, and ere his return thy lover's bones will lie
bleaching in the sun."

"Farewell, Azala," I shouted.  "Be thou of good cheer.  Remember that in
my heart the tree of affection hath struck root.  I am thy friend
always--always--even though our enemies may thus part us."

"We will never part," she cried, rushing across to me; but the Aga,
catching her roughly by the arm, dragged her away by sheer brute force.

"Whither he goeth there also will I go," she gasped, struggling to elude
his grasp, overturning one of the little mother-of-pearl coffee stools
in her frantic efforts to reach and embrace me.

"Tarry no longer," cried Khazneh, in anger, addressing my captors.  "Let
the Sultan's will be obeyed."

"Farewell, Azala!  Farewell," I cried, paralysed with fury as I saw her
bow her head upon her arms and weep.

But she answered not, for, as I was dragged fiercely from her sight, I
saw her struggling with the chief eunuch, endeavouring to follow us.
With brutal disregard of her sex, the big, gaudily-attired brute had
seized her by the throat.  Her dress was torn, her hair dishevelled, and
her jewels lay scattered and trodden under foot.  Suddenly a scream
sounded, dull and muffled, and, just as I was dragged away into the dark
passage, I witnessed the woman who had entranced me hurled backward.  I
saw her reel, stagger, and fall senseless upon her divan.

The grinning <DW64>s who held me laughed aloud, and hurried me along the
short, close passage, and down flight after flight of broken, time-worn
steps, while Khazneh, closing the small, heavy door, barred and bolted
it securely.  Then he followed us, biting his finger-nails in deep
thought.  Whither they were conducting me I knew not, neither did I
care.  Azala and I had, by the treachery of some unknown slave, been
torn asunder, perhaps never again to meet.  Only death would, I knew,
expiate the crime of being found in disguise in the Sultan's harem, and
towards the bourne whence none return was I being conveyed.

My anticipations of immediate death were not, however, realised.  Deep
down into the foundations of the ancient palace the eunuchs conducted
me, along a labyrinth of gloomy passages that showed the great extent of
the Fada, until we came to a long, subterranean corridor where, on
entering, I saw, behind iron bars, the lean, emaciated figure of a man,
haggard, unkempt, with the gleam of madness in his eyes.  Shaking the
bars wildly with the strength of a wild beast, he cried as we passed,--

"Strangers!  Have compassion.  Have pity.  In the name of Allah, who
both heareth and knoweth, remove these fetters which for fourteen long
years have held me captive."

"_Na'al abuk_!"  (Curse thy father) growled Khazneh, lifting his
trailing scimitar in its scabbard and striking the wretched prisoner a
heavy blow as he passed.  But the man tearing at the bars shrieked and
howled in his madness,--

"May the venom of vipers consume thy vitals, and may the kisses of thy
women poison thee, thou black-faced son of offal!  I recognise thee,
thou fiend.  Thou art the Aga of the Eunuchs; the incarnation of Eblis
himself.  May thy body be cast upon a dungheap and thy soul be delivered
unto the tortures of Al-Hawiyat!"

Leaving the wretched man hurling his horrible imprecations, we passed
onward along the dark corridor of filthy dens, each protected with
strong bars of iron, several being occupied by men, lean, wild-haired
and half-clad, who looked more like animals than human beings crouching
on their heaps of dirty, mouldy straw.  No sunlight ever penetrated
there, and the only air or light admitted entered between the crevices
of the massive paving stones of the court above.  The walls of this
Dantean dungeon were black with damp and age, the floor was encrusted
with all kinds of filth, and the air was hot, foetid, and so
overpowering that Khazneh himself was compelled to take the corner of
his silken robe and hold it to his nostrils.

At length, however, on arrival at the further end of the passage, a
small door with an iron grating swung open and I was thrust in and there
left, the door being immediately closed and secured.  In the almost
impenetrable darkness I could distinguish nothing, but when I heard the
footsteps of my captors receding, my heart sank within me.  Noises
sounded weirdly in the cavernous blackness; the groans, curses and
prayers of my fellow-prisoners.  Who were these emaciated, half-starved
wretches?  What, I wondered, had been their crimes?

CHAPTER SIX.

RAGE AND REMORSE.

With my feet upon the heap of dirty, evil-smelling straw, I stood
hesitating how to act.  Of the size or character of my cell I knew
nothing; therefore, after reviewing the situation as calmly as I could,
I started to feel the walls and ascertain their exact proportions.  The
place, I found, was small, horribly small.  Its height was only just
sufficient to allow me to stand upright, while it was not long enough to
allow me to lie down except in a crouching, uncomfortable position, its
breadth being just two paces.

When, after making myself acquainted with these details, I stood
reflecting upon my position, I heard a slight movement in the straw at
my feet, and as I bent to ascertain the cause my hand came into contact
with the chill, smooth body of a large snake which I had evidently
disturbed.

Its contact thrilled me.  I drew my hand away in horror, springing back
towards the wall, expecting each moment to feel my leg bitten.
Straining my eyes into the darkness I did my utmost to discover the
whereabouts of the reptile, believing that if it had its bead-like eyes
fixed upon me I could detect their brightness.  But though I heard a
slow rustling among the straw, my enemy seemed in no mood for attack,
and I waited motionless, not daring to stir.  To be doomed to live and
sleep in company of a snake was certainly one of the most hideous
tortures to which a man could be subjected, and was a refinement of
cruelty equal to any of the revolting barbarities I had witnessed while
serving under the standards of the Mahdi and the Khalifa.  But the hours
dragged on, and although my fellow occupant of the cell remained silent,
apparently content, the dungeon itself was weirdly horrible.  The cries
of my fellow captives, some of whom were perfectly sane and others
palpably mad from torture and long confinement, resounded through the
place with startling suddenness, and I could hear those whose minds were
unhinged gnashing their teeth and beating their bars in vain, frantic
effort to obtain release.

With these horrors about me, the whole of my past seamed to flit through
my mind--a panorama of wild free life and exciting adventure.  My sudden
unconsciousness after my fall at the well of Sabo-n-Gari, my strange
awakening, and the vision of incomparable beauty that had risen before
my wondering, fevered eyes, all recurred to me in hazy indistinctness,
like some weird, half-remembered dream.  But the pale, anxious face of
Azala, who had fought so hard to save me falling into the merciless
clutches of my pitiless captors, came before me--vivid, distinct,
entrancing.  Her every feature was engraven indelibly upon my memory,
and her voice seemed to repeat in soft, musical Arabic those strange,
mysterious words that had thrilled and entranced me.

She trusted me, she had said.  Would she, I wondered, be successful in
releasing me from this horribly maddening captivity?  That she would use
every endeavour of which she was capable I was confident; nevertheless,
I knew well the enormity of my crime, and feared that even her earnest
words would not soften the flint heart of the relentless Sultan 'Othman,
whose every whim was law within his own extensive kingdom.

Well I knew the manner of living of this dreaded ruler of the Western
Soudan.  He formed the etiquette of his brilliant court upon that of the
Khalifa's, keeping himself strictly invisible to the vulgar gaze.  He
seldom exposed himself to perish of the evil eye.  It was he who
compelled the women throughout his empire to lead the life of the
Eastern harem, and forbade that any (married or single) should show
themselves unveiled, making his own family set the example.  People
approaching the Sultan in audience covered their heads with dust: he
never spoke directly to assemblies nor to the people, but always dealt
with them through the medium of a herald.  Upon the occasions of his
going out, his _cortege_ was preceded by musicians, drums, and trumpets,
and he rode in solitary state, with his suite at a respectable distance
behind.  Servants marched surrounding his horse, and holding by turns to
his saddle; they were called foot companions, and their head-man was the
"master of the road."  Only one drum was allowed to precede them, and
musicians kept silent when in sight of a town in which the Sultan was
residing.

She had spoken of strange marvels, of hidden mysteries that require
elucidation, of perils, and of her own misery.  Why had unhappiness
consumed her?  Why, indeed, had she concealed so much from me?  For
hours I pondered over the veiled words she had uttered, seeking in them
some explanation, but finding none.

Then I remembered the hideous blemish upon her fair breast--that mystic
mark exactly identical with mine.  What, I wondered, could these
entwined asps denote?  The words of my dead mother rang in my ears:
"Seek not to discover its significance until thou meetest with its exact
counterpart.  Then strive night and day to learn the truth, for, if thou
canst elucidate the mystery, thine ears will listen unto strange things,
and thine eyes behold wondrous marvels."

Upon the breast of Azala, the Princess, I had discovered that which I
had sought throughout my eventful life, yet even in that moment evil
fortune had befallen me, and now, instead of being free to strive
towards solving the enigma, I was held captive in that dismal,
evil-smelling dungeon, under sentence of death.

Days dragged by--dull, dismal, dispiriting.  Suffering the anguish of
separation and lost happiness, my whole life seemed wounded.  In the
dark, damp cell, surrounded by a thousand horrors, oppressed by a
thousand vague regrets and bitter thoughts, I awaited the end.  Indeed,
as the long hours slowly passed, it surprised me that my captors did not
drag me forth to die.  Once a day three <DW64> guards, heavily armed,
appeared and cast to us a little _dodowa_, or kind of cake made of
vegetables, with as little ceremony as if they were giving food to dogs,
while a slave filled our earthen vessel with water; but we had no
exercise, and were compelled to remain behind our bars like animals
entrapped.

My cell had been occupied quite recently by some poor wretch, who,
according to the story of a half-starved Arab in captivity near me, had
died of fever only a few days before my arrival, and with whom the
serpent who made his abode there had apparently been on friendly terms.
At first both the reptile and myself were consumed by a mutual fear of
one another, but on close acquaintanceship he grew to regard me as
harmless, and really performed me a service by clearing the mice and
other vermin from my narrow, suffocating den.

Once a loud, piercing shriek escaped one of my half-demented fellow
captives, who declared he had been bitten by a scorpion, and, to my
dismay, the same reptile found its way through the bars of my cell some
hours later, but fortunately I detected it in time, driving it out
before it could attack me.  Hour by hour, day by day, I crouched,
disconsolate and despairing, in the almost impenetrable gloom.
Accustomed as I was to the wild life of the plains, confinement amid
such loathsome surroundings was doubly irksome and nauseating.

In that Stygian darkness day was like night, and I could keep no count
of time; but with the harsh gibberings of idiots always grating on my
ears, I grew apprehensive that ere long I, too, must become demented.
My respite from death I attributed to the intervention of the fair woman
whose wondrous beauty had enmeshed me, and whose words of mystery had
aroused in me an intense, unconquerable desire to solve the one great
enigma of my life.

Yet as time went on and relief came not, I began to fear that the eunuch
had spoken the truth when he informed Azala of the Sultan's absence, and
that, fearing to order me to execution, Khazneh had resolved that I
should be driven to madness in that foul, foetid dungeon, where so many
captives had pined and died.  Many times I had heard how the great
Sultan 'Othman was ruled almost entirely by harem influence; how the
bright-eyed, imperious Sultana of to-day might be a mangled corpse torn
to pieces by the yelping jackals at the city-gate to-morrow; how a
single word whispered by a dark-haired houri into the ear of her lord
might either cause a courtier's head to fall, or secure for some menial
an exalted office of power, with many slaves and fat emoluments.
Indeed, it was notorious throughout the Soudan that in the great Fada of
the Sultan of Sokoto none was safe.  Wives, courtiers, guards, eunuchs,
slaves, all trembled, fearing to arouse the anger of the brutal
autocrat, for well were they aware that the keen _doka_ of the black
executioner was kept ever busy, and none knew whose head next might
fall.  Black plots and dastardly intrigues were constantly at work
within the great Courts of the Harem.  The favourite, one day loaded
with costly jewels, basking in the smiles of her august master, radiant
upon her divan and ruler of the gilded Courts of Enchantment, would
assuredly sooner or later fall a victim to the jealousy of her less
fortunate sisters, and be compelled to wash the feet of the bright-eyed
slave her whilom handmaiden, become the wife of some common soldier, or
drink the fatal draught from the golden Cup of Death.

Yet amid such surroundings, continually witnessing the complicated plots
and counter-plots engendered by the fiercest feminine hatred, with
unceremonious strangling, poisoning or decapitation as the inevitable
result, lived Azala, pure as the jasmine-flower, bright as the sunrise
on the Great Desert, graceful as the rose bending beneath the evening
zephyr, a maiden of absolutely incomparable countenance and entrancing
loveliness.

For nearly a whole moon had I remained in my foul, dank kennel, when one
morning four gaudily-attired Janissaries released me, and, without
deigning to reply to my eager questions, conducted me out of the dungeon
and up the worn and broken flight of stairs to the blessed light of day.
So long had I been in darkness that the sun's glare blinded me, and
keenly apprehensive that Azala's efforts had been unavailing, and that I
was at last being led to execution, I walked on between my guards,
inert, dejected and despairing.

A dozen Janissaries, each armed with gleaming scimitar and _jambiyah_,
joined us, as across one great open courtyard after another was I
conducted in procession solemn and funereal.  The magnitude and
magnificence of those squares, with great plashing fountains, tall palms
and colonnades of dead-white horse-shoe arches, astounded me.  Evidently
they were the outer courts of the palace, for at each gate there stood
Janissaries in uniforms of blue and gold, with drawn swords, erect,
silent, statuesque.  Leaving the Courts of Love, the innermost centre of
the great Fada, we crossed the Court of the Grand Vizier, the Court of
the Gado (Lord of the Treasury), the Court of the Eunuchs, the Court of
the Janissaries, the Court of the Armourers and many others, each larger
and more massive in construction, until at length we came to the great,
arched outer gate, the only entrance to this sumptuous and gigantic
dwelling-place of one of the most powerful potentates of Al-Islam.  Here
my heart sank within me, for awaiting us was the executioner, a big,
brutal <DW64>, who carried over his shoulder his great _doka_, or keen,
curved sword, that had smote off so many heads of men and women.

Instinctively I knew my fate.  I was being conducted to the Kaboga, or
place of execution, there to die.

As we approached, the ponderous gate opened and with a loud blast from a
dozen blatant wind instruments of curious shape there entered a man
attired in white, sitting erect on a richly-caparisoned, coal-black Arab
horse, and followed by a crowd of mounted attendants and guards on foot.

"May Allah, the One Granter of Requests, envelop our lord the Sultan
with the Cloak of Peace," cried the guards, lifting their bass voices
with one accord, salaaming before the sharp-eyed man, whose black beard
was well trimmed, and in whose crimson turban gleamed a magnificent
aigrette of diamonds.

Three loud blasts and the roll of a drum announced the return of the
Sultan 'Othman.  Each time slaves and guards bent low with reverent
genuflexions, and each time they lifted aloud their voices in praise of
his Imperial Majesty.

As, tongue-tied in amazement, I gazed upon the brilliant cavalcade of
the powerful autocrat whose fame had been carried over the boundless
deserts even to Omdurman, his keen glance fell upon me.  Upon his dark,
sensual face, in which cruelty was strongly marked, there rested for a
second a shadow of displeasure, then reining his horse close to me his
searching eyes wandered to the executioner and the Janissaries.
Scarcely had I sufficient clothes to cover me, and what I wore were
ragged and dirty, yet with the pride of my race I drew myself up, facing
him boldly.

In deep, stern tones he demanded of his Grand Vizier beside him, whose
name was Mahaza, son of Alhan, the nature of the crime for which I was
to suffer.

"During thine absence, O Mirror of Virtue, yonder spy, an accursed
Dervish from Omdurman, hath been discovered by Khazneh, Aga of the
women, attired in a woman's haick, concealed within thy Courts of
Enchantment."

"In my harem?" exclaimed the Sultan, whose angry eyes flashed in my
direction.  "By what means did the dog obtain admission?"

"I know not, O Branch of Honour," answered the Grand Vizier, but at that
moment Khazneh, in robes of bright yellow silk, pushed forward, and
making a deep obeisance, exclaimed,--

"Give leave unto thy servant to speak, O lord, our Sultan.  I found the
Dervish spy concealed within the pavilion of thy daughter Azala."

The Sultan 'Othman glared at me with brows contracted, and uttered a
fierce and terrible curse upon his enemy the Khalifa.  His soul in an
instant filled with bitterest rage and hate.

"How camest thou, son of _sebel_ to pass the guards of mine innermost
court?" he demanded, in wrathful tones that caused all to tremble.

"I, an Arab of the North, was wounded in battle, and thy daughter, upon
whom may the blessing of the One Bountiful rest, gave unto me succour.
If thou sparest me--"

"Silence, dog!" he roared; then, with a gesture of impatience, turned to
his councillor, saying,--

"Let the spy's head be struck off and placed upon the palace gate as a
warning."

The eyes of my guards, on hearing this, brightened, and they cried: "Thy
will, O Mighty Ruler, is our command," and those holding me pushed me
forward so roughly that my ragged jibbeh was torn from the neck to the
waist, displaying my chest.

The Sultan, with a parting injunction to my captors to place my head
upon the gate and to announce throughout the city that a spy of the
Khalifa had been captured and executed, was about to ride away when
suddenly I noticed that he again fixed his gaze full upon me and sat for
a few seconds perplexed and thoughtful.

"Bring hither thy prisoner.  Let him approach me closely," he shouted to
the Janissaries, who were at that moment hurrying me away.

Amazed at the Sultan's sudden change of manner, the Aga of the Eunuchs
and his menials dragged me back before their ruler, who, with his
startled eyes fixed upon my uncovered breast, asked in a tone of awe,--

"Speak, slave!  How earnest thou by that mystic mark of the serpents?"

His anger had instantly cooled.  He had detected the strange red scar,
and for him it evidently had some serious significance, for he had grown
pale under his manly bronze, and the bejewelled hand that held the reins
trembled slightly.

"Of its origin I have no knowledge," I answered, glancing quickly round
and noticing the effect produced by the monarch's sudden change of
manner.

"Whence comest thou?" he asked, with eagerness unusual to an autocrat.

"From Omdurman.  I am of the Ansar of the Khalifa."

"And thy parentage?"

"I was born in the Mountains of Aures, two days' journey from Batna.  My
father was the Hadj Yakub Sarraf."

"Yukub Sarraf, the Kaid of El-Manaa?" he inquired quickly, his sinister
face betraying an expression of combined surprise and fear.

"Even so, O Sultan."

The excess of his rage was only equalled by the promptness of his
remorse.

Bending in his saddle for a moment, he examined closely the puzzling
mark upon me, and then, after a few moments' silence, he turned to
Khazneh, who had been standing aghast and amazed, and said,--

"Let the spy's life be spared, but let him be expelled from our midst.
If thou findest him within the confines of our empire after three suns
have set, then let him die.  Mount him upon the swiftest _meheri_, and
let twenty guards similarly mounted journey with him until he hath
passed beyond the boundary of Sokoto.  I have ordained it.  Let it be
done accordingly."

Turning to me he said: "If thou ridest on the wings of haste thy life
shall be spared; but enter not again into this my kingdom, or of a
verity thine head shall fall."  And as he turned to ride forward, he
added, in a harsh, strained voice that became softened towards me: "Go,
leave my rose garden of happiness quickly.  Go, and may the peace of
Allah, the Omniscient, rest upon thee in the hour of thine adversity."

The all-powerful Sultan, with face pale and agitated, moved slowly
onward across the great court with bowed head, followed by his wondering
councillors and cringing slaves.  Next second I was free.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE WHITE CITY.

All sounds had gradually died away in the town.  A marabout had climbed
to the terrace of the great mosque and was crying "Allah is great!
Allah is great!"  The surrounding terraces were peopled with white forms
which stood out against the summits of the palm-trees and the green of
the baobab.  Their backs were turned to the purple splendours of the
dying light, for their faces looked towards the already darkened east,
lighted for them by that eternal light in which Mecca is to be found.
The silence was harshly broken by a brazen sound.  It was the tamtams in
the Kasbah sounding the call for prayer.

The plain was now a vast desert phantasmagorically illuminated.  Above,
the sky flamed into every imaginable colour, and the small
water-channel, scarcely visible a moment before, blazed into a
reflection of the ardour of the sky, while the rows of ospreys on its
banks looked like necklaces of pink pearls.  Then all the enchantment
was overwhelmed by the sudden twilight that heralds the tropical night.

Well mounted on a swift camel, with water-skin and provision-bag filled,
and escorted by my guards, I had ridden through the crowded markets, and
passing out of the Kofa-n-Magaidi, or eastern gate, set forth across the
wide, sandy plain in the direction of prayer.  The brief glimpse I
caught of the place as I passed hurriedly through its streets surprised
me.  The inhabitants seemed to some extent a cultured people, and the
women apparently enjoyed considerable personal freedom, although the
majority were veiled.  The men, despite their bellicose spirit and the
chronic state of warfare maintained, were not naturally cruel, and
treated their slaves kindly.

The towers, cupolas and high white walls of the great, impregnable
palace, wherein dwelt the woman who had enchanted me, stood dark and
frowning against the crimson brilliance of the after-glow, and from my
exalted position on the back of my _meheri_ I turned once to glance at
them, wondering if Azala knew of my expulsion.  Perhaps from her lattice
in the great square tower rising above the city she was watching my
departure, but she had given no sign, and sorrowfully I at length turned
my back upon the White City of the Sultan 'Othman, and urged my camel
onward towards the horizon, which seemed a sea of mirage, with a feeling
that Fate had, indeed, laid her hand upon me with undeserved harshness.

In the cooler hours that succeeded, when the light had entirely faded,
and the wind, whirling up clouds of find sand into our faces, compelled
us to cover them as we rode on, leaving only our eyes visible, Shu'ba,
the chief of the black horsemen accompanying me, declared that if we
were to reach Kukawa, in Bornu, within three days, we should be
compelled to press forward constantly, resting but a few hours during
the heat of noon.  My guards were heavily armed, each carrying a very
keen, straight sword, a dagger suspended from the left wrist, and a
spear six feet long, while with several this arsenal was also
supplemented by a rifle.  Acting no doubt under the Sultan's orders,
they treated me with every consideration, and proved themselves
lighthearted, genial fellows; yet the long ride through the great,
silent wilderness, eternally warm, eternally gloomy, gave me many
opportunities for dismal reflections upon the strange turn events had
taken.  Azala had fascinated, entranced me, and I loved her with all the
strength of my being.  Yet I had been thus forcibly torn from her, never
to return on penalty of death.  Each long stride of the animal beneath
me took me further from her, yet she trusted in me to save her.  From
the words uttered by Khazneh in reply to the Sultan, it was evident that
the latter had had no knowledge of my capture and imprisonment, and
Azala had, on account of her father's absence, been unable to secure my
release.

The mysterious symbol that seemed to link me in some inexplicable manner
to the woman I loved had apparently produced in the Sultan a feeling of
dismay, for when he noticed it a sudden terror had enthralled him.
Awe-stricken at its significance, he had instantly rescinded the order
for my execution, sending me forth from his empire as if apprehensive
that my presence was a harbinger of some dreaded evil.

For a brief space we halted in the date-grove of Maifoura at midnight,
eating a little _tiggra_ with curdled milk diluted with water, and some
_ngaji_ or paste of sorghum, and having thus recruited our strength the
cry of "_Ala e'dhahar! ala e dhahar_!"  (Mount! mount!) sounded, and we
resumed our ride over the low hills of Kobiri, and through the great,
gloomy forest of Gounel.  South of the Lake Tsad the country is fertile,
and only here and there are there wide, sandy deserts reminding one of
the waterless, sterile regions of Azawagh and Taganet in the Great
Sahara, that arid, monotonous, and almost impassable gulf that separates
the regions of Sokoto, Bornu, Baguirmi and Gando from the European
civilisation of Northern Algeria.  Having passed through the forest, the
wooded level became interrupted from time to time by bare-naked
concavities, or shallow hollows, consisting of black, sedimentary soil,
where, during the rainy season, the water collects, and drying up
gradually leaves a most fertile sediment for the cultivation of the
_masakwa_, a kind of holcus which is the most important article in the
agriculture of Sokoto.  We saw herds of ostriches, troops of gazelles
and many moufflons as, on our forced march, we passed the great ruins of
Thaba, grim, grey, time-worn monuments of the Roman occupation, forded
the Yoobe river at Ngouroutoua--where my guards told me an English
traveller named Richardson had died many years ago--skirted the lagoon
of Mouggobi, and continuing for nearly eight hours along narrow, verdant
valleys, where, side by side with the diminutive, stunted palms, grew
the colossal baobabs, the mastodons of the vegetable kingdom, whose
gigantic branches were inhabited by vultures, serpents, bats and
lizards.  Then at last we passed out upon the great granite plateau of
Koyam, dotted over with hillocks and in part strewn with quartz sand,
home of the nomad Uled-Delim, "pirates of the desert," a sun-baked,
stony wilderness devoid of any living thing.  The third day was occupied
wholly in crossing this vast solitude, where incessantly we were
compelled to shout "_Hai_!  _Hai_!" the ejaculation of caution to our
camels, as the beasts, weary and jaded, plodded on until, about an hour
after we had knelt to repeat our _majhrib_, while the shadows were
lengthening as the sun declined, the tall, white watch-tower at the
principal gate of Kukawa rose before us, and beyond lay the waters of
Lake Tsad shimmering like liquid gold in the glorious evening light.

When the cry was raised that the town was in sight, my guards held
consultation and halted.  Then Shu'ba, drawing up his camel close to
mine, exclaimed,--

"Thou hast performed the journey within the time stipulated by our lord
the Sultan, therefore we now leave thee to continue thy way alone."

"Wilt thou not rest yonder for a while before returning?"  I asked,
surprised.

"Nay," he answered, shrugging his shoulders significantly.  "The people
of Bornu are our enemies.  We would rather take our ease upon the plains
than within the city of those who seek our overthrow"--a speech that was
greeted by low, guttural sounds of approbation by the others perched on
their camels around.  Then, continuing, he said, "It is our Sultan's
will that the _meheri_ thou ridest shall be given unto thee, together
with this rifle, ammunition and _jambiyah_," and as he uttered these
words he handed me the gun he carried, together with his pouch and a
crooked knife in a silver scabbard he drew from his sash.

"Alone in these regions thou mayest require them," observed a
light-hearted young <DW64>, with a broad grin.

"Unto thy Sultan, whose dignity be increased, render thanks in my name.
Tell him that Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz is his grateful servant, and that he
beareth neither malice nor hatred," I answered.

"Behold, I am also charged with a further duty," said Shu'ba, with a
solemnity quite unusual to him.  "Before we left the Fada one of the
eunuchs of the Courts of Enchantment gave this unto me to deliver into
thine hands," and he drew from the breast of his gandoura a small box of
delicately-chased gold, securely sealed.

"Whence didst thou obtain it?"  I asked, in surprise, taking it in my
hands.

"From Hisham, the eunuch.  He refused to tell who had given it unto him,
but gave me strict command to place it in thine hands at the moment when
we parted, with an injunction that it must not be opened until thou art
actually within the walls of Kukawa."

"May I not investigate its contents now?"  I asked, puzzled.

"Nay, curb thine impatience.  Behold, the sun is already declining," he
answered, glancing around.  "Spur onward, or, of a verity, thou wilt not
obtain entrance to yonder city ere its gate is closed."

His prompting influenced me to make hurried adieu, and, as with one
accord they gave me "Peace," I sped away in the direction of the town,
turning once to wave back a farewell.  As I rode forward, four armed
horsemen, their white burnouses flying in the wind, sped across the
plain to meet me.  With rifles held high in air with threatening
gesture, they in a few minutes pulled their horses to their haunches
before me, loudly demanding whence I came.

"I am Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz of the Ansar of thine ally, the Khalifa of
Omdurman," I replied, laughing a moment later at the effect my words had
produced.

"From Omdurman?" they gasped.  "How earnest thou hither in company with
horsemen of the Sultan 'Othman, who fled at our approach?"

Briefly, I told them how I had been held prisoner, and subsequently
expelled by the Sultan.

"Allah hath indeed covered thee with the cloak of protection," observed
one of the men, "None who descends to the terrible dungeons beneath the
Fada of Kano ever comes forth alive."

"Yea, thou hast assuredly narrowly escaped," agreed another, and, as
they turned to ride back with me, they related news of how, on the
advance of the Khalifa's troops towards Sokoto, the iron cymbals of war
had been silenced, for the Dervishes had been attacked and routed by the
Kanouri and Tuaregs in the swamps outside Massenya, after which it was
believed the survivors had returned in confusion to Omdurman.  Thus I
found myself in sorry plight, without resources, and with a thousand
miles of gloomy forest and burning desert between myself and the Dervish
headquarters beside the Nile.  With my companions I entered the
ponderous gate which was being kept open for our arrival, and, passing
the little daily market (the _dyrriya_), which was crowded, we rode
along the _deudal_, or promenade, past groups of Arabs and native
courtiers in all the finery of their dress and of their
brightly-caparisoned horses, until we came to the house of the sheikh, a
spacious place with a single _chedia_ or caoutchouc-tree in front.  But
the sand into which we had floundered as if it were a mire pursued us
everywhere--in the streets, in the houses.  The lounging slaves stared
at my ragged attire, but the Sheikh Mohammed Ben Bu-Sad, to whom I was
conducted, was very gracious, and after hearing the story of the defeat
of my comrades-in-arms, my captivity, and my narrow escape, gave orders
that for the present I should be lodged with one of the horsemen who had
met me, and whom I discovered was named Lamino (properly El-Amin), his
confidential officer.  Thus, an hour later, I found myself installed in
a small, clay-built house in the _billa gedibe_, or eastern town, and
when alone I drew forth the small, golden box Shu'ba had given me.  It
was square, about the length of the middle finger, covered with
quaintly-graven arabesques, and securely sealed with yellow wax.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

VEILED MEN OF THE DESERT.

Eagerly I broke the seals and tremblingly opened the lid of the tiny
casket, taking out a folded piece of paper covered with lines of Arabic
hastily scrawled in yellow ink.  These, in the dim twilight, I
deciphered only with difficulty, and found they read as follows:--

"_Know, O Stranger, now thou hast escaped from the wrath of our lord the
Sultan, that thy presence within the walls of the Fada hath placed
Azala, Princess of Sokoto, in deadly Peril.  If thou wilt lend her thine
aid, return, for thou alone canst solve the mysterious symbol of the
asps, rescue her from death, and bring her unto the garden of happiness.
Know, O Stranger, that even though she cannot communicate or have
speech with thee, that she loveth thee; that each hour of thine enforced
absence is as a year, and that the gilded pavilion wherein she dwelleth
is but a house of sorrow because of thy departure.  Keep the seal of
silence ever upon thy lips and obey the command of Azala Fathma quickly,
that thine endeavours may be approved.  Return unto her speedily in such
disguise that thou canst not be recognised; then will she tear aside the
veil of secrecy and reveal unto thee strange marvels.  Pause not in
thine efforts to return, for each day bringeth her nearer unto cruel and
ignominious Certainty.  May the rose-grove of thy prosperity and good
fortune be increased daily in freshness and magnificence, and the
foundation of thy belief in the purity of thy One of Beauteous
Countenance be more firmly established from hour to hour.--Thy Friend_."

After the heat and burden of the long African day the respite at
twilight always gives one a sensation of physical solace, yet
nevertheless it brings with it a feeling of intense sadness and
melancholy.

Again and again I read the curious missive.  Evidently at Azala's
instigation it had been penned in order to reassure me, and to induce me
to return so that I could assist her in solving the mysterious problem
to which she had hinted so pointedly when we had been alone.  But
foreseeing plainly the serious risk I should run if I attempted to
re-enter Kano, and the absolute impossibility of obtaining access to the
innermost courts of the Fada, I regarded the suggestion as utterly
hopeless.  Had not the Sultan warned me that if I again set foot within
his empire my life would pay the penalty?  Might not his dread of the
mysterious evil that I might bring upon him cause him to take my life,
notwithstanding his daughter's fervent supplications?

Yet Azala was in sore need of help, and sought my aid.  Her promise to
"tear aside the veil of secrecy" I felt inclined to construe into a
pledge to render me explanation of the curious marks that both of us
bore.  Was it not more than an extraordinary coincidence that with a
thousand miles of arid, stony desert, and a similar distance of fertile
land separating us at our birth, we should each bear the Brand of the
Asps--the mystic symbol the sight of which terrified even the powerful
Ruler of Sokoto.

From the demeanour of both the Sultan and his daughter I felt that the
strange device was the key of some greater secret underlying it, and the
thought of Azala in peril, and trusting in me alone for assistance,
urged me to a resolution to obey the injunctions of my anonymous
correspondent.  I had both a stout heart and a strong arm.  My true
Bedouin parentage had imparted to me the reckless _nonchalance_ of the
vagabond adventurer, and my life during the past ten years had been a
strange series of nomadic ups and downs, desert wandering, fighting,
slave-raiding, trading; in fact, I had picked up a precarious livelihood
in the same manner as the majority of Sons of the Desert whose camels
are their only wealth, and whose ragged tents their only dwelling-place.

The Mystery of the Asps seemed inexplicable, but in that cool night
beneath the stars in the little open court I made solemn determination
to return to Kano and seek its solution, even though compelled to risk
my life in the attempt.

Until the going down of the sun on the Nahr-el-arba following my arrival
at Kukawa was I the guest of Lamino; then, refreshed by rest, I prayed
my _Fatiha_ in the Great Mosque, and assuming the loose robe of dark
blue cotton, wrapping a white litham around my face and twisting some
yards of camel's hair around my head, set out upon my _meheri_ to
accompany a caravan of Buzawe conveying merchandise to El Fasher, whence
I intended to travel alone back to Omdurman, there to report the
annihilation of my comrades.

In the whole of that vast region from Lake Tsad to El Fasher, comprising
thousands of square miles, there is not a single carriage road, not a
mile of navigable waters, not a wheeled vehicle, canoe or boat of any
kind.  There are scarcely any beaten tracks, for most of the routes,
though followed for ages without divergence to right or left, are
temporarily effaced with every sandstorm, and recovered only by means of
the permanent landmarks--wells, prominent dunes, a solitary knoll
crowned with a solitary bush, or perchance a ghastly line of bleached
bones of men and animals, the remains of slaves, camels, or travellers
that may have perished of thirst or exhaustion between the oases.  Few
venture to travel alone, or even in small parties, which could offer but
little resistance to the bands of marauders hovering about all the main
lines of traffic.  Hence the caravans usually comprise hundreds and even
thousands of men and pack animals, all under a _kebir_, or guide, whose
word is law.  Under him are assistants, armed escorts and scouts to
reconnoitre the land in dangerous neighbourhoods, besides notaries to
record contracts and agreements, sometimes even public criers, and an
_imam_ to recite the prescribed prayers.

The caravan, belonging to Abu Talib, a wealthy merchant of Yo, was a
small one, consisting of about one hundred camels heavily laden with
ivory, kola nuts, spices, and other goods from the far south, destined
for the great market at El Fasher, and was guarded by twenty
fierce-looking Arabs and a number of <DW64> and Arab drivers, all well
armed, for the country through which we were to pass was infested by the
marauding Tuaregs, those black-veiled terrors of the plains, who know
nothing of anything but the desert and the implacable sun.

Abu Talib, who accompanied us in person, was an aged, good-hearted man
of the tribe of Aulad Hamed, who had spent the greater part of his life
trading between In Salah and Timbuktu, or between Yo and Mourkouk, over
the boundless Sahara, and in the darkness, as we rode together and our
camels with silent tread loomed like phantoms in the midnight air, we
told each other of our journeys and adventures.  His companions were
true sons of the sands, active, vigorous and enterprising, inured to
hardships, and with the mental faculties sharpened almost to a
preternatural degree by the hard struggle for existence in their arid,
rocky homes.  In making their way across those trackless solitudes they
seemed endowed with that "sense of direction," the existence of which
has recently been discussed by students of psychology.  In the whole of
the Great Sahara no race is more shrewd or cunning than the Buzawe, and
their tact and skill enable them to get the better both of Arabs and
<DW64>s in the markets of the oases.  Greed and harshness were stamped
upon their hard features, but nevertheless they treated me, a lonely
wanderer, with considerable kindness.

On leaving Kukawa we passed across a great plain, then through a dense
forest, afterwards entering a fine, undulating country, covered with a
profusion of herbage, with here and there large gamshi-trees with broad,
fleshy leaves of brightest green.  The moon shone bright as day, and as
our file of camels strode on with slow, rhythmic movement under their
burdens, the drivers would now and then sing snatches of wild songs of
daring in the Hausa tongue.

Thus, resting by day and journeying by night, we moved forward around
the marshy shore of Lake Tsad to Missene, thence through the cool, shady
forest of Dekena Kreda, enlivened by many birds, along the
densely-populated valleys of Boulala to the strange little town of Amm
Chererib situate in the hollow formed between four great mountains, at
length, when the moon was again at the full, reaching Abecher, at the
foot of the hills of Outoulo, without much exciting incident.  Halting
for one day under the fortified walls to fill our camels' _kewas_ with
provisions, we again pushed forward unceasingly in order to accomplish
the two hundred and fifty miles of barren, waterless land unmercifully
scorched and burnt by a devouring sun, that stretches between the
capital of Darmaba and El Fasher.  This portion of the journey was the
most difficult we had encountered, for the rough stones played terrible
havoc with the spongy feet of our camels, and the heat was insufferable,
even at night, on account of the poison-wind sweeping across us
continuously.  For five days we pushed forward by short stages only,
until at sunrise one day we espied an oasis, and, encamping in the small
shade it afforded, Abu Talib decided to give the animals rest.  The
packs were therefore removed, our tents erected, and having eaten our
_dakkwa_, a dry paste made of pounded Guinea-corn with dates and pepper,
washed it down with some _giya_ made of sorghum, we reclined and slept
during the warm, drowsy hours of the siesta.

Some noise had awakened me, and lighting my keef-pipe I was squatting in
the shadow cast by one of the camel's packs, deep in my own sad
thoughts, when the crack of a rifle startled me.  Next second, even
before my companions could seize their arms, the whole neighbourhood was
alive with yelling Tuaregs on horseback, armed to the teeth, with their
draperies floating in the wind.  I saw they all wore the black litham
about their faces.  One, as he advanced on foot, levelled his gun at me
and fired, but missed.  In a moment I threw myself full length upon the
sand behind a camel's pack, and opened fire upon our enemies.  With
deliberate aim I had picked off three with as many shots, when suddenly
I heard old Abu Talib cry,--

"Lost are we!  Our enemies are the Aoulemidens!"

Almost before the words died upon his lips a bullet struck the old man
full in the breast; he staggered back and fell, within a few yards of
me, a corpse.  To resist these fierce outlaws, the most relentless tribe
of Tuaregs who lived in the depths of that arid, desolate country, with
no knowledge of the outside world, was, we knew, hopeless, for there
were fully three hundred of them, and as they found our little band
disinclined to surrender, they began shooting us down ruthlessly.
Already four of our party had been captured and bound, while three were
lying dead, nevertheless our rapid fusillade kept at bay those preparing
to dash in and seize our camels' packs.

Fiercely we fought for life.  We knew that if we fell into the hands of
this brigandish tribe who called themselves "The Breath of the Wind," by
which their victims were to understand that they might as well seek the
wind as hope to recover their stolen property, we should either be sold
at the nearest market, or placed under some horrible and fiendish
torture to die a slow, agonising death.  Suddenly a wild yell rent the
air, and before we were aware of it a troop of some fifty horsemen
dashed in among us, so quickly that resistance was impossible.
Hand-to-hand we struggled, straining every muscle to evade our enemies,
but ere long the obstinate, heroic courage of my companions could no
longer blind them to the approach of the inevitable, and we were each
secured and bound, captives in the hands of the merciless veiled men of
the desert, whose fierce brutality was feared alike by slaves and
Sultans throughout the sun-parched land.

Our arms were twisted from our grasp, our camels' packs seized, and,
linked together ignominiously by chains around our necks, we were
secured to three palm trunks, under a strong guard with loaded rifles,
to wait while our captors investigated their booty and reloaded our
camels.  Nearly two hours this occupied, when at length the
grey-bearded, sinister-faced leader of the band of free-booters gave the
order to mount, and before long the party, numbering nearly three
hundred horsemen armed to the teeth, moved away into the sandy
wilderness, compelling us to trudge over the hot, stony ground on foot
under the fiery rays of the blazing sun.  It was evident that we were to
be sold as slaves.  One unfortunate camel-driver, who had been wounded,
fell from sheer exhaustion within the first hour, and was left to die,
for slave-raiders like "The Breath of the Wind" regard the wounded only
as an encumbrance, and as they will not sell they are either put out of
their misery by a shot, or left to die of thirst and become food for the
vultures.  Fortunately, with the exception of a slight cut on the left
hand received from a _jambiyah_ with which one of my captors had slashed
at me, I sustained no injury, and with my companions, a little band of
silent, despairing men, I plodded wearily onward--onward to be sold into
slavery.

Upon all the perpendicular rays of the sun beat down with a heat as
burning and intense as that of a fiery furnace, and always--always for a
horizon--the desert, the infinite breadth of glaring sands.

CHAPTER NINE.

AN AUDIENCE OF THE KHALIFA.

Those days of burning heat were full of horrors.  Treated with scant
humanity, we were half starved, allowed only sufficient water to slake
our thirst once a day, and beaten mercilessly with thongs of rhinoceros
hide whenever one, more faint and weary than the rest, lagged behind.
Eastward we travelled for six days, until, at the well of Lassera Dar
Abd-er-Rahman, we were sold for two small bags of gold to some nomad
Dasas encamped there.  The Tuaregs dare not enter a town in the Eastern
Soudan, although, in the West, they are universally dreaded on account
of their depredations; therefore they always sell their captives to
other slavers, who dispose of their human wares at the nearest trade
centre.  Hence, by our new masters we were conveyed to Dara, a town one
day's journey south of El Fasher, placed in the slave market, and, after
considerable haggling, disposed of.

My new master was a well-dressed, keen-eyed, wizen-faced old Arab of the
tribe known as Jalin, who, after inspecting me and looking into my mouth
as he would a horse, handed payment with ill grace to the black-faced
scoundrel who sold me, and ordered me to follow him.  Together we passed
out of the busy, bustling crowd, when he addressed me, asking my name.

"Art thou an Arab from the North?" he exclaimed in surprise, when I had
told him who I was, and the place of my birth.  "How earnest thou
hither?"

"I fell into the hands of the Tuaregs, upon whom may the curse of Eblis
rest!"  I answered, hesitating to inform him at present that I was a
Dervish.

As we walked to the city gate, where he said his camels were tethered,
he told me his name was Shazan, and, judge my extreme satisfaction when
he added that he was about to return to Omdurman, where he lived
opposite the Beit-el-Amana.  Hence, my stroke of ill-fortune turned out
advantageous, for within a week I found myself once again within the
great walls of the Khalifa's stronghold.  Then my new master having
treated me harshly, I resolved at last that he should suffer, therefore
I applied to the Kaid for release from slavery, on the ground that I was
a member of the Ansar of the Khalifa.  Old Shazan, amazed that his
latest purchase should turn out to be one of his great ruler's
bodyguard, rated me soundly for not informing him at first, but I
laughed, telling him that I had desired to get to Omdurman, and kept my
own counsel, until such time as it suited me.  Knowing that he would
lose the money he had paid for me, the close-fisted old merchant refused
to comply with the order made by the Kaid for my release, but the rumour
of my escape from Kano, coming to the ears of the great Abdullah, the
latter one day sent six of his personal attendants with orders to
release me, and to bring me before him.

The shadows were lengthening in the marble courts of the "Bab," or great
palace of the Mahdi's tyrannical successor, when I was conducted across
the outer square, where brightly-dressed guards were lounging on their
rifles, or playing _damma_ beneath the cool, vine-veiled arches.  Never
before had I been permitted to set foot inside the court, although many
times had I passed under the shadow of the Iron Mosque near by, and
gazed with curiosity at the high walls, smeared with red sand, which
encircled the marble courts, gilded pavilions and cool gardens of the
ruler of the Soudan--the ruler whose only idea was self-aggrandisement.
The extent of the palace amazed me, for, even if it was scarcely as
luxurious as the wonderful Fada at Kano, it was assuredly quite as
large.  Through one open, sun-lit court after another we passed, until
we were challenged by four of the royal bodyguard with drawn swords, but
a word propitiated them, and a few seconds later I found myself in the
great, marble-built Hall of Audience, in the presence of the stout,
sinister-faced man of middle age and kingly bearing, with black, scraggy
beard, whose name was a power throughout the Soudan.  He wore a robe of
bright purple, embroidered with gold, a turban of white silk, and his
fat, brown hands were loaded with rings of enormous value.

Beneath a great baldachin of bright yellow silk, with tassels and
fringes of gold, surmounted by the standard of the Mahdi, the powerful
Abdullah, the ruler before whom all trembled, reclined upon his
luxurious silken divan, fanned by black slaves on either side, while a
<DW64> lad sat at his feet, ready to hand him a pipe, the mouth-piece of
which was studded with diamonds.  Around him were grouped his
body-servants, the _mulazimin_, and officers, while near him was Abdel
Gayum, the chief eunuch, his hand resting upon his sword, and Ali Wad
Helu, chief of the Baggara, who had led the ill-fated expedition of
which I had been a member.

Conducted by my guides up to the scarlet mat spread before the
potentate, who thought himself master of the whole world, I fell upon my
knees in obeisance, expressing thanks for my rescue from bondage.

"Let him be seated," the Khalifa ordered, turning to his slaves, and in
an instant cushions were brought, and I sat myself, cross-legged,
awaiting questions to fall from his lips.  "What, I wondered, had I done
that I was allowed to sit in the royal presence?"

"So thou art the Arab Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz, the horseman who alone escaped
death at the well of Sabo-n-Gari?" exclaimed the vain, cruel,
quick-tempered man who ruled the Soudan under the guise of Mahdiism.

"I am, O King," I answered, bowing until my forehead touched the carpet.

"Of a verity will I punish those enemies who attacked my Jehadieh," he
cried suddenly, in fiercest rage.  "Where be those owls, those oxen of
the oxen, those beggars, those cut-off ones, those aliens, those Sons of
Flight?  Withered be their hands! palsied be their fingers! the foul
moustachioed fellows! basest of the Arabs who ever hammered tent-peg!
sneaking cats! goats of Al-Akhfash!  Truly will I torture them with the
torture of oil, the mines of infamy, the cold of countenance!  By Allah,
and by Allah, and by Allah, we will crush those sons of Ach Chaitan like
snakes, and throw their bodies to the dogs!"  Then, turning to me in
calmer mood, the autocrat of the Soudan exclaimed, "Some of thine
adventures have already reached mine ear, and I would hear from thine
own lips how thou didst escape and how farest thou in the Fada of
'Othman of Sokoto.  Let not thy tongue hurry, but relate carefully in
thine own words what things occurred to thee."

"Thy servant is honoured, O Ruler of our Empire," I answered.  "Under
thy Raya Zerga did I go forth, but returned hither as the slave of the
merchant Shazan--"

"Already have we full knowledge of that," the tyrannical monarch
interrupted, and turning to one of his officers he added, with an
imperious wave of his fat hand, "Let the merchant Shazan, the dog of a
Jalin, receive fifty strokes with the bastinado and be fined two bags of
gold for purchasing a slave belonging to his Sultan."

Then, as the official hastened out lo do his capricious master's
bidding, the Khalifa turned towards me, his thick red lips parted in a
smile, lolling back lazily on his divan as he exclaimed,--

"Continue thy story.  Our ears are open for information regarding the
city of 'Othman, therefore describe in detail all that thou knowest."

Briefly I related how we had been attacked at night by the Tuaregs, how
my comrades had been slaughtered fighting till the last, and how I awoke
to find myself within the palace of the Sultan 'Othman, when suddenly
the injunction contained in the anonymous letter recurred to me: "Keep
the seal of silence ever upon thy lips."  Therefore I deemed it
expedient to omit from my narrative all reference to Azala, making it
appear that I had been rescued by a kind-hearted soldier of the palace
guard.  I knew that Abdullah delighted in listening to calumnies and
hearing evil spoken of other people, and for half-an-hour entertained
him by describing the situation and aspect of Kano, the dimensions of
the Fada, the horrors of my dungeon, and the personal appearance and
character of the Sultan 'Othman, to which all listened with breathless
attention.

When I had finished he remained silent a moment, as if reflecting, then
raising his head he bestowed a few words of commendation upon me,
concluding by the declaration,--

"Of a verity thou art a faithful and valiant servant.  Henceforward thou
shalt be chief of my _mulazimin_, and honoured among men."

I was expressing thanks in flowery speech to the autocrat for this
appointment, which, as chief of his Majesty's body-servants, was a
position of great honour, with substantial emoluments, when suddenly the
silk-robed heralds posted at the entrance to the Hall of Audience
sounded three loud blasts upon their shining _onbeias_.  Then, as every
one's attention was directed towards the great horse-shoe arch from
which the curtains of blue silk were ceremoniously drawn aside by black
guards, there entered a tall, commanding figure in gorgeous robe,
attended by a dozen followers less showily dressed, but all armed,
making great show of ostentation.  With swaggering gait the stranger
strode up the spacious hall, and as the Khalifa motioned me to rise and
step aside to allow the new-comer to make obeisance in the royal
presence, I was amazed and alarmed to suddenly recognise in him the man
I least desired to meet.

It was Khazneh, the brutal Aga of the Eunuchs at the court of 'Othman,
Sultan of Sokoto.

CHAPTER TEN.

BY IMPERIAL REQUEST.

In fear of recognition I held my breath, and, withdrawing among the
crowd of guards and courtiers assembled around the royal divan, watched
the obsequious homage paid the Khalifa by Khazneh, who I discovered was
accompanied by Mahaza, Grand Vizier of Sokoto.

Abdullah, reclining lazily upon his silken cushions, at first paid
little heed to their salaams.  On his brow was a dark, forbidding look;
probably he was thinking of the ill-fated expedition he had dispatched,
and the apparent hopelessness of ever conquering his enemy 'Othman.
Long ago had he overstepped the dignity of a sovereign, and now coveted
the honours of a god.  The two ambassadors from the Fada at Kano
prostrated themselves, pressing their foreheads to the ground, and
assured the powerful head of the Mahdists that they were charged by
their Sultan to convey to him most fervent salutations.  Yet he affected
not to notice their presence.

Surprised at the haughty coolness of his reception, Khazneh, still upon
his knees, continued to address the mighty Khalifa.

"Know, O One of Exalted Dignity, Ruler of the Soudan, who holdeth thy
servants' destinies in the hollow of thine hand, the object of our
journey hither is to spread out the carpet of apologies, to become
ennobled by meeting thine exalted person, to regenerate and to refresh
the meadow of our expectations by the showers of the fountain-head of
thy wisdom, and to see the rosebuds of our hopes opening and smiling
from the breeze of thy regard.  Our lord the Sultan has sent us to
deliver this, therefore command and deal with us as thou listeth," and
from the breast of his gorgeous robe he drew forth a sealed letter,
which was ceremoniously handed to the reclining potentate by one of the
black slaves.

The Khalifa Abdullah, suddenly interested, opened it, and, having read
the missive, crushed it in his hand with impatient gesture.

"Behold," added Khazneh, "we are charged to deliver unto thee a few gems
for thine acceptance as a peace-offering, and to assure thee of our lord
'Othman's good will and high esteem," and as he uttered the words, the
gaudily-dressed members of the mission advanced, and, kneeling,
deposited before the royal divan a golden salver heaped with costly
jewels.

With a cursory glance at them, the occupant of the divan at length
motioned the ambassadors to rise, saying in a deep, impressive voice,--

"The request of the Sultan is granted, and his presents accepted, O
messengers.  Assure thy lord that the knot of our amity is to-day
strengthened by this invitation to travel unto Kano, and that ere many
moons have risen we shall have the felicity of conversing with him.  At
present Allah hath not on the face of the earth a servant more excellent
nor wise than he, and we are invested with the robe of being the elect
and favoured.  May the path of our association never become obstructed."

The dead silence that had fallen upon the Court was broken by rustling
movement and low murmurings of approbation.

"Truly thou art wise and generous, O Ruler, upon whom be the blessing of
the pardoning Sovereign," exclaimed Mahaza.  "Thou, who art
distinguished by great possessions, abundant revenues, innumerable
quantities of cattle, and multitudes of servants and slaves, showerest
upon thy servants copious favours.  May the enemies of the threshold of
thy dignity and station be overtaken by the deluge of affliction, and
may they in the sea of exclusion be drowned by the waves of perdition."

"Verily, if thou comest unto Kano, our lord will receive thee with
befitting welcome," added Khazneh.

"Thou, successor to the holy Mahdi who possessest the three greatest
blessings, namely, meekness in the time of anger, liberality in the time
of dearth, and pardon in a powerful position, wilt find a reception
awaiteth thee such as none have hitherto received within the walls of
our city.  The relation of a king unto his subjects is like the relation
of a soul to the body; in the same way as the soul doth not neglect the
body for a single instant, so the king must not forget the care of his
subjects even during the twinkling of an eye.  Thou hast never swerved
from the straight path, hence thou art honoured throughout the Soudan,
even to the uttermost ends of Sokoto, and if thou wilt deign to visit
our Sultan he will offer unto thee and thine officers, guards and
slaves, generous entertainment within the Fada, for he desireth an
understanding with thee that our countries may unite to defeat and
discomfort our mutual enemies."

The reason of the unlooked-for invitation to visit the great White City
he had plotted to besiege immediately commended itself to the Khalifa,
who, with a benign smile, took from his finger two great emerald rings,
and, handing one to each of the Sultan's ambassadors, assured them that
the sun of his personal favours shone upon them, adding, in prophetic
tones,--

"Take your ease here, for ye must be spent with long travel.  I know not
the day when I can set forth, for I act according to hidden knowledge,
the visible effects of which are ofttimes evil, but the consequences
always beneficent and salutary."

Then, as the two men from Kano again pressed their brows to the carpet,
renewed laudations and gratitude for blessings received emanated from
their lips, and from those assembled there rose panegyrical murmurs that
Abdullah had decided to visit the Sultan 'Othman as honoured guest
instead of arrogant conqueror.

Thus was the meeting between the two powerful rulers of the Sahara and
the Soudan arranged, a meeting destined to mark an epoch in the history
of Central Africa.  The Khalifa's curiosity to investigate the extent of
the wealthy country which acknowledged 'Othman as Sultan probably
accounted for his sudden decision to undertake the long and tedious
journey.  Although the invitation had been sent with a view to effecting
an offensive and defensive alliance between the two peoples, yet, in my
new office as chief of the Khalifa's body-servants, I had ample means of
knowing that he still cherished hopes of eventually overthrowing his
whilom ally, and annexing the Empire of Sokoto.  Two days after the
reception of the envoys, Mahaza left on his return to inform 'Othman of
his friend's intended visit, while Khazneh remained to accompany his
master's guest.  Being permitted as a favoured servant to approach
Abdullah closely, I was fortunately enabled to express to him a hope
that the Aga of the Sultan's Eunuchs would not be made aware of my
identity with the hapless victim of his wrath, and it was with
satisfaction I found that in my silk robes of bright crimson and gold
and picturesque head-dress my enemy failed to recognise me.

The day was an eventful one in Omdurman when, at first flush of dawn, my
royal master seated himself under the thatched _rukuba_ and addressed
his Ansar, urging upon them the necessity of loyalty and discipline
during his absence.  Then, after a great review of seventy thousand
troops in the square of Abu nga, the Mahdist chieftain, with a portion
of his harem, one thousand male slaves and four thousand courtiers and
picked horsemen with banners, moved down the Road of the Martyrs on the
first stage of the long journey westward.  Prayers for the safety of the
Khalifa were at that moment being said by nearly one hundred thousand
men and women in the Great Mosque--not a mosque in its usual sense, but
a huge yard--and their murmurings sounded like a distant roar as, in the
cool hour before sunrise, we rode at walking pace along the winding Nile
bank towards the misty hills where dwelt the Jinns.

Eager as were my companions to feast their eyes on the glories of Kano,
none was so eager as myself lo pass the grim, prison-like portals of the
great l'ada and rest beside those cool, ever-plashing fountains within
the wonderful labyrinth of wide courts and shady arcades.  The wheel of
fortune had indeed taken a strange turn and was spinning in my favour,
for I was actually returning to Azala in disguise so effectual that even
Khazneh could not detect me, and as each day brought me nearer to her I
racked my brain in vain to devise some means by which I could, on
arrival, inform her of my presence and obtain an interview.

To fathom the hidden secret of the Mark of the Asps I was determined,
and on the hot, tedious journey across the dreary, sandy waste, infested
by marauders, and known by the ominous name of _Ur immandess_--"He
(Allah) hears not;" that is, is deaf to the cry of the waylaid
traveller--I served my capricious master with patience and diligence,
awaiting such time as I could seek the woman who had entranced me, and
learn from her lips the strange things she had promised to reveal.

By day the journey was terribly fatiguing, but in the cool nights, when
we encamped for our _kayf_, there was feasting, dancing and
merry-making.  The night hours were enlivened by _Safk_ (clapping of
hands) and the loud sounds of songs.  There were many groups of
dancing-girls, surrounded by crowds of onlookers.  Though sometimes they
performed Al-Nahl, the Bee dance, their performances were wild in the
extreme, resembling rather the hopping of bears than the graceful dances
of the harem, and the bystanders joined in the song--an interminable
recitative, as usual in the minor key, and so well tuned that it sounded
like one voice, with the refrain "La Yayha!  La Yayha!"  Through the
brief, brilliant night always "La Yayha!"

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

TIAMO THE DWARF.

A whole moon passed ere the sun-whitened walls and minarets of Kano
became visible.  The sandy approaches of the city were strewn with bones
and carcasses that had been disinterred by wild beasts, the remains of
camels, horses and asses that had fallen and died in the last stages of
the journey.  The cities of the desert are invariably encircled by their
bones, and the roads across the glaring wilderness are lined by their
bodies.  The sun had risen about four hours when the advance guard of
the Ansar spurred hurriedly back to announce that the town was in sight,
and very shortly the details of the distant shape grew clearer, and we
espied a body of troops, bearing the green-and-gold standard of the
Sultan, riding forth to welcome us.  They were gaudily attired in bright
blue, and, as they dashed forward, indulged in their La'ab al-Barut
(gunpowder play) while their bright shields and unsheathed swords
flashed and gleamed in the sun, as now and then the wind parted the
cloud of dust and smoke which enveloped them.  The faint sound of
trumpets and clash of cymbals came from the distant city, enthroned upon
the horizon a dark silhouette, large and long, an image of grandeur in
immensity, wherein all my hopes were centred, and as we approached we
saw that Mahaza, the Grand Vizier, had been sent by the Sultan 'Othman
to give us peace and conduct us into the Fada.

My master's retinue, consisting as it did of nearly five thousand
persons, was indeed an imposing one, and when an hour later we entered
the city gate and passed up the hill to where the well-remembered tower
of the Fada stood white against the intensely blue sky, the brass cannon
mounted on the walls belched forth thundering salutes, and a cloud of
soft white smoke floated up in the still, warm air.  Strange it was, I
reflected, that the houses of Kano everywhere displayed that essential
characteristic of early Egyptian art--the pyramidal form, which
represented solidity to those ancient architects.  The walls of the
oldest constructions had a slight inward inclination, and possessed no
windows, or only the roughest sketch of them.  Light and air entered
through openings cut in the roof.  The summits of the dwellings were
ornamented by those triangular battlements which may be seen on the
palaces of Rameses Meiamoun.  The pylon, which is another characteristic
of Egyptian architecture, gave access to the dwellings.  In short, the
effect of the whole, their harmonious proportions, the symmetrical
distribution of their ornamental mottoes, and their massiveness,
proclaimed the art of Egypt, bearing out the legend that the people of
Sokoto came originally from the far east.  The multitude was wild with
excitement.  In their eagerness to catch a glimpse of the Khalifa,
world-famous for his piety and his cruelty, they rendered the streets
almost impassable, shouting themselves hoarse in welcome.  Blatant
tam-tams beat a monotonous accompaniment to the roar of artillery, and
as the Sultan's guest, mounted on a magnificent camel at the head of his
black Jihadieh, passed onward, the shout of "_Alhahu Akhbar_!" rose from
fifty thousand throats, echoing again and again.  Progress was slow on
account of the immense crowds, and even the Sultan's spearmen, who
preceded us, had considerable difficulty in clearing a path.  Numbers
were bruised, kicked by the horses or fatally injured by the long
spears, but they were left unnoticed--a mere remark "_Umru Khalas_," (It
is the end of life) being all the sympathy ever offered.  Yet the
impetuous populace continued to yell enthusiastic words of welcome, the
guns thundered, and the three stately men preceding the Khalifa blew
long, piercing blasts on their immense _onbeias_ fashioned from
elephants' tusks.

At length, on arrival at the great, gloomy portal of the Fada, the
iron-studded gates suddenly opened, revealing the Sultan 'Othman clad in
golden casque and royal robe of amaranth velvet, with a
handsomely-caparisoned, milk-white horse curveting under him, and
surrounded by his gaudily-attired bodyguards and mukuddums, who filled
the air with their adulations, declaring that their Imperial master was
_Ma al-Sama_ (the splendour of Heaven).

Alone he came forward wishing his guest "Peace" in a loud voice, then
adroitly dismounting, embraced the Khalifa.  Abdullah, much pleased at
this mark of respect and homage, greeted him warmly and ordered him to
remount, but the Sultan remained on foot, uttering some rapid
instructions to his emirs, who had also dismounted to stand beside him.

Passing through the archway into the great outer court, the Jihadieh and
the Ansar remaining outside, we all dismounted with the exception of my
royal master and the ladies of his harem, whose camels were led onward
to the inner pavilion that had been set apart for them.  As chief of the
_mulazimin_ I followed my royal master, and as we passed from court to
court, Janissaries, eunuchs, slaves and courtiers made salaam and raised
their voices in shouts of welcome.  The reception was throughout marked
by the most frantic enthusiasm, even the two gigantic <DW64> mutes at the
gate of the Imperial harem--who usually stood with drawn swords
motionless as statues--raising their hands to give peace unto the great
Ruler of the Soudan.

The extensive palace echoed with the sounds of feasting and
merry-making.  The Ansar fraternised with the Janissaries, the Jihadieh
with the Sultan's bodyguards, and the slaves of the Sultan 'Othman with
those of the Ruler of the Soudan.  The Khalifa, as religious head of the
Dervishes and successor of the holy Mahdi, stood upon his "farwa" or
white sheepskin, under the shadow of an ilex-tree in the Court of the
Eunuchs, and conducted prayers in which all joined.  Such was the wild
fanaticism and enthusiasm that had prevailed during the firing of
salutes that several men had dashed up to the very muzzles of the guns
on the walls of the palace and were blown to pieces.  The souls of these
unfortunate people had, the Khalifa assured us, gone straight to
Paradise, there to have their abode among lote-trees free from thorns,
and fruitful trees of mauz, under an extended shade near a flowing water
in gardens of delight, and every word that fell from his lips was
regarded as the utterance of a prophet by the people as they murmured
and told their beads.

After prayers, when the sura entitled "The Inevitable" had been recited,
a great feast was held in the Sultan's sumptuous pavilion.  The Khalifa
was seated on his Imperial host's right hand, and over five hundred
officials and courtiers were present.  The dishes upon which the viands
were served were of beaten gold, the goblets of chased gold studded with
gems, while in the centre of the gilded pavilion a large fountain of
crystal diffused a subtle perfume.  Behind both the Sultan and his guest
stood court tasters, who broke the seal of each dish and ate portions of
the food before it was handed to their masters, lest poison should be
introduced.

After the meal, jugglers entered and performed clever feats of magic,
dancing-girls of every tribe under the Sultan's rule performed in turn
various terpsichorean feats upon the great mat spread in the centre of
the pavilion, and to the loud thumping of derboukas and the plaintive
twanging of curiously-shaped stringed instruments, they danced until
they sank upon their cushions from sheer exhaustion.  These were
followed by snake-charmers, wrestlers of herculean strength and
story-tellers--the entertainment, which was on the most lavish scale,
being continued until, at the going down of the sun, the clear voice of
the _mueddin_ was heard droning the _azan_.

The leisure at my disposal when, after the shadows lengthened and
declined into the glory and vivid charm of the tropical twilight the
Khalifa had retired to his private pavilion, I occupied in exploring
those parts of the palace to which I had free access.  Its vast
proportions and its sumptuous decorations and appointments surprised me.
When, on the previous occasion, I had passed through its great arcaded
courts I was on my way to execution, therefore little opportunity had
been afforded to me of ascertaining the full extent of the buildings;
but now, in the cool evening hour, as, alone and thoughtful, I strolled
under the dark colonnades and across the great open squares with their
tall palms, time-worn fountains and wealth of roses, I noted its
magnificence.

Around me on every side were sounds of revelry--barefooted girls were
trilling and quavering, accompanied by noisy tambourines and serannel
pipes of abominable discordance and the constant beating of derboukas
and the clapping of hands; but holding aloof from my companions, I
wandered from court to court in order to obtain a view of the great
square tower wherein Azala's chamber was situated.  At last, on entering
the court where dwelt the serving-men of the Grand Vizier Mahaza, the
tower rose high in the gathering gloom.  From which of its small,
closely-barred lattices had the city been revealed to me?  Halting in
the garden and looking up at its white walls, I tried in vain to
recognise the window of the apartment where Azala had nursed me back to
consciousness.  Had she, I wondered, lonely and sad, watched from behind
the lattice the festivities in the courts below?  If so, might she not
discern me now, gazing up at her chamber, and by some means or other
contrive a meeting!  Yet to deceive the watchfulness of the Grand Eunuch
and his satellites was impossible.  The square wherein I stood was
almost deserted, for in the court beyond there was feasting and
marissa-drinking among the Janissaries and the Jehadieh, and all had
been attracted thither.  I must have been standing there, oblivious to
my surroundings, a considerable time, for it had grown almost dark, when
a voice behind me brought me back to a knowledge of things about me.

"Why standest thou here aloof from thy comrades, O friend?" the voice
inquired, and on turning quickly I was confronted by a black dwarf,
whose face was the most hideous my eyes had ever witnessed, and his
crooked stature certainly the smallest.  His head, which scarcely
reached to my hip, seemed too large for his hump-backed body, while his
hands and feet were abnormal.  Indeed, his personal appearance was the
reverse of prepossessing, even though he was well dressed in an Arab fez
and a robe of bright blue silk with yellow sash.  His age was difficult
to guess.  He might have been any age between thirty and fifty, but his
thin, squeaking voice suggested senile weakness.  His smile increased
his ugliness as, perpetually, his eyes, like flaming fire-lances, darted
towards me.

"The cool air of this thy garden is refreshing after the heat of the
desert," I replied in Arabic, as he had addressed me in that language.

"But I have been watching thee," the human monstrosity continued,
looking up at me as his mouth elongated, showing an even set of white
teeth.  "While thy fellows have been making merry thou hast been gazing
up at yonder lattice?  Hast thou seen her?"

"Whom dost thou mean?"  I inquired, startled that this ugly imp should
be aware of my quest.

"Affect not ignorance," he said, lowering his voice to almost a whisper.
"Thou hast knowledge as full as myself that high up yonder there
dwelleth the Lalla Azala, the beauteous daughter of his Majesty."

"Well," I said, anxiously, "tell me of her.  I know so little."

"She hath rescued thee from death, and for many moons hath awaited thy
return.  She sendeth thee health and peace," he answered, slowly.

"But how dost thou know my innermost secrets?"  I inquired, regarding
the strange, unearthly-looking figure with some suspicion.

"Fear not betrayal, O friend," he replied.  "I am called Tiamo,
_khaddan_ (servitor) of the Lalla Azala, and thy devoted servant.  By
day and night alike hath her bright eyes sought for sign of thee, for
she ascertained, through one of our spies in Omdurman, of thy promotion
unto the chieftainship of the Khalifa's body-servants, and knew that
thou wouldst accompany him hither."

"Art thou bearer of a message from her?"  I asked, bending towards him
in eagerness.

"Yes.  Hers is indeed a joyless life.  Through the long day hath she
stood at her lattice trying in vain to distinguish thee amid the crowds.
Yet even now she is most probably standing there, and hath recognised
thee.  Yea.  Behold!" he cried, excitedly.  "See!  There is the sign?"

I strained my eyes upward, and could just distinguish in the darkness
something white fluttering from a lattice high up near the summit of the
tower.  It showed for an instant, then disappeared; but it was
sufficient to tell me that I was not forgotten.

"Such means of communication are unsafe," the black dwarf growled, as if
to himself.

"What message bearest thou?"  I asked, turning to him and remarking the
frown of displeasure that had overspread his hideous countenance.

"The One of Beauty hath ordered me to tell thee to wait patiently.  She
is in sore peril, being so zealously watched by eunuchs and harem-guards
that at present she cannot have speech with thee.  Wait, and she will
communicate with thee when it is safe."

"What is the nature of her peril?"  I inquired.

But the dwarf frowned, glanced up at the little lattice to assure
himself that there was no longer a signal there, sighed, and then
replied,--

"I am forbidden to tell thee.  Rest in the knowledge that Tiamo, her
servant and thine, will render thee what assistance thou requirest."

"Is the Lalla so carefully guarded that none can approach her?"  I
asked, as together we moved on into the adjoining court, where the
fighting-men were making merry.

"Alas!" he answered, "she leadeth a lonely life.  Forbidden to enter the
great Courts of Enchantment wherein dwell the wives and houris of the
Sultan amid every luxury, and where every diversion and gaiety is
provided, she is compelled by the Sultan, whom she hath displeased, to
live alone with her companions, slaves and waiting-women, in the rooms
in yonder tower until such time as she shall be given in marriage."

"And shall I see her?"

"She is striving toward that end," the dwarf answered briefly, adding,
"May thine Allah, who hath created seven heavens, and as many different
stories of the earth, keep thee in peace and safety."

Gradually I overcame the distrust with which I at first regarded the
hideous little pagan.  From words he let drop in our subsequent
conversation it was evident he was Azala's trusted servant, and was no
doubt admitted to her apartments because of his personal deformity and
ugliness of countenance.  Until near midnight we squatted together in
his little den in the Court of the Eunuchs, smoked, drank marissa and
chatted; but he was discreet, silent as the Sphinx upon the affairs of
his mistress, and to all my questions made the stereotyped reply, "Wait;
a message will be conveyed unto thee."

Day by day, amid the round of bountiful entertainment, I waited in
patience, glancing ever and anon up at the dwelling-place of the woman
who besought my aid.  Still no message came.  Sometimes after the _isha_
had been prayed I met Tiamo, but to all inquiry he remained practically
dumb.  "The Lalla is still unable to see thee," he always replied, if I
expressed surprise that the promised message had not reached me.  But he
would invariably add a word of hope, expressing regret that
circumstances had conspired against us.

One night, after superintending the duties of the _mulazimin_, I was
crossing the Court of the Grand Vizier when Tiamo hurriedly approached
me.  By his face I could see that something had occurred, and as he
brushed past me in full view of others about him he whispered, "Come to
me one hour after midnight."  Then he walked on without waiting for me
to reply.

Punctually at the hour appointed I entered his little den with beating
heart.  The shutter was closed, therefore we were unobserved.

"Hasten.  There is but brief space," he exclaimed quickly, and pulling
from beneath his divan a blue silk robe and yellow turban similar to
those worn by the eunuchs, he added, "Attire thyself in these.  The
Lalla biddeth thee repair unto her chamber."

I obeyed him without doubt or hesitation.

"Now, come with me," he said, when at last I had buckled on a scimitar
and thrust my feet into slippers of crimson leather, and together we
went out into the open court.

A deep silence rested on the great palace, broken only by the cool
plashing of the fountains in their marble basins.  The heavens, blue as
a sapphire, were profound and mysterious.  Myriads of stars twinkled in
the clear depths of the skies, and all objects were defined with a
wonderful accuracy in the silver moonlight.  The Fada was hushed in
sleep.  On the marble steps of the Bab-Seadet, the gate of the Imperial
harem, the black guards stood on either side, mute, erect, motionless,
their naked swords gleaming in the moonbeams.  How many scenes of
gorgeous festivity had been witnessed beyond that great door of iron!
how many terrible and bloody dramas had been enacted within those grim,
grey walls--dramas of love and hatred, of ambition, disappointment and
revenge, of all the fiercest passions of the human heart!  By night and
day the bewitching pearls of the harem intrigued, schemed and plotted--
themselves, through their Imperial Master, ruling the world outside.
Too often, alas! in the history of the Empire of Sokoto it had occurred
that some dark eye, some bewitching face masking a beautiful slave's
ignorance and cunning, had mastered her irresponsible and irresistible
lord, and been the means of striking off the heads of not only her
rivals within the harem, but those of even the wisest councillors and
the bravest fighting-men outside.

As together we crossed the silent court our echoing footsteps broke the
quiet.  In the gateway of the harem a single light glimmered yellow in
contrast with the white moonbeams; but turning our backs upon it we
passed through one court after another, receiving salutes from the
guards at each gateway.  My disguise as eunuch was complete, and as we
strolled onward without apparent haste my confidence grew until, on
crossing the Court of the Armourers and entering the Court of the Pages,
we discerned a white-robed figure enveloped in a haick and wearing the
ugly baggy trousers which are the out-door garments of Moslem women.

"Behold!"  I exclaimed, with bated breath.  "The Lalla Azala awaiteth
us!"

"No," answered the strange, grotesque being.  "It is her mute slave,
Ayesha.  Place thyself in her hands.  She will conduct thee unto her
mistress."

As we advanced, the woman, whose face I could not distinguish, raised
her hand with commanding gesture, and opening a small door beckoned me
to follow.  This I did, Tiamo remaining behind.  Across many courts and
through several doors, which the woman carefully bolted after us, we
sped until, skirting a pretty garden where pomegranates, almonds,
cypresses and myrtles alternated regularly, and roses in full bloom
embowered the long alley, we came to a door in a wall near the tower.
Having looked well around to see that nobody remarked us, she introduced
me into a passage so small that I was compelled to bend to enter it.
Taking up a lamp that had apparently been placed there in readiness, she
went on before, and I followed through some intricate wanderings; then,
instead of ascending, we began to go down a flight of broken stone
steps.

The air became hot and stifling, and foul odours rose from the place
into which we were descending.  Suddenly a loud, piercing shriek of pain
sounded weirdly, followed by another and yet another.  Then I recognised
the uneven steps as those leading to the foul dungeon with its maniac
prisoners.

The rough, exultant laugh of my enemy, Khazneh, reached my ears from
below, mingled with the imploring cry of some unfortunate wretch who was
undergoing torture.  Next second a suspicion flashed across my mind that
I had been betrayed.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

MYSTERIES OF EBLIS.

My mute conductress halted, listened intently, then placed her finger
significantly on her lips.  As she turned her half-veiled face towards
me I saw in the flickering lamplight that her tattooed forehead was
brown and wizened, that her dark, gleaming eyes were deeply sunken, and
that her hand holding the lamp was thin, brown and bony.

The sounds that alarmed us ceased, and, after waiting a few moments,
scarce daring to breathe, she descended several more stairs to a turn in
the flight, and I found myself before a small, black door, which she
quickly opened and closed again after we had passed through.  Raising
her finger to command silence, she moved along a narrow passage and then
there commenced a toilsome ascent over great, roughly-hewn steps that I
well remembered descending when, in the clutches of my captors, I had
been roughly dragged from the apartment of my enchantress.  With a
nimbleness that showed a familiarity with their unevenness, she mounted,
while I stumbled on behind, nearly coming to grief once or twice, and
being compelled to save myself with my hands.  In my eagerness to meet
the woman who had entranced me, upward I toiled, until my breath came
and went in short, quick gasps, and I was forced to rest a moment, while
she also halted, smiling and turning the lamp towards me.  The
intricacies of these secret passages were puzzling and fatiguing, and I
was anxious to pass into the well-remembered room wherein the Sultan's
daughter had, during so many weary moons, awaited me.

At last we stood before a door secured by a large iron bar, so heavy
that old Ayesha could not draw it from its socket, but quickly I removed
the barrier.  The slave who had acted as my guide opened the door, drew
aside the heavy curtain, and then stepping forward I found myself once
again before the bright-eyed girl who desired my aid.

The place was dimly illumined by great hanging lamps of gold, which shed
a soft and dubious light through cut crystals of green and crimson, and
the air was sweetly scented by the odours of musk and cinnamon rising
from the perfuming-pans.  Azala, pale and beautiful, in her gorgeous
harem dress, with arms, ankles and neck laden with jewels, was reclining
with languorous grace upon her divan of light blue satin fringed with
gold, that was placed in the alcove at the end of the apartment, her
wealth of dark hair straying in profusion over the great, tasselled
cushion of yellow silk.  Her feet, tiny and well-formed, were bare, her
pearl-embroidered slippers having been kicked aside, her pipe stood
near, and upon a coffee-stool of ebony and gold stood a large silver
dish of rare fruit, while kneeling beside her was a black female slave
cooling her slowly with a fan of peacock's feathers.  Unnoticed by her,
I stood for a few seconds, bewitched by her loveliness as she lay there
in graceful abandon, her body saturated with perfumes, her soul filled
with prayers.

"Welcome, O Zafar!  Allah favoureth us!" she cried excitedly, springing
to her feet the instant she recognised me, and, rushing across, grasping
both my hands.  "Thou hast brought happiness with thee."

"At last, Azala," I said, clasping her soft hands tenderly, and gazing
into those brilliant black eyes that seemed to delight in the anxious
curiosity which they aroused in my features.  "Of a verity Allah is
all-powerful and all-merciful.  Our destinies are written in the Book,
and therefore what is there left but to submit?  For many moons have I
striven to seek thee, to redeem the pledge I made unto thee, and now at
last is our meeting accomplished."

Noticing that I looked askance at the presence of Ayesha and the young
negress, she waved her hand to them to retire.  Then, when the curtains
had fallen behind them, she led me slowly to her divan, saying in
serious tones, "Come hither, O Zafar, I would have long and serious
speech with thee."

She having ensconced herself comfortably among her rich, downy cushions,
I seated myself beside her, and as one arm stole around her slim waist,
encircled by its bejewelled girdle, I drew her tenderly towards me with
the intention of imprinting on her white, sequin-covered brow a
passionate caress.  Gently but firmly she disengaged herself from my
embrace.  At first the marvellous beauty of my divinity held me
spell-bound, but fortified by her smile I found courage to pour out a
rhapsody of love and admiration, to which she listened, blushing deeply.

Thus, in the bliss of whispering love, we forgot the heavy sorrows
oppressing us, and put aside all apprehension for the present and all
care for the future.

After a recital of my adventures on being torn from her presence, I told
her how wearily the hours had passed and of my mad desire to be again at
her side, to which she answered,--

"In thee, O Zafar, have I placed my trust.  The sun of the favour of the
One Merciful shineth upon us, therefore let us abandon all fear."

"The firmament possesseth but one sun, and the Empire of Sokoto but one
Princess.  That life, light, joy and prosperity may attend thee is my
most fervent desire."

"May perfect peace attend thee in the rose-grove of thine happiness,"
she answered, turning towards me the most beautiful face that Allah had
ever formed.  "For many moons have I waited at yonder lattice for thy
coming, knowing full well that thou art ready to serve me."

"Ay, ready to serve thee, O Pearl of Sokoto," I said fervently.  "I love
only thee, and am thy slave."

She was toying in hesitation with her broad gold armlet that contained a
talisman.  Spells and charms are believed in as strongly by the ladies
of Kano as those of Omdurman.  The eye and knuckle-bone of a fox hung
upon the neck of a boy gives him courage; its fat rubbed on a woman will
convert her husband's love into indifference.  The dried liver of a cat
is believed to bring back the love of a desired object to the person who
possesses it; the skin of its nose, if worn on the ankle, is a
preventive against murder by poison; while its ashes, if taken
internally, will give all the shrewd, cunning qualities of the cat.  The
one Azala wore was the _kus kaftar_--a portion of the dried skin of a
female leopard one moon old, which always bears the greatest price in
the seraglios, because, if worn on the arm, it is believed to conciliate
the affections of all to its wearer; and as she fingered it she uttered
some kind of incantation that I failed to understand.

Her head had fallen back upon the great gold-tasselled pillow, and with
her white arm thrown out above she looked up smiling into my face,
uttering words of courage, declaring that I was the only man she had
ever asked to perform a service.

"But," she added, suddenly raising herself into a sitting position and
gazing straight into my eyes, "how little--how very little we are
thinking of the deadly peril which threateneth us!  Both of us are
confident in each other's love; but, alas! no safety can there be until
the Great Secret be solved."

"What secret?"  I asked, endeavouring to read her story in her brilliant
eyes.

"The Secret of the Asps," she answered, in a calm, low tone.  "The
secret of the strange, mysterious mark that is upon my breast and thine.
When it is solved, then only may peace be ours."

"Tell me all thou knowest regarding the curious imprint," I said
eagerly, lifting her bejewelled hand and pressing it tenderly.  "Now
that I am thy best beloved, ready to serve thee blindly and implicitly,
surely I may know the secret of things concerning both of us," I argued.

But with a sigh she answered, "No.  Some knowledge hath been conveyed to
me upon condition that I should preserve its secret until such time as
the mystery shall be elucidated.  Suffice it to thee to know that thou
art the person to whom the truth may be revealed if thou hast
forbearance and courage."

"Will any act of mine place about thee the walls of security and the
stillness of peace?"  I inquired, with eagerness.

"Already have I told thee that, if thou wilt, thou canst save me."

"From what destiny?"

"From one unknown, yet horrible--undecided, yet terrible," she answered,
hoarsely.

"Then I am thine to command, O Azala," I answered.  "In Zafar thou hast
a servant who will serve thee with faith and fearlessness, unto even the
uttermost ends of the earth."

"When the dawn cometh we shall be compelled to part, for full well thou
knowest what fate awaiteth thee if thou wert discovered by Khazneh or
his brutal myrmidons," she said, slowly.  "But ere we bid each other
farewell we have much to arrange, for upon the success of our plans
dependeth whether our hands again clasp in welcome, or our lips meet in
salutation.  In receiving thee here I have run many risks in common with
thee.  If our enemies conveyed word unto the Sultan, assuredly would the
vials of his wrath be poured out upon me, and he would execute his
threat of giving me in marriage to some common soldier of the
palace-guard."

"Has his Majesty given utterance to such a threat?"

"Yea.  Because I fell into the displeasure of Khadidja, the scheming
slave who now ruleth the harem as his chief wife, I became banished from
the Courts of Enchantment.  Indeed, only by the intercession of mine own
mother, who hath long ago been deposed from her position of Sultana, and
is now a mere slave, compelled to wash the feet of many who once served
her, was I spared the indignity of being cast out from the palace and
given as drudge to one of the horsemen who guard the Kofa-n-Kura.
Indeed, the hand of misfortune hath fallen heavily upon me," and she
drew a long sigh, as in deep thought her pointed chin rested in her
dainty palm.

"What was the nature of thine offence?"  I inquired, interested.

"Involuntarily I acted as eaves-dropper.  One morning, lying in my
hammock in a corner of the harem-garden where the rose-bushes grow
thickly, I suddenly heard voices beyond.  One I recognised as that of
Khadidja, and the two others those of Shekerleb and Leilah, Arab slaves.
Listening, I heard them discuss in detail an ingenious plot they had
arranged to poison my mother, myself and three others, for Khadidja
expressed herself determined to be supreme mistress of the seraglio.
Appalled by this bold scheme of wholesale revenge, I lay silent, scarce
daring to breathe, but when they had left I went straightway to the
Sultan and in my mother's presence explained all to him.  The woman
Khadidja was brought before him, but denied the accusation, swore on the
Koran that she had not walked into the garden that morning, and brought
Shekerleb and Leilah to corroborate her false statement.  My father was
convinced of her innocence, and believed also her allegation that a plot
hatched by my mother was on foot to encompass her death.  He grew angry,
degraded my unfortunate mother from her position of Sultana to the
meanest slavery, and subsequently banished me to the loneliness of this
high abode."

"Of a verity thy lot, O beloved, hath been an unhappy one, but let us
now look forward to the dawn of a joyous day, to a noonday of
prosperity, and to a sunset of peace.  Azala, I love thee," and as our
lips met for the first time in a hot, passionate kiss, her bare, scented
chest, with its profusion of jewels, rose and fell with an emotion she
was unable to suppress.

In the dead, unbroken silence that followed, the distant roll of a drum,
and the cry of the sentinels on the watch-towers at the city gates came
up through the silk-curtained lattice, announcing that another hour had
passed.

"Harken," she cried quickly, springing to her feet, clutching me by the
arm, and looking earnestly into my face.  "We have but brief space
wherein to plan our emancipation.  Fearest thou to investigate the
mysteries of Eblis, or to serve his handmaiden?"

"Fear dwelleth not in mine heart when the Pearl of Sokoto is nigh," I
answered gallantly, bending to kiss her hand.

"Even though thy Pearl may be daughter of the Evil One, and able to
accomplish things superhuman?" she asked, in a strange, harsh voice.

"He who believeth in the one Allah and in his Prophet, holdeth in his
hand a two-edged sword against the Ghul (Devil) and all the evil spirits
of Al-Hawiyat," I replied, surprised at this latter speech, and at the
strange, haggard look that had suddenly overspread her beautiful
countenance.  "At the moment before our enemy Khazneh laid hands upon
me, thou didst promise to reveal unto me some hidden marvel, the nature
of which thou wouldst not disclose.  For that purpose have I come
hither, and now await the fulfilment of thy promise."

Grasping my right wrist and looking into my face with eyes that seemed
to emit fire, so strangely brilliant were they, she said,--

"Hast thou no fear of the future, or of the power of the Evil Eye?"

"The curse of Eblis himself shall not deter me from seeking to fathom
the Mystery of the Asps.  A voice that is dead hath commanded me, and I
shall obey, even though I am compelled to engage Azrael in single
combat.  There is some strange secret in the mystic links that bind our
existence--a secret I intend to discover at any hazard."

"Bravely spoken, O Zafar," she answered, her cheeks flushing with
excitement and her sequins tinkling musically as she moved.  "Thine
heart is true as thy trusty Masser blade.  May it be the will of Allah,
who made the earth for a carpet, that thy courage never fail thee in
thine attempt to rescue me from the plots that encompass me, and to
penetrate the veil that hath so long hidden the truth of the entwined
serpents."  She raised her face with a fond, wistful look.

Our lips met, and with her arms about my neck she clung to me,
trembling, as if in fear.  Then, fortifying herself for an effort, she
slowly withdrew from my embrace, and led me across to the
heavily-curtained door of the inner chamber, saying,--

"Thou hast declared thyself fearless and undaunted in the coming fight
to possess the secret which none may know, even though it is imperative
that thou shouldst pass barriers hitherto considered by all
insurmountable.  Truly thou art worthy a woman's love."

"Thou knowest how the unquenchable fire of love burneth within me, O
light of mine eyes," I answered, in fervent adoration.  "With thee as
the sun of my firmament, and with a stout heart within me, I am not
afraid."

For answer she turned, and with her hand upon the curtain, said,--

"Come hither.  As a preliminary to thine encounter with the Invisible, I
will reveal unto thee an undreamed of marvel that will cause thine eyes
to open wide in wonderment, and thine heart to cease its beating.  Fear
abideth not within thee.  Enter therefore this portal whereat Malec,
powerful yet invisible, mounteth guard, and learn the means by which the
Mystery of the Asps may be unravelled."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE PRISM OF DESTINY.

With sudden movement she drew aside the silken curtain, and we stepped
into a small, dark, stone chamber, almost a cell.  Then with a word of
warning she guided my footsteps to a narrow flight of stairs, which she
descended with caution, her golden anklets jingling as she went.  As I
followed, there clung about her soft draperies those sweet perfumes of
the harem, the fragrance of which had intoxicated me.

Again she flung back a second heavy curtain that barred a horse-shoe
arch at the foot of the stairs, when instantly my eyes were blinded by a
flood of brilliant light.  Under my feet I felt a carpet so thick that
my slipper sank deep into it, and gradually as my dazzled vision grew
accustomed to the unusual glare, I realised that I was in a chamber
about the size of the one we had just quitted, but decorated entirely in
bright green, the hue of which, reflected into Azala's anxious
countenance, gave her a complexion pallid and ghastly.  The walls and
ceiling were painted green, with good counsels from the Koran in long,
lean letters of darker shade, the divans and cushions were of green
silk, the stools of malachite, the large alcoves at the end fashioned
from dark green marble, beautifully carved, while a malachite table,
shaped like a crescent, near the end of the apartment, was studded with
huge green crystals that glittered in the light like emeralds.  The
effect was weird and startling, for the bright white light came from a
thousand lamps cunningly arranged overhead, while screens of glass, the
colour of the deep sea, shot from the walls slanting beams of brilliant
green.

The place was luxurious, yet, as I gazed around it, I could not repress
a shudder.

"Go!  Take thine ease upon yonder divan," Azala said in a strange voice,
pointing to the great couch within the alcove, and as I obeyed her, she
took from her arm the gold band with its talisman of leopard's skin and
handed it to me.  Apparently she dare not wear it there.

Standing in the centre of the curious chamber, she clapped her hands
loudly, and instantly a curtain opposite was drawn aside, and there
appeared the ugly, hunchbacked form of the grinning dwarf, Tiamo,
followed by two female Arab slaves handsomely dressed in tissue of white
and gold, and wearing long strings of talismans, and embroidered bags
containing mysterious powders, cabalistic figures, and prayers in the
language of Maghrib.

The trio, advancing, knelt before their mistress, and with a murmured
blessing kissed her feet, prostrating themselves before her.

"Rise," she commanded, almost breathless with excitement.  "Know ye that
in one brief hour the dawn will show in the direction of the holy city.
Speed therefore on the wings of haste and execute my will."

"We, thy slaves, obey thee, O Mistress," they answered with one accord,
and, rising, disappeared for a few moments.  The two girls presently
came forth bearing between them a huge golden bowl full of some sweet
yet pungent perfume, which they set on a tripod upon the table of green
malachite while Tiamo produced a small golden brazier which he lit and
placed beneath the bowl.  Then the girls produced green-painted
derboukas, and seating themselves upon the mats at the horns of the
crescent-shaped table, commenced a monotonous thumping on their drums,
while the hideous dwarf, grinning from ear to ear, beat a rapid tattoo
upon a double tambourine or _kalango_, all three chanting a
weirdly-intoned accompaniment.

The curious spectacle held me on the tiptoe of expectation, for while
the music was continued with a regularity that quickly became
monotonous, Azala stood with her bejewelled hands outstretched over the
bowl, repeating some words in the Hausa tongue which I could not
understand.  Her face had now grown deathly pale; surrounding her eyes
were large, dark rings that betrayed the terrible anxiety at her heart.
As the golden bowl became heated, the colourless liquid perfume gave off
a vapour so pungent that it caused water to well in my eyes and my head
to swim as if I had drunk marissa too freely.  I was afraid to rise to
my feet lest I should stagger and fall, so upon the edge of the divan I
sat entranced and fascinated.  The brighter the brazier grew the more
dimly burned the lamps above until the brilliant light vanished and we
remained in a semi-darkness, made brighter now and then by the uncertain
flicker of the fire.  Emerald crystals everywhere in ceiling and walls
flashed like jewels with a bright green brilliance each time the flames
shot up, producing a weird and dazzling effect, while in the shadow
Azala prostrated herself, uttering an appeal to some power unseen.

Eagerly I watched the next development of this remarkable experiment.
Suddenly the woman I loved struggled to her feet and with her right
forefinger touched the edge of the steaming bowl.  As she did this, a
bright flash, blinding as lightning, shot through the chamber, causing
the music to cease and the slaves, awe-stricken, to bow their heads
until their brows touched the carpet.

"Malec, iron-hearted Janitor of Hell, hath been overthrown!" they
exclaimed, in voices hushed in fear.

Again was the flash repeated as Azala's hand touched the edge of the
bowl of repousse gold, and the slaves gasped in Arabic,--

"Lo! the Guardian of Al-Hawiyat is vanquished by the sword of Eblis!"

Then, a third time my eyes became dazzled by the sudden brilliance which
apparently proceeded from the great basin of perfume, and the slaves
lifted their voices, saying,--

"The Pillars of Hell have indeed fallen!--the sword of Eblis is
sheathed, and Malec, trembling, hath hidden his dog's face before the
incomparable beauty of her Highness, the Lalla Azala!"

Tiamo, whom Azala addressed as El-Sadic (the Sincere), rose at the
bidding of his mistress.  With her hand pressed to her heart, as if to
stay its wild beating, she stood close to me with her face upturned and
her lips moving as if invoking the aid of some unseen power.

"Behold!" she cried, with a suddenness that caused me to start.
"Behold, the Prism of Destiny!"  And as the words fell from her white,
trembling lips, there was a wild noise like the rushing of great waters,
and a circular portion of the wall of the chamber directly opposite
appeared to fall asunder, disclosing a huge gold ring, within which,
placed perpendicularly, was a large crystal prism, the length of a man's
body, which, as it revolved in its setting, showed all the gorgeous hues
of the spectrum with a rapidity that was bewildering.

Azala, standing motionless, gazed at it, while the slaves remained
kneeling with eyes riveted upon it in fear and expectation.  Propelled
by some unseen agency, it revolved noiselessly within its golden circle,
emitting shafts of multi- light that illumined parts of the
strange chamber, leaving the remainder in deepest shadow.  Gradually,
however, the speed with which the great crystal turned slackened, and
Azala, advancing towards me, placed her hand lightly upon my shoulder,
exclaiming in a low, intense tone,--

"Lo! that which we sought is revealed!  Behold! before us is the
forbidden Prism of Destiny, into which none may gaze without incurring
the displeasure of the One Merciful, and the curse of Eblis the
Terrible."

The lights flashing full upon my face seemed to enthral my senses, for
her words sounded distant, discordant and indistinct.  But a sudden
exclamation of hers aroused me.

"See!" she cried, pointing to the three-sided crystal.  "Its motion
steadies!  It mirrors life in its wondrous depths, but those who dare
discern their future ofttimes pay the penalty of their folly by being
struck with blindness, and ignominy attendeth them.  Allah, though
merciful, is just, and it is written in the Book of Everlasting Will
that we may know nought of the hereafter, save what holy writ teacheth
us."

"But how is the extraordinary effect produced?"  I asked, marvelling
greatly at the curious chimera, for though it appeared but a phantom,
the prism actually revolved, and the illusion could not be caused by
reflected light, as I at first had been inclined to believe.

"By offering sacrifice to Eblis," she answered, looking into my eyes, an
intoxicating gaze of promise, triumph, tenderness.  On her lips dawned a
smile which was pledge of the future--the future all light, all hope,
all love.  Then, pointing to the boiling bowl, she said, "He giveth
sight of it to those of his slaves and handmaidens who invoke his aid."

"Art thou actually one of his handmaidens?"  I gasped in fear, amazed to
observe that her beauty seemed to gradually fade, leaving her face
yellow, care-lined and withered.

"I am," she answered in a deep, discordant voice.  "Once before, after
thou wert taken from me, the Prism of Destiny made its revelation.  The
temptation to gaze therein proved too great, and, alas!  I fell."

"What didst thou discern?"  I eagerly inquired, my eyes still fixed in
fascination upon the mysterious, rotating crystal, my senses gradually
becoming more than ever confused.

"I pierced the impenetrable veil of futurity."

"And what manner of things were revealed?"

"I beheld many marvels," she answered, in a slow, impressive voice.
"Marvels that thou, too, canst behold if thou darest brave the wrath."

She spoke so earnestly, fixing her searching eyes upon me, that I felt
my courage failing.  The constant flashing of brilliant colours in my
eyes seemed to unnerve me, throwing me into a kind of helpless stupor,
in which my senses became frozen by the ghastly mysteries practised
before me.  It was this feeling of helplessness that caused my heart to
sink.

"Didst thou not declare thou wouldst engage Malec in single combat in
thine endeavour to fathom the Secret of the Asps?" she observed, half
reproachfully.  "Yet thine hand quivereth like the aspen, and thou
carest not to seek the displeasure consequent upon such an action."

Erect, almost statuesque, she stood before me, pale and of incomparable
beauty, holding my sun-browned hand in hers.

"Hearken, O Azala," I cried, struggling with difficulty to my feet, and
passing my hand across my aching brow to steady the balance of my brain.
"No man hath yet accused Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz of cowardice.  If, in order to
seek the key to the mystery of the strange marks we both bear, it is
imperative that I should gaze into yonder crystal, then I fear nought."

"It is imperative," she stammered.  "If it were not, I, of all persons,
would not endeavour to induce thee to invoke the curse upon thyself."

"Then let me gaze," I said, and with uneven steps went forward, my hand
in hers, to where the great prism had so miraculously appeared.  It was
moving very slowly, the only light in the chamber being that emitted
from its triangular surfaces, and as I halted before it my head reeled
with a strange sensation of dizziness I had never before experienced.

Aloud the prostrate slaves cried,--

"O Malec, Angel of Terror, vanquished by a woman's beauty, let the eyes
of this friend of thy conqueror witness the sight which is forbidden, so
that he may drink of the fountain of truth, and repose in the radiance
of her countenance."  Tiamo was thumping his _kalango_ and grinning
hideously.

Bewildered, and only half-conscious of my surroundings, I felt Azala
dragging me forward.  Though the objects swam around me and I had a
curious sensation as if I were treading on air, I advanced to within an
arm's length of the slowly-moving prism.  My eyes were cast down to the
green carpet, for in the sudden terror that had seized me I feared to
look.

"Speak!" cried Azala, in a voice that seemed afar off.  "What beholdest
thou?"

But no answer passed my lips.

"Gaze long and earnestly, O Zafar, so that the image of things revealed
may be graven upon the tablets of thy memory for use for our well-being
hereafter," she urged in a voice sounding like the distant cry of a
night-bird.

The thought of her peril flashed in an instant across my unbalanced
mind.  Her appeal, I remembered, was for our mutual benefit, in order
that I should be enabled to elucidate the Mystery of the Asps and bring
peace upon her.  What, I wondered, was the nature of this strange
revelation which she herself had already witnessed.

Ashamed at this terror that branded me as coward, and determined to
strive towards the solution of the remarkable mystery that bound me in a
bond of love to the beautiful daughter of the Sultan, I held my breath
and slowly raised my head.

Next second my heart stood still as, fascinated in amazement and aghast
in horror, I gazed deep into the prism's crystal depths, where an
omination, wondrous and entrancing, met my eyes.

There was indeed revealed unto me a marvel of which I had not dreamed.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

A SIGN AFAR.

The movement of the huge crystal was so slow as to be almost
imperceptible, but the kaleidoscope of life and movement it presented
held me spell-bound.

By this strange combination of dactyliomancy with christallomantia, an
effect was produced so amazing and unaccountable that my wondering
vision became riveted upon it, as gradually my mind cleared of the
chaotic impression it had received.

The reflecting surfaces, turned at various angles to my line of sight,
presented in their unsullied transparency a specular inversion of
figures and scenes that, ere they took clearly-delineated shape,
dissolved and faded, to be succeeded by others of a totally different
character.  Objects and persons with whom I seemed to have been familiar
in my youth in the far-off Aures passed before my gaze in bewildering
confusion.  Ere I could recognise them, however, they disappeared,
phantom-like, giving place to a series of pictures of the terrors of
battle, so vividly portrayed that they held me overawed.  The first
showed a beautiful court, evidently the private pavilion of some
potentate, with cool arcades, plashing fountains, tall palms and
trailing vines.  But the place had been assaulted and ignominiously
fallen.  The courts sacred to the women were full of armed, dark-skinned
men, who, with brutal ruthlessness, were tearing from the "pearls of the
harem" their jewels, and with wanton cruelty massacring them even as I
gazed.  Over the pavements of polished jasper, blood flowed, trickling
into the great basin of the fountain, and as one after another the
houris fell and died, a fierce red light shone in the sky, showing that
the barbarous conquerors, intoxicated with blood and loot, had fired the
palace.  Then in the dense smoke that curled from out the arcades as
they were enveloped and destroyed, the scene of merciless slaughter and
ruthless destruction was lost, and there gradually evolved scenes of
burning desert, of welcome oases, of great and wonderful cities, all of
which grew slowly and were quickly lost.  Just at that moment, however,
a sound behind me caused me to start, and turning, I saw that the dwarf,
who had risen noiselessly, had witnessed the magic pictures as well as
ourselves.

On seeing that his inquisitiveness had been detected, he turned quickly,
rejoined his fellow-slaves, and fell again upon his knees, raising his
voice in the strange incantation the girls continued to repeat.
Apparently Azala did not notice him; too engrossed was she in the
revelations of the prism, for when I again gazed into the crystal,
objects and persons were passing in rapid confusion, and she was vainly
endeavouring to decipher their mysterious import.

For a second we saw the face of a beautiful woman with hair like golden
sheen, and were both amazed to discover that in place of rows of sequins
she wore a single ornament suspended upon her white, unfurrowed brow.
Apparently it was carved from a single diamond of enormous size and
exceeding lustre, but its shape puzzled us; it was fashioned to
represent a curious device of arrow-heads.  Quickly the
mysteriously-beautiful face dissolved, and from its remains there came
in rapid succession pictures of a mighty city, of a great plain, of
running water, of a seething populace, and of a cool garden rich in
flowers and fruit.  Then there appeared a vision so ghastly and gruesome
that I drew back in horror.

It represented a pavement of polished marble, whereon a woman was
stretched dead, mutilated by the keen scimitar of a black eunuch of
giant stature, who with his foot upon the lifeless body gazed down,
grinning with satisfaction at his own brutality.

The face of the man startled me.  The hideous countenance, on which
revenge was so strongly depicted, was that of our mutual enemy, Khazneh,
Chief of the Black Eunuchs of his Imperial Majesty!

"Enough!" cried Azala, horrified at what seemed a revolting augury of
her own end.  "See! the brute hath struck off her head!"  And
shuddering, she gazed around the apartment with a look of abject terror,
her haggard features in that moment becoming paler and more drawn.

"Heed it not as ill-potent," I said, smoothing her hair tenderly, and
endeavouring to remove from her mind the horrifying thought that she
might fall under the _doka_ of the Grand Eunuch.  "The mystic Prism of
Destiny showeth much that is grim, distorted and fantastic.  The
eventuality is only resolved so that we may arm ourselves against the
Destroyer."

But, apprehensive of her fate, she shook her head sorrowfully, saying in
low, harsh tones, "When on the previous occasion I gazed into the prism
a similar scene was conjured up before me, only the woman was then at
his knees imploring mercy, while he, with _doka_ uplifted, laughed her
to scorn.  Now, see the end!  Her head hath fallen!"

Again I turned to ascertain what next might be shown in the revolving
crystal, the mystery of which was ever-increasing, but it had ceased to
move.  Eagerly I bent, gazing into its green, transparent depths in
order to discover whether the strange scenes were mere optical
illusions.  Only for a second was I permitted to gaze, but in that brief
moment suspicion seized me that I had been imposed upon.  Whether Azala
actually believed that forecasts of the future could be witnessed in the
crystal, or whether she was only striving to impress me by regaling me
with an exhibition of the mystical, in which all women of her race
delight, I know not; but I was sceptical and became convinced that the
pictures had been conjured up by mechanical contrivance, and that the
illusions--probably the stock-in-trade of some court necromancer--were
performed by ingenious but hidden paintings or tableaux.

By this discovery I was much perturbed, for it was remarkable that, on
witnessing the scenes, Azala's surprise and agitation were natural and
unfeigned, and this act led me to the conclusion that, believing in
spells and amulets, she was also ready to place faith in any
extraordinary marvel that she might gaze upon.

It was common knowledge, I remembered, that the women of Sokoto were
extremely superstitious, believing as implicitly in the sayings of their
astrologers as we, of the North, believe in the efficacy of
representations of the hand of Fathma of Algiers nailed over our doors
to avert the Evil Eye.  Was this chamber the sanctum of some seer whose
duty it was to forecast the good or evil fortune of the doves of the
harem?

I turned, and was about to address to her some question directed towards
fathoming the secrets of this cunningly-contrived instrument of
psychomancy, when suddenly she drew aside the curtain from a lattice
near, uttering an exclamation of mingled surprise and dismay.

Rushing towards her, I looked out, and the sight riveted my gaze in
abject amazement.

The dawn had already spread with delicate tints of pink and rose, but in
the northern sky a strange, inverted picture was presented with such
clearness and vividness of outline that every detail is still as fresh
in my mind as it was at the moment I witnessed it.

The picture was produced not by the chicanery of any necromancer, but by
Nature herself.  It was that strange, puzzling illusion--the mirage.  So
weird and wonderful was it that, even though I had seen many similar
pictures in the heavens during my journeys over the plains, I gave an
involuntary exclamation of amazement.

As we gazed away beyond the city, across the sandy desert, the aerial
tableaux mirrored above appeared to be the reflection of a flat, black
rock of colossal dimensions, rising high and inaccessible like a wall,
and descending sheer into dark, deep water, upon the surface of which
its gloomy image was reflected as in a mirror.  The spot, weird and
lonely, was devoid of every vestige of herbage or any living thing, and
as I looked upon it in wonderment, impressed by its weirdness, Azala
suddenly grasped my arm, exclaiming excitedly,--

"Behold! that black pool!  See, it is the Lake of the Accursed!  Many
times hath its image been revealed unto us in the sky.  Remark it
carefully, for of a verity am I convinced that in this vision we have a
key to the Secret.  At that spot must thou search if thou desirest to
fathom the mystery."

My eyes took in every detail of the ineffably dismal picture, the great,
inhospitable face of dark granite seemingly so smooth that an eagle
could scarce obtain a foothold, its rugged summit with one pointed crag,
like a man's forefinger, pointing higher than the rest towards the dark,
lowering clouds that seemed to hang about it, and the Stygian blackness
of the stagnant water at its gigantic base.  But its sight told me
nothing, for it was the reflected image of a scene I had never before
gazed upon, a scene so unutterably dismal and dispiriting that I doubted
whether any clue could there be found.

Cloud-pictures are of such frequent occurrence at Kano that it is known
among the desert tribes as "The City of the Mirage."

For a few moments the sky remained the mirror of this mystic picture;
then gradually it faded into air.  When it had entirely disappeared,
Azala, uttering no word, drew the curtain again before the lattice as at
the same instant Tiamo and the two slaves rose, bowing before their
mistress.  With quick, impatient gesture she motioned to them to leave,
and I, marvelling greatly at the strange religio-magic and extraordinary
mirage I had witnessed, followed her through the open curtain and up the
stairs back to her own sweetly perfumed apartment.

But in that moment there occurred to me the solemn declaration I had so
often heard in the mosque: "Whoso taketh Eblis for his patron beside
Allah, shall surely perish with a manifest destruction."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

TALES OF THE STORY-TELLERS.

In her own chamber, Azala, tottering towards her divan, sank upon it
exhausted, while I, grasping her hand, stood by in rigid silence, not
daring to speak.

As upon her cushion she was lying, one arm beneath her head, I watched
the flush of health mount to her countenance, and her beauty gradually
return.  She opened her eyes, and as she gazed into mine long and
steadily, I told myself that she was nothing like any other daughter of
man.  Those glorious orbs under their great curved brows shone upon me
like suns under triumphal arches.  The idea of holding her in my arms
brought me a fury of rapture; she held me bound by an unseen chain.  It
seemed as though she had become my very soul, and yet for all that there
flowed between us the invisible waves of an ocean without bounds.  She,
the daughter of the Sultan, was remote and inaccessible.  The splendour
of her beauty diffused around her a nebula of light, and I found myself
believing at moments that she was not before me--that she did not really
exist--that it was all a dream.

She moved, the diamonds on her heaving bosom shining resplendently, and
raising herself slowly to a sitting posture, asked in a low, intense
tone,--

"Now that thou hast gazed into the Prism of Destiny and witnessed the
sign in the heavens, fearest thou to penetrate further the veil of evil
that surroundeth us?"

"Already have I spoken, O Pearl among Women.  I fear not to speak the
truth," I answered, yet half inclined to scoff at the pictures shown in
the prism.  Yet the distinctness of the gloomy mirage had impressed me,
and I refrained from saying anything to give her pain.

"Then thou must of necessity seek the spot, the image of which hath been
revealed," she said, and motioning me to a cushion near her, added,
"Take thine ease for short space, and lend me thine ear."

Drawing the cushion closer to her, I seated myself, my hand still
clasping hers; then, with a slight sigh, she gazed into my face with a
look of earnest passion and continued,--

"The great rock and the black water in combination answereth with
exactness to the description of the Lake of the Accursed which none has
found, but which existeth in the legends of our people, and hath long
been discussed by our wise men.  It is said that the Rock of the Great
Sin, rising sheer and inaccessible from the unfathomable waters, formeth
the gate of the Land of the No Return, the unknown country which none
can enter nor leave, and upon which human eyes have never gazed.  Our
story-tellers oft repeat the popular belief that the Lake of the
Accursed hideth an unknown, but amazing wonder, although for centuries
our armies and our caravans have travelled far and wide over the face of
the earth, yet none has discovered it.  By the fact of its image being
thrice revealed in the sky, I am convinced that if its whereabouts could
be discovered, we should find that which we seek."

"But apparently it existeth only in the sayings of thy wise men," I
observed, dubiously.

"The descriptions of it all agree, even though the versions, which the
story-tellers relate as to its origin, may differ," she answered, her
eyes appearing to penetrate far away in the distance beyond terrestrial
space.  "Those of the tribe of Zamfara assert that ages ago, in the face
of the Rock of the Great Sin, there was a large and deep cavern whence
issued a black and unwholesome vapour, and men feared to approach
because it was the gate of the Land of the No Return.  It was the
continual resort of a huge serpent, whose bite was fatal, who zealously
guarded the gloomy portals of the forbidden land, and who swallowed his
victims; but once a man of lion courage dared to escape while the
serpent slept, and successfully got away, while, in the heat of noon,
the Great Devourer closed his eyes.  The serpent, however, awoke in time
to see the adventurer flying across the desert, but too late to kill
him.  Then, in a paroxysm of rage that mortal man should have eluded his
vigilance, he smote the rock thrice with his tail, when, with a noise
like thunder, the cavern closed, and about it was formed the deep, black
pool known as the Lake of the Accursed, which has ever since rendered it
unapproachable.  Such is the story most popular among our people,
although there are some others, notably that of the Kanouri, who declare
that, far back in the dim ages, before the days of the Prophet, a great
host of one of the Pagan conquerors of Ethiopia was on its way to
penetrate into an unknown region where the presence of man had already
been forbidden by the gods.  When, having crossed the desert many days,
they were at last about to enter the fruitful land to despoil it, the
earth suddenly opened and devoured them, leaving in their place the
Accursed Lake with the great rock as a terrible warning to future
generations who might be seized with a desire to gain knowledge and
riches withheld from them."

"Do all the versions agree that the Rock of the Great Sin is the gate of
a region unknown?"  I asked, intensely interested in these quaint
beliefs of the storytellers.

"Yes.  In the harem ofttimes have I heard slaves of the tribes of Zara,
Boulgouda and of Digguera each relate their version, and all coincide
that the rock was at one period a gate which gave entrance to a
forbidden land.  Some say there lieth behind the rock Al-Hotama, [an
apartment in hell, so called because it will break into pieces whatever
is thrown into it], where the kindled fire of Allah mounteth above the
hearts of those cast therein, the dreaded place which the Koran telleth
us is as an arched vault on columns of vast extent wherein the dwellers
have garments of fire fitted unto them.  Others believe that beyond the
Lake of the Accursed there lieth the gardens into which Allah
introduceth those who believe and act righteously, the Land of Paradise
through which rivers flow, where the great lote-tree flourisheth, and
where the dwellers are adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls, and
their vestures are of silk.  All are in accord that the land beyond is
the Land of the No Return."

"And thou desireth me to set forth in search of this legendary spot
which no man hath yet discovered?"  I said.

"To elucidate the mystery of the marks we bear will be to thine own
benefit, as well as to mine," she answered, gazing into my eyes with a
look of affection.  "Thou, an Arab by birth but a Dervish by compulsion,
art the enemy of my race, and peradventure had thy companions not been
slaughtered by my guards thine hosts would have ere this occupied Kano
and looted this our palace.  Yet we love each other, though I am a
disgraced outcast from the harem, in peril of my life--"

"Why art thou in such deadly peril?  Thou has not explained to me," I
interrupted.

"My death or marriage would secure the position of Khadidja, my mother's
rival, as Sultana.  Therefore there are intrigues on foot to take my
life by violent but secret means."

"Or peradventure thy marriage?"  I suggested.

"Alas!" she said quickly, smiling with sadness.  "Didst thou not witness
in the prism the decree of Fate?  Sooner or later I shall fall beneath
the sword of my secret enemy."

"Nay, nay," I said, entwining my arm about her white neck and drawing
her towards me.  "Anticipate not foul assassination, but seek Allah's
aid, and bear courage while I strive."

"I trust thee, Zafar," she murmured, in a soft voice, with tears in her
eyes.  "I trust in thee to extricate me from the perils that surround me
like a cloud on every side."

"Lovest thou me fondly enough to marry?"  I asked in intense
earnestness, holding both her hands and looking into her clear, bright
orbs.

"Of a verity I do," she answered, blushing.

"Then how can we wed?"  I asked.  "I am, alas! but poor, and to ask of
the Sultan for thee would only be the smiting off of mine own head, for
already hath he forbidden me to set foot within his Empire on pain of
instant death."

"It is but little I know concerning the Mystery of the Asps, beyond the
legend that the key to the secret lieth hidden at the Rock of the Great
Sin, the whereabouts of which no man knoweth; nevertheless, I am
convinced that if thou canst penetrate its true meaning thou wilt not
find the Sultan implacable."

"His Majesty feareth the sight of the mark upon me," I said,
reflectively.  "Knowest thou the reason?"  She hesitated for a few
moments, as if reluctant to explain, then replied,--

"I know not."

"Dost thou promise to wed me if I am successful in my search after the
truth?"  I asked, pressing her tiny hand in mine.

"Zafar," she answered, in a low tone, full of tenderness, as she clung
to me, "I love no other man but thee.  My father's hatred standeth
between us, therefore we must wait, and if in the meantime thine efforts
to obtain knowledge of the meaning of the marks upon our breasts are
successful, then most assuredly will the Sultan give me unto thee in
marriage and rejoice thee with abundant favours."

Raising my right hand, I answered, "It is written upon the stone that
Allah is the living one.  If a man prove obstinate, woe unto him.  I
swear upon our Book of Everlasting Will to strive while I have breath
towards the elucidation of the mystery."

Tightening her grasp upon my hand with her bejewelled fingers, she said,
"I also take oath that during thine absence no man shall enter my
presence.  Whithersoever thou goest there shall also accompany thee my
blessing, which shall be as a torch in the darkness of night, and thy
guide in the brightness of day.  Strive on with fearless determination;
strive on, ever remembering that one woman's life is at stake, and that
that woman is Azala, thy Beloved.  Peace be upon thee."

"By mine eyes I am thy slave," I said.  "My ear is in thine hand;
whatever thou ordainest I am bound to obey without doubt or hesitation.
No other word need be said.  I will go wherever thou commandest, were it
even to fetch Malec himself from the innermost chambers of the world
beneath."

"Be it so," she exclaimed, smiling, fingering her necklet of charms.
"When thou hast discovered that which thou seekest, then, misfortune
will take its leave, and a new chapter in the book of thy life will
open.  Of a verity thy thirst shall be slaked by cooling draughts of the
waters of Zemzem, thou shalt become clothed in the burnouse of honour,
armed with the hand of power, and mounted on the steed of splendour."

"And become the husband of the Pearl of Sokoto," I added, caressing her
with passionate fondness in the ecstasy of love.

She laughed, glancing at me with roguish raillery, her finger at her
lips.  Then she answered, "That is the summit of earthly happiness
towards which I am striving."  But her scented bosom rose and fell in a
long sigh as she added: "Without thee the days are dull and dreary, and
the nights interminable.  From my lattice I gaze upon the palace courts
and the great city full of life and movement, in which I am not
permitted to participate, and think of thy freedom; for though daughter
of the Sultan, I am as much a prisoner as any unfortunate wretch in the
dungeons deep below.  Thou art free, free to travel over the deserts and
the mountains in search of a key to the strange enigma; free to strive
towards my rescue and the fulfilment of my heart's desire; free to gain
that knowledge which, peradventure, may make thee honoured and esteemed
among men.  Here will I await thy coming, and each day while thou art
absent, at the going down of the sun will I pray unto Allah, who setteth
his sign in the heavens, to shield thee with his cloak, and place in
thine hands the two-edged sword of conquest."

"Assuredly will I speed on the wings of haste to do thy bidding," I
answered, looking deep into the depths of her wonderful eyes as I knelt
beside her with one arm around her neck and her fair head pillowed upon
my breast.  "At the _maghrib_ each day will I think of thee, and whether
in the desert or the forest, in the oasis or the city, I will send unto
thee a message of love and peace upon the sunset zephyr."

"My lattice shall be opened always at the call of the _mueddin_," she
said, "and thy words of comfort will be borne in unto me by the desert
wind.  I shall know that, wherever thou art, thou thinkest at that hour
of me, and we will thus exchange mute, invisible confidences in each
other's love."

I looked at her a moment, dazed, then, rising slowly to my feet, seized
her hands, asking, "When shall I set forth?"

"Thy journey must be prosecuted with all dispatch.  Tarry not, or
misfortune may overtake us both," she answered, raising herself, and
sitting upon her divan with her tiny feet and gold-bangled ankles
stretched out against the lion's skin spread upon the floor of polished
porphyry.  "Ere the sun appeareth above the Hills of Guetzaoua thou must
pass out of the Kofa-n-Kura on the first stage of thy journey.  Outside
the city gate thou wilt find a swift camel with its bags ready packed,
awaiting thee in charge of one of my male slaves.  Mount, and hasten
from the city lest thy departure be detected."

"As chief of the Khalifa's _mulazimin_ I am liable to be overtaken and
brought back," I said.  "Therefore I must speed quickly away, avoiding
the route of the caravans, for if I am missed I shall assuredly be
tracked.  In what direction shall I prosecute my quest!"

"Alas!  I cannot tell," she answered, shaking her head with sorrow.
"The Zamfara declare that the Rock of the Great Sin lieth far beyond the
land of the rising sun, while the Boulgouda contend that the gloomy spot
is situate away in the deep regions of the afterglow.  But Allah
directeth not the unjust.  Towards the pole-star it cannot be, for
already our fighting-men have spread themselves over the land and have
not discovered it, whereas on the other hand our wise men say it must be
beyond the impenetrable forests of the far-distant south.  Travel,
therefore, not towards the north, but cross the great desert into the
distant lands, and make diligent inquiry among the Pagan dwellers in the
regions unknown, for by trusting unto Fortune thou mayest find that for
which thou searchest.  Necessity is as a strong rider with stirrups like
razors, who maketh the sorry jade do that which the strong horse
sometimes will not do, therefore be of good cheer, and by recourse to
thine own ingenuity endeavour to gain swiftly the grim portals of the
Land of the No Return."

"Then thou canst give me absolutely no clue to its position?"  I said,
puzzled, for I had expected that at least she would be able to tell me
in which direction the finger of popular belief pointed.

"No.  The different versions held by the story-tellers are all
conflicting, regarding its position.  Its whereabouts is an absolute
mystery."  Then, placing her hand beneath the silken cushion whereon she
had been reclining, she drew forth a bag of gold, adding, "Take this,
for assuredly thou wilt require to give backsheesh unto the people of
the far-distant lands thou wilt visit."

But I motioned her to keep the money, saying,--

"Thanks to the liberality of my master, the Khalifa, I have at present
enough for my wants, and some to spare, concealed within my belt.  If,
on my return, I am unsuccessful and penurious then will I borrow of
thee."

"To show me favour, wilt thou not accept it, in order to pay those who
perform service for thee?" she asked with a sweet, winning smile.

"Nay," I replied, with pride.  "What payments I make, I shall willingly
bear myself.  Keep thy gold until we again meet, which, if Allah be
merciful, will be ere many moons have faded.  Let thy life be happy,
thou, who art all in all to me! dawn of my day! star of my night! sweet
one rose of my summer!"

"Assuredly thou art brave and true, O Zafar," she said, tossing the bag
of gold aside, and looking up at me.  "Thou hast, in blind confidence of
me, undertaken without fear a task which through ages men have continued
to prosecute without success.  Sages have long ago relinquished their
efforts as futile, yet thou darest to face Malec himself, nay, even to
fight Eblis, because thou lovest me and desirest that I should become
thy wife.  If thine heart retainest its lion's courage, then I have
presage that thine efforts will ultimately lead thee unto the
rose-garden of happiness."

"With thoughts of thee, O Azala, nought can daunt me.  Those who offer
me opposition will I crush even like vipers," I said gallantly, and as
she rose with slow grace to her feet, I clasped her in fond embrace.
"If I falter," I continued, "drown my soul in the vapour of thy breath;
let my lips be crushed in kissing thine hands."

But she answered, "I love thee, O Zafar; I will marry only thee,"
pressing her hot lips to mine fiercely.  My arm was about her slim,
gold-begirt waist, and the contact shook me to the depths of my soul.
We murmured vague speeches, lighter than breezes, and savoury as kisses.
In this parting I became impelled towards her, and with dilated
nostrils inhaled the sweet perfumes exhaled from her breast, from which
rose an indefinable emanation of musk, jasmine and roses, which filled
my senses and held me entranced.

In silence we stood locked in each other's arms.  Upon her soft white
cheek I rained kisses, as she cast her arms about my neck, sobbing her
fill upon my breast.  I tried to utter words of comfort, but they
refused to pass my lips; my heart was too full for mere words.  Thus we
stood together, each bearing the strange imprint, the mystic meaning of
which it had been the desire of all our lives to elucidate, each
determined to fathom a mystery mentioned by wise men only with bated
breath, and each fearing failure, knowing, alas! too well its inevitable
result would be unhappiness and death.

"Fear and hope have sent me mad," I said.  "Sweet, sweetest, dry those
tears--let me kiss them away--smile again; thou art the sun that lights
my world.  Think!  I have dreamed of thee as winter dreams of spring!
Think, my love and thine idea have grown like leaf and flower."

At last, with supreme effort, she stifled her sobs and dried her eyes,
remaining in silence and murmuring now and then fervent blessings upon
me.  For some moments the quiet had been unbroken, when, like a funeral
wail, the sound of distant voices came up through the lattice, followed
by the dismal howling of a hundred dogs.

"Hearken!" she gasped in sudden fear, disengaging herself from my
embrace, as, dashing across to the window, she drew the hangings quickly
aside, admitting the morning sun.  "The _mueddin_ have announced the
sunrise!  Already hast thou tarried too long.  It is imperative that
thou shouldst fly, lest our plans be thwarted by thine arrest.  Fly!
Remember what the Koran saith.  Whatever is in heaven and earth singeth
praise unto Allah; and he is mighty and wise.  He is the first and the
last, the manifest and the hidden; and he knoweth all things.  He is
with thee wheresoever thou art; for Allah seeth that which thou doest."

I placed my arms about her and again clasped her to my breast in final
embrace, uttering a passionate declaration of love, and drinking her
whole soul through her lips as sunlight drinks the dew.  Her great
beauty intoxicated me; I stood in an invincible torpor as if I had
partaken of some strange potion.  How long we remained thus I know not,
but at length an alarming sound caused us both to listen breathlessly.

Next second the voices of men, loud and deep, greeted our startled ears
as the curtains concealing the door by which I had entered stirred, as
if some persons were there concealed.

"May Allah have mercy!" gasped the woman I loved, her face blanched to
the lips.  "The eunuchs are making their first round.  Thou art lost--
lost.  And I am doomed to die!"

Then I knew that a fatality encompassed me.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

A SECRET OF STATE.

From behind the curtain the dumb slave Ayesha emerged a second later,
and, with fear betrayed upon every feature of her dark countenance,
motioned me to follow her.

"Fly!  Go in peace!  Speed upon the wings of haste and save thyself!"
Azala urged, in a low whisper, clinging to me for an instant while I
kissed her white brow, half covered by its golden sequins.  "Fly, and
may the One Guide direct thy footsteps in the right path, and guard thee
through all perils of thy quest."

"May Allah envelop thee with the cloak of his protection," I said,
fervently.  "Farewell, O Beloved!  I go to seek to penetrate a mystery
that none has solved.  Having thy blessing, I fear nought.  _Slama.
Allah iselemeck_."

As I released her, her eyes became suffused, but with a gesture of fear
she pushed me from her gently, and Ayesha, grasping my arm, led me
through the alcove, and as I passed from the sight of the woman I loved
she murmured a last fond farewell.  Then we descended the stairs to the
chamber wherein I had gazed into the Prism of Destiny, and passed
through the door by which the Arab slaves had entered, just at the
moment we heard men's deep voices in Azala's apartment above.  Silently
we crept out upon the staircase by which my mute guide had taken me to
Azala's chamber, and then descending by many intricate ways we at last
crossed the garden and entered the Court of the Pages, where Ayesha left
me abruptly without word, gesture or sign.  Crossing the paved court
where figs and oranges grew in great abundance, I entered the Court of
the Janissaries.  Here some of the _mulazimin_ quartered there,
surprised at seeing me in the attire of an eunuch, rose to salute me.
Impatiently I passed on, acknowledging their salaams with scant
courtesy, until I came to the handsome Court of the Grand Vizier.  As I
passed the statuesque sentries at the gate I heard men conversing in low
tones beyond the screen of thick papaya bushes placed before the
entrance to afford shadow for the guards.  In an instant it occurred to
me that if seen by the slaves of Mahaza attired in eunuch's dress some
awkward inquiries might be instituted, therefore I concealed myself in
the bushes, scarce daring to breathe.

Peering through the foliage to ascertain who was astir so early, I was
amazed to recognise that the two men in earnest conversation were none
other than my master the Khalifa Abdullah, and Khazneh, the Aga of the
Black Eunuchs of the Sultan.

Quite involuntarily I played the part of eavesdropper, for fearing
detection and impatient to get out of the Fada to the spot where Azala's
camel awaited me, I stood motionless.  The words that fell upon my ears
amazed me.  At first I imagined that I must be dreaming, but quickly I
found that the scene I was witnessing was a stern reality.

The Khalifa, plainly dressed in a robe similar to that worn by his
body-servants, in order, no doubt, to avoid being recognised by the
soldiers and slaves, stood leaning against one of the marble columns
supporting the colonnade that ran around three sides of the great court;
his brow was heavy and thoughtful, and his dark eyes fixed upon his
companion.  Khazneh, with arms folded and chin upon his breast, remained
in an attitude of deep meditation.

Suddenly he asked in a low, hoarse tone, first glancing round to assure
himself that he was not overheard,--

"And in such case, what sayest thou should be my reward?"

"Thou wilt gain wealth and power," the Khalifa answered.  "Think, what
art thou now?  A mere harem slave of thy Sultan.  If thou renderest me
the assistance I have suggested, thou canst rise to be first in the
land."

"Thou, O Khalifa, art above all," the Aga interrupted, as the complacent
smile on Abdullah's gross face told him that he was amenable to
flattery.  But a second later the expression of satisfaction gave place
to a keen, crafty look, a glance, the significance of which I knew well,
as he said,--

"Behold!  Already the sun hath risen, and we must not tarry.  The slaves
will see us together and suspect.  A single word whispered into the ear
of thy Lord 'Othman would ruin our plan.  Thou must choose now.  Art
thou ready to adopt my suggestion?"

In hesitation the Aga bit his finger-nails, hitched his silken robe
about his shoulders, and gazed steadfastly down at the marble pavement.
"Thou hast, as yet, made no definite promise as to the profits I should
gain," he muttered.

"Then give ear unto me," said the Khalifa, in a low, earnest tone.
"Thou hast admitted that we have both much to gain by the downfall of
thy Sultan, therefore we must act together carefully, with perfect trust
in one another.  My suggestion is that exactly four moons from to-day my
fighting-men, to the number of sixteen thousand, shall encamp at various
points two days distant, ready to converge upon this city.  On thy part,
thou wilt invent some grievance against the Sultan to stir up discontent
among the guards, Janissaries and slaves, and let the dissatisfaction
spread to the army itself.  Then, when they are ripe for revolt, an
announcement will be made that the Dervishes are already in force at the
city gates, and that if they are prepared to live under better
conditions, with thyself as ruler under the Khalifa, they must throw
down their arms.  This they will assuredly do, and my Ansar will enter
the city and the Fada as conquerors.  They will have orders to kill the
Sultan at once, and to secure his daughter Azala, of whose wondrous
beauty I have heard much, for my harem.  In the meantime, Katsena and
Sokoto will be immediately subdued by my horsemen, and before sundown I
shall be proclaimed ruler throughout the Empire.  Assuredly, I shall not
forget thee, and thy gains will be large.  This palace, with the whole
of the harem and half the treasure it containeth, shall be given unto
thee, and thou wilt continue to reside here and rule on my behalf.
Under my suzerainty thy power will be absolute, and with the army of the
Soudan at thy back thou wilt fear none."

"Thou temptest me, O Khalifa," the Aga said, still undecided to turn
traitor to the monarch who reposed in him the utmost confidence.  "But
even if thou gavest unto me this palace I should not have the means to
keep it up.  Of a verity I am a poor man, and--"

"Do my bidding and thou shalt be wealthy," Abdullah exclaimed,
impatiently.  "As Governor of Sokoto thine expenses will come from the
Treasury, therefore trouble thyself not upon that score.  Stir up the
revolt, and take precaution that the life of the Princess Azala is
preserved; leave the rest unto me."

"The daughter of the Sultan hath already a lover," Khazneh said
suddenly, his words causing my heart to beat so quickly that I could
distinctly hear it.

"A lover!" cried the Khalifa.  "Who dareth to gaze upon her with
thoughts of affection?"

"A spy from thy camp."

"From my camp?" he repeated, puzzled.

"I had intended that he should lose his head, but the Sultan himself
pardoned him because he feared the consequence of some strange symbol
the spy bore upon his breast."

"Was he the Arab horseman captured at the well of Sabo-n-Gari?" asked
the Khalifa, with knit brows, evidently recollecting the description I
had given of the attack.

"The same.  The Lalla Azala saved his life, and declared to me that she
loved him."

"Then I, the Khalifa, have a rival in Zafar, the chief of my
body-servants!" my master cried angrily, between his teeth.  "I will
give orders to-day for his removal."

"Send his head to her as a present," suggested the Aga, with a brutal
laugh.  "The sight of it will break her spirit."

"Thy lips utter words of wisdom.  I will send it to thee, that thou
mayest convey it to her."

Thus I stood, hearing my fate being discussed, not daring to move a
muscle, for so close was I to the pair, that I could have struck them
dead with the keen _jambiyah_ I carried in my sash.

"Then it is thine intention to annex Sokoto unto thine already extensive
domains," the Aga exclaimed, in a few moments.

The Khalifa nodded an affirmative, adding, "Hesitate no longer, but give
thy decision.  If thou wilt open the gates of Kano for the admission of
my Ansar, thou shalt, as reward, occupy the highest and most lucrative
post in the Empire.  If not--" And he shrugged his shoulders
significantly.

"And if not?" the Aga asked, slowly.

"If not, then every man in Omdurman capable of bearing arms shall come
forth unto this thy city, and take it by assault.  Then assuredly will
little mercy be shown those who have defied the Ruler of the Soudan,"
and his brow darkened.  "The Empire, as thou hast said, is badly
governed.  Men are appointed to all offices who are unfit, war
languishes, thine enemies rejoice, the leaders of thy troops prefer
their harems to their camps, and from the cadis the people obtain no
justice.  Therefore give me the promise of thine assistance, and let us
together gather the reins of office in our hands.  Thou hast no power
now outside the Courts of Enchantment, and no wealth beyond thine
emoluments, but it is within thy reach to acquire both wealth and
greatness."

"But if, while I sought to alienate the guards and soldiers against the
Sultan, my seditious words should be whispered into his ear?  Assuredly
my head would fall beneath the _doka_ of the executioner."

"Fear not," answered the head of the Mahdists.  "If thou art willing to
carry out my suggestion, I shall make an excuse for remaining as guest
of thy Sultan, by continuing the negotiations for the defensive treaty
against those dogs of English.  At sundown to-night a trusty messenger
will leave, bearing orders to my emirs to assemble the troops and speed
hither with all haste, and while the Sultan is unsuspecting, his doom
will fast approach.  What craft cannot effect, gold may perchance
accomplish.  If thy treasonable practices are detected, then will I
intercede for thee, and he cannot act in direct opposition to the
entreaty of his guest.  But hearken!  Some one is astir!"

The patter of bare feet upon the polished pavement broke the silence as
intently we listened.  A black slave was approaching.

"Come, give me thine answer quickly, and before sundown our written
undertakings under seal shall be secretly exchanged."

Khazneh hesitated.  Apparently he was distrustful of the Khalifa's true
intentions, although the generous reward promised for his services in
securing the entry of the Dervishes without opposition was a tempting
bait.  His fingers toyed nervously with the jewelled hilt of his sword--
the keen, curved weapon that had struck off so many fair heads within
the brilliant Courts of Enchantment--and again he bit his uneven
fingernails.

"Think!  Thou hast much to gain, with naught to lose," urged the
Khalifa.  "Under me thou wilt occupy the same position as thine Imperial
Master.  Come, speak; and let us part ere we are remarked."

"I--I will assist thee," the Aga stammered at last, in a low,
half-frightened whisper.  "At sundown let our secret compact be
concluded."

My astute master well knew that the temptation to secure wealth and
power would induce the scheming Aga of the Women to become his catspaw.
He had not approached his accomplice without thoroughly fathoming his
character, and noting his weaknesses.  I could detect from his face that
from the first he had been confident of success.

"Then upon thee be perfect peace, even until the day of Al-Jassasa,"
answered the Khalifa, with a sinister smile of satisfaction, and without
further speech the two men parted, walking in different directions, and
leaving me, excited and apprehensive, to my own reflections.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

FLIGHT.

Allah took me into his keeping.  I made a solitude and called it peace.
Half-an-hour later I succeeded in escaping unrecognised from the Fada,
and passing out by the great gate, hurried breathlessly through the
slave-market, already alive with Arabs, <DW64>s and herds of
half-starved slaves, through the Yaalewa quarter, past the Palace of
Ghaladima, and down many quaint and narrow streets of square,
flat-roofed houses, their walls intensely white against the bright,
unclouded blue, with passages from the Koran inscribed over the doors.
The great market presented a most animated scene, for business is
transacted in Kano before the sun becomes powerful.  All the idioms of
the Sahara, Soudan and Northern Africa, from the blue Mediterranean and
grey Atlantic to Lake Tsad, were to be heard there, and beneath the
white turban or red fez were all the different types of <DW64> races--
Berber, Songhoi, Bambara, Toucoulem, Malinka, among the blacks; and
Foulbes, Moors, Tuaregs, and Tripolitans among the whites.  Rows of
shops bordered three sides of the market, and the fourth opened upon the
Mosque, as if in reminder that honesty and good faith should preside
over all its transactions.  Sitting surrounded by calabashes and
potteries, the women, with neatly-plaited black hair, sold vegetables,
milk, manioc, incense, baobab flour, karita, spices, soap and fagots of
wood.  In the centre of the market were three shops in which were sold
the choicer goods--native and European textiles principally, Manchester
calicoes and Lyons silks, with salt, kola nuts, slippers, mirrors,
pearls, knives, etc.  The money-changer was also stationed there, with
his black face showing out from between his little mountain of cowries.
For native gold (in rings like the money of the Pharaohs) he gave and
took hundreds and thousands of the little shells, grinning broadly the
while.  Further on, amid a perfect babel of tongues, magic roots, gold
dust, emeralds, pearls and amber, provisions dried in the sun, hair torn
from the heads of dead negresses, old Korans, gongs, poniards, ancient
jewellery, ginkris, flint guns, and amulets, were bought and sold, while
everywhere beggars, ragged and dirty, and lepers, rendered hideous by
their horrible white ulcers, held forth lean, talon-like hands, crying
aloud in the name of the One Allah for alms.

The people who crowded the narrow thoroughfares beyond the market were
of every variety of national form--the olive-<DW52> Arab, the dark
Kanouri with his wide nostrils, the tall, stately, black-veiled Tuareg,
the small-featured, light and slender ba-Fellenchi, the broad-faced
ba-Wangara, the stout, masculine-looking Nupe female, and the comely
ba-Haushe woman.  But I sped onward, thinking only of the dastardly plot
by which the Sultan was to be overthrown, and the woman I loved spirited
away to the great harem in far-off Omdurman.  Assuredly the register of
the actions of the wicked is in Sejjin, the book distinctly written,
which cannot be denied as a falsehood.

At first I had felt impelled to seek an audience of the Sultan, but on
reflection I saw that such a course would achieve no purpose.  Already
he had forbidden me to set foot within his Empire, and it was not likely
that he would believe my statement if flatly contradicted by both the
Khalifa and the villainous Khazneh, as undoubtedly it would be.

I strove to invent some means of acquainting the Sultan 'Othman of his
impending doom, but could devise none.  As I crossed the Zat Nakhl
(Place of Palm Trees), I reflected that my secret assassination would
probably be the only result of my exposure of the plot.  Four months
must elapse ere the Dervishes could reach Kano, therefore I resolved to
preserve silence, and go forth to fulfil my promise to Azala to try and
elucidate the mystery.

At a little distance outside the Kofa-n-Kura, I found, as she had
stated, two camels kneeling, with their bags ready packed, in charge of
the dwarf Tiamo, who, when he saw me, ran forward, greeting me
effusively, and urging me to hasten, so that we might leave the city ere
our absence from the Fada was discovered.  This advice I followed, and a
few minutes later we were seated on the animals, speeding quickly away
over the loose sand, leaving the gigantic white walls of Kano behind.

Once I turned to gaze upon the tower of the Fada that stood out clear
and white, knowing that from behind one of those small lattices Azala
was watching our departure with anxious, tearful eyes.  Raising my hand
I waved her a last farewell, then, with face set doggedly towards the
west, I rode forward with my queer companion, in quest of the
undiscovered spot that had so many times been reflected with such
clearness of detail upon the sky.

On over the arid sands we journeyed, pausing not even during the blazing
heat of noon, but pursuing our way with rapidity in order to put as
great a distance as possible between ourselves and the city by sundown.
Instead of taking the caravan route to Kaoura we had turned off in a
south-westerly direction over a confused agglomeration of _aghrud_, or
high sandhills, almost impassable, in order to baffle our pursuers in
case we were followed.

Just before sundown we paused at a spot where the light shadows of the
palms, tamarisk, alfa and mimosa rested on the dry, parched thirst-land,
and decided to halt for the night.  Unloading and tethering our camels,
I knelt to my two-bow prayer and repeated my _dua_, after which the
dwarf became communicative.  He was a pagan and believed not in Allah,
or the Prophet.  During the day he had apparently been too much
concerned regarding my personal safety to speak much, but now we ate and
took our _Cayf_ in the blue and purple haze, sitting silent and still,
listening to the monotonous melody of the oasis, the soft evening breeze
wandering through the brilliant sky and tufted trees with a voice of
melancholy meaning, lounging in pleasant languor and dreamy
tranquillity.  Briefly my impish companion told me how his mistress had
entrusted him with the arrangements for our journey, and had given him
instructions to accompany me as servant.

I smoked my _shisha_ (travelling pipe), listening to the croaking voice
of this strange being with his large, ugly head and small body, in whom
Azala reposed such confidence; then I questioned him regarding his past.
It always pleased him if I addressed him by the soubriquet El-Sadic
that Azala had bestowed upon him.  His eyes grew brighter, his grin more
hideous, and he fingered his numberless heathen amulets as he related to
me the exciting story of how he had been captured by Arab slave-raiders
at his home in the forest of Kar, beside the Serbeouel river in
Baguirmi, and taken to Kano, where he was purchased by the Grand Vizier,
and afterwards given to the Lalla Azala.  As he spoke the mouth of this
human monstrosity widened, displaying a hideous row of teeth, and this,
combined with his croaking voice, rendered him a weird and altogether
extraordinary companion.  Yet his strength seemed almost double mine,
for he had unloaded the camels without an effort, carrying with perfect
ease packages that would have made me pant.

Sitting together on the mat we had spread, watching the sun sinking on
the misty horizon, and the bright crescent moon slowly rising, I asked
him whether he was aware of the nature of my quest.

"The Lalla Azala hath explained to me, O master, that thou seekest the
Rock of the Great Sin," he answered.

"What knowest thou of the rock?"  I inquired.

"Only that which hath been related by the storytellers," he answered.
"As in Kano, so we away on the Serbeouel river believe in its existence,
though none has discovered its whereabouts.  By my people, the <DW64>s
of Baguirmi, it is believed to be the entrance to the sacred land to
which those who die valiantly in battle are transported, while those who
betray cowardice are thrown into the Lake of the Accursed, wherein dwell
crocodiles of great size, water-snakes who live on human flesh, and all
kinds of venomous reptiles.  The story-tellers of our tribe say that the
reason none has found it is because there is emitted, from the Lake of
the Accursed, vapours so deadly as to prevent any one from approaching
the rock sufficiently near to distinguish its outline.  It is the abode
of the Death-god."

"Art thou not afraid to accompany me in this search?"  I asked, knowing
how superstitious are the <DW64>s.

"It is the Lalla's will," he answered, simply.  "Thou, an Arab from the
North and my lady's friend, art seeking to deliver her from bondage,
therefore where thou goest, there also will I bear thee company."

"Bravely spoken," I said, and after a pause told him of the conspiracy
that had been formed against the Sultan.  With breathless interest he
listened while I related how I had discovered its existence; then, when
I had finished, he half rose, saying,--

"But the Lalla shall never grace the harem of the cruel, brutal Khalifa.
I myself will save her."

"I cannot give her warning, for I dare not again approach her," I
pointed out, with sorrow.

"Shall I go back and tell her, while thou remainest here until my
return?" he suggested.

"No," I answered, on reflection.  "Silence is best at present.  For four
months, at least, Kano is safe.  If the Sultan is warned within that
time, his enemies may be overthrown."

"The dastardly plot of the abuser of the salt, the vile offspring of
Shimr, shall be thwarted," he cried, fiercely.  "The heads of its
originators shall rot upon the city gate, and none shall enter the
presence of the Lalla, with whose beauty none can compare."

"Act not rashly," I said.  "We know the secret of the conspirators,
therefore we may be able to thwart them so neatly that they fall victims
to their own plot.  Let us act with care and discretion, that the Empire
may be saved from falling into the hands of the wild-haired fanatics of
Omdurman, who, although my comrades-in-arms, are not my tribesmen."

"Be it even as thou commandest," he answered.  "My life is equally at
thy service to secure the undoing of the traitor, as for the diligent
search we are about to make for the Rock of the Great Sin," and the
claw-like fingers of the dwarf slowly grasped his pipe-stem, as he
smoked on thoughtfully.

In the deep silence of the desert, under the pale light of the moon,
that rose from the direction of the city from which we were fleeing, I
sat, plunged in reverie, wondering whether my search would prove
successful.  My head ached, my lips were parched, and I felt spent with
long travel, therefore, scooping a hole in the sand, I threw myself down
to snatch a few hours' repose, as we had decided to be moving again
before sunrise.

Sleep must have come to my eyes quickly, for I was suddenly awakened by
the dwarf shaking me, and saying in a low whisper, as he placed his
quick ear to the sand,--

"Hearken!  Canst thou not hear the thud of horses' hoofs?  Thine absence
hath been detected, and we are pursued!"

And, as I strained my ears, I could distinctly detect the regular,
monotonous thud of a horse urged across the desert at terrific pace;
and, as I knelt upon the sand, I grasped the rifle that I had found
packed on the camel, and held it loaded in readiness--prepared to defend
myself, an example which Tiamo immediately followed.  In the desert no
law is recognised but that of the strong arm and the keen blade.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

THE ALARM.

Rapidly the solitary horseman drew near, galloping as if for life.
Being alone, it seemed probable that he had been sent forward by our
pursuers to endeavour to obtain traces of us, and as the fleet Arab
steed approached, Tiamo, stretched upon the ground, took careful and
deliberate aim, ready to fire as soon as he approached within range.

Our camels lazily raised their heads to survey the newcomer, stirred
uneasily as if they had presage of danger, and as on the alert we
awaited the approach of the mysterious rider, we discerned to our dismay
that he wore a white burnouse.

"Behold!" whispered the dwarf, "it is one of our Zamfara, who always act
as scouts!  He must die if we intend to escape."

It seemed that he had not discovered us, but was on his way to the well
to water his horse, therefore I answered,--

"Take not his life unless the circumstances demand extreme measures.  At
least let him approach and have speech with us ere thou firest."

"Conquest lieth with those who strike the first blow," he replied, a
sinister grin upon his ugly visage as again he covered the approaching
figure with his rifle and carefully took aim.  At that moment, however,
the galloping _ngirma_ emerged into the moonlight, revealing a strange
awkwardness in its white-robed rider's manner that struck me as
remarkable, and as it dashed forward and became more distinct, the truth
flashed upon me.

"By my beard!"  I cried aloud, knocking, with sudden impulse, the rifle
from Tiamo's hand.  "By my beard!  It's a woman!"

The rifle exploded, but the bullet went wide.  The rider, startled at
the shot, and thinking she had been fired at, pulled her horse instantly
upon its haunches, and sat peering in our direction, motionless, in
fear.

"Advance, and fear not, O friend!"  I shouted to her, rising to my feet,
but my peaceful declarations had to be thrice repeated ere she summoned
courage to move forward to us, the bridle trembling in her hands.  On
approaching, however, she slipped quickly from the saddle of the
foam-flecked animal, and tearing her haick from her face, bounded over
the sand towards us.

Her appearance struck us speechless with amazement.

The mysterious rider whom we had feared, and who had so very narrowly
escaped death by our hand, was Ayesha, the dumb slave of Azala.

With one accord we both eagerly inquired the object of her wild ride in
the lonely desert so far from Kano at that hour, but she merely shook
her head indicative of her inability to reply, and pressed her brown
hand to her side, being compelled to halt for a moment to recover
breath.  In the moonlight we could see the look of fear and excitement
in her dark eyes, with their kohl-marked brows, but although she
gesticulated wildly, we failed to catch her meaning.

"Her mouth refuseth to utter sound," observed the dwarf.  "Yet she
seemeth to have followed us with some important object.  No halt hath
she made since leaving Kano, judging by the dust about her and the spent
condition of her horse, which, by the way, belongeth to the Aga of the
Janissaries, and one of the fleetest that the Sultan possesseth."

He spoke rapidly in Arabic, and the slave, unacquainted with any but her
native Hausa tongue, gazed in embarrassment from Tiamo's face to mine.

"Cannot she write?"  I asked.

"Alas! no," answered my hideous little companion.  "So carefully hath
she studied the Lalla that she anticipated her wishes by the looks in
her eyes."

While thus in conversation, wondering how we could obtain the truth from
her, she rushed towards her horse, and seizing its bridle, brought it
towards us.  Then, with a smile of triumph upon her brown, wrinkled
face, she inserted her thin hand beneath the leather of the saddle, and
produced therefrom a letter folded small, and addressed in Arabic to
myself.

The sprawly characters I recognised instantly as Azala's, and on tearing
it open I found it bore the seal of her ancient signet-ring, shaped like
an Egyptian scarab.  Tiamo El-Sadic, anticipating my requirements,
quickly kindled a piece of paper, and by its uncertain light I was
enabled to decipher the hasty message from the woman I loved, which read
as follows:--

"_Fly instantly to the city of Sokoto, O Zafar, my Beloved_.  _Thine
enemies seek thy life, and are already in search of thee.  Three hours
after I had watched thy departure from my lattice my father came unto
me, and although I denied thy visit in order to shield thee, it was
apparent that thou hast been betrayed, for he is aware of thy return.
As thou hast truly said, he feareth thee because thou bearest the Mark
of the Asps, for he compelled me to uncover the mark I bear, so that he
might gaze upon it and compare it with thine.  Before me upon the Koran
he hath sworn that thou shalt die.  Already two troops of one hundred
horsemen each have left the Kofa-n-Kura and have scattered over the
desert in search of thee_.  _Fly!  Halt not, for my sake, so that thou
reachest the city of Sokoto ere news of the Sultan's wrath can be
conveyed thither.  When thou reachest the city, seek at once the dyer
Mohammed el-Arewa, who liveth in the Gazubi quarter, and deliver unto
him the message Ayesha beareth thee.  He will conduct thee into the
Mountains of Kambari, where thou canst escape the vigilance of spies and
continue thy journey unmolested.  Halt not, but speed on, for thine
enemies are closely following thy camels tracks.  My haste causeth my
hand to tremble, but Ayesha hath confidence in overtaking thee.  Fly,
and may Allah favour thee, and protect thee with the invulnerable shield
of his blessing.  Peace_."

Looking into the face of the dark-eyed slave who had so devotedly served
her mistress, and undertaken a journey that few women could have
accomplished, I stretched forth my hand for the second letter, which she
gave me.  It bore Azala's seal, and was addressed to Mohammed el-Arewa.

"Lift, O master, from thy servant's heart, the anxiety oppressing it, by
telling him what news the mute hath brought," Tiamo said.

"We must travel at once to Sokoto," I answered, briefly.  "Let us
replace the camels' packs, for sleep must not come again to our eyes ere
we enter the city."

"Do our enemies pursue us?" he inquired, eagerly.

"Yes.  To reach Sokoto, and gain the assistance of one Mohammed
el-Arewa, is our only chance of escape."

"Let us set forth," he said promptly, walking towards where the camels
were kneeling.  Then turning, he added, "Hast thou forgotten thou still
wearest the silk robe of a eunuch?  Assuredly it will attract the eyes
of all men.  Remove it and attire thyself in these," and rummaging in
one of the camels' packs, he produced the white haick and burnouse of an
Arab, together with the rope of brown twisted camel's hair to wind
around the head, so as to keep the haick in place.

While he loaded our camels I carried out his suggestion, quickly
transforming myself from a eunuch of the Sultan of Sokoto to a plain
wanderer of the desert.  With Ayesha we could only converse by
gesticulation, rendering her thanks for conveying the message unto us.

Having no writing materials, I cut from my camel's trappings a piece of
soft goatskin, and with the point of a knife traced roughly in Arabic
the words,--

"_Verily a plot is on foot to encompass the overthrow of thy dynasty.
Warn thy father, the Sultan, of the conspiracy between the Khalifa
Abdullah and his Grand Eunuch Khaznch.  This message Ayesha beareth from
thy friend, Zafar_."

On giving it to the slave to convey to her mistress, she concealed it
next her tattooed breast.  From our little store we gave her some dates,
and as she motioned her intention of remaining to rest, and returning to
Kano at dawn, we tethered her horse for her.  Then, mounting our camels,
we gave her "peace," and rode out again upon the silent, boundless
plain.

The moon no longer shed her light; an intense darkness had fallen--that
darkness which is invariably precursory of the sandstorm.  Without even
a star by which to guide ourselves we trusted that by good fortune we
were travelling in the right direction.  The dwarf, who had once before
been over the ground, was searching for a landmark, and, to our mutual
satisfaction, half-an-hour after dawn he discovered it.

"Lo!" he cried excitedly, shouting back to me and pointing to where, far
away on the grey, misty horizon, a large hill appeared.  "We are not
mistaken, for we have struck the caravan route.  Yonder is the Rock of
Mikia, and behind it, the village of Dsafe.  Before noon we shall enter
the valley through which windeth a river, and continuing along its bank,
we shall be within the gate of Sokoto ere it closeth at sunset."

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

MOHAMMED EL-AREWA.

After halting to refresh ourselves, during which time I snatched a few
moments to perform my _sujdah_, we remounted, and through the whole day,
regardless of the sun's fiery rays, which struck down upon us like
tongues of fire, we pushed forward over a rough, stony wilderness,
devoid of herbage or any living thing except the great, grey vultures
circling above with ominous persistency.

Throughout the day, my ugly little <DW64> companion continually fingered
his strange amulets, uttering curious pagan incantations in his own
tongue, while to myself I repeated the "Kul-ya-ayyuha 'l-Kafiruna," and
the "Kul-Huw' Allah," more than once inclined to upbraid my friend as an
infidel.  But, on reflection, I saw that any words of reproach would
pain him to no purpose, therefore I held my peace.  His face, black as
polished ebony, seemed to grow increasingly ugly as he became more
wearied; when he smiled his mouth stretched from ear to ear, and the
craning of his neck, as he swayed with the undulating motion of his
camel, gave him a weird, grotesque appearance, even in the brilliant
glare of noon.  The beads, trinkets, pieces of lizard skin, and
mysterious scraps of wood and stone strung around his neck, he
constantly caressed, while twice he suddenly dismounted, and holding his
hands aloft, frisked like an ape, yelling at the sun as if he had taken
leave of his senses.

Notwithstanding his extreme ugliness and his strange actions, I
nevertheless grew to like him, for he seemed genuinely devoted to me, as
a slave should be to his master.

Two hours after high noon, when the sun was beginning to veer round and
shine directly into our faces, we entered the Wady al-Ward (the Vale of
Flowers) the dwarf had mentioned.  Beside the small river--scarcely more
than a brook--we journeyed over ground thickly covered with herbage and
flowers.  For a few minutes we allowed our camels to browse, then urged
them on, remembering it was imperative that we should arrive at Sokoto
before the gate closed for the night.  The shadow cast by the rocks, the
cool rippling of the water, and the fertility of the country we
appreciated after the arid, sun-baked wilderness.  But as we journeyed
on we found grim relics of an attack which had evidently been made some
months before upon a caravan, for fresh, green garlands of ropeweed and
creepers had festooned decayed skulls, and entwined about the bleaching
bones of arms and legs, now and then blossoming into brilliant clusters
of scarlet or blue flowers.

Through the valleys we wound for many hours, while the sky changed from
blue to gold, and from gold to crimson, until at last the sun slowly
sank before us with that gorgeous flood of colour only to be witnessed
in Central Africa, and the low hills, bristling with mimosa and doum
palms, assumed singular forms and uncouth dimensions in the twilight
mirage.

In the rapidly-falling gloom our eyes were at last gladdened by the
sight of the tall minarets of Sokoto, but the tall, bronzed guards at
the city gate are ever wary, and a strange scene was enacted.  It
appeared that with the people of Sokoto the measures formerly taken to
guard against surprise are now observed as a matter of form and
etiquette.  Hence, as we approached the gate the guards crouched, and
throwing their litham over the lower part of their faces in Tuareg
fashion, grasped the inseparable spear in the right and the
shangermangor in their left hand.  This action caused us considerable
anxiety, but after these preliminaries they began to inquire our names
and places of abode, afterwards giving us "peace," and allowing us to
proceed.  For a few minutes we halted to gossip, so as not to appear in
undue haste, and just as the call for evening prayer was sounding and
the guards were beating the great drum to announce the closing of the
gate, we passed into the spacious market, wherein a caravan of many
camels were taking their ease preparatory to starting for Timbuktu on
the morrow.

Riding on through the city--the ancient and now discarded capital of the
Sultan 'Othman's empire--we found it very extensive, and although the
character of the houses was much more primitive than those of Moorish
type in Kano, yet there was manifested everywhere the comfortable,
pleasant life led by the inhabitants.  Each courtyard was fenced with a
"derne" of tall reeds, excluding, to a certain degree, the eyes of the
passer-by without securing to the interior absolute secrecy; and each
house had, near its entrance, the cool, shady "runfa" or place for the
reception of strangers or the transaction of business, with a "shibki"
roof, and the whole dwelling shaded by spreading trees.

The people, although of cheerful temperament, appeared more simple in
their dress than in Kano.  The men wore a wide shirt and trousers of
dark colour, with a light cap of cotton cloth, while the female
population affected a large cotton cloth of dark blue fastened under or
above the breast, their only ornaments being strings of glass beads worn
around the neck.  Proud, ignorant, bigoted and insolent, the people of
Sokoto are all owners of cattle, camels, horses and slaves.  These
latter, along with the women, generally cultivate some fields of dhurra,
or corn, sufficient for their wants.  The Arab, in Sokoto, would
consider it a disgrace to practice any manual labour.  He is essentially
a hunter, a robber and a warrior, and, after caring for his cattle,
devotes all his energies to slave-hunting and war.  The lower classes
are simply a rabble of filth, petty mendicancy, gaol-bird physiognomy
and cringing hypocrisy.

Passing through several markets crowded by chattering throngs, and up a
number of close streets where idle men and women were lounging, and
where the heat from the stones reflected into one's face, we at last
found the _marina_, or dyeing place, near the city wall.  It consisted
of a raised platform of clay with a number of holes or pits in which the
mixture of indigo was prepared, and the cloths were placed for a certain
length of time, according to the colour it was desired they should
assume.  It was beside one of these holes, working by the light of a
rude torch, his arms immersed in the dark blue dye, that we found the
Arab we sought.

As we gave him "peace" he rose to his feet with dignity, and dried his
stained hands.  He was about sixty, tall, with kindly, sharp-cut
features, and a long, sweeping beard flecked with grey.  Taking Azala's
letter, he opened it, read it carefully twice, caressed his patriarchal
beard, and placed the paper in a pocket beneath his burnouse.  Then
turning, he said,--

"Upon thee be perfect peace, O friends.  Welcome to the poor hospitality
of the roof of Mohammed el-Arewa.  Take thine ease to-night, for ere the
sun riseth over the blue hills of Salame, we must set forth if thou
wouldst escape those who seek thy destruction."  Then, after blowing out
his torch, he addressed me, saying, "Art thou the friend of the Lalla
Azala?"

"She is my friend," I answered, with promptitude.

"Discretion sealeth thy lips," he observed, laughing.  "Well, I, too,
loved once at thine age.  If thou art, as I suspect, the lover of the
beauteous Azala, of a verity thou hast chosen well.  Happy the man who
basketh in the rose-garden of her smiles.  To her I owe the freedom of
my only child, my daughter, who, captured by the Tuaregs, was sold to
the accursed Grand Vizier Mahaza--may Allah burn his vitals!--and only
by the intercession of the Lalla was she released.  I am Azala Fathma's
devoted slave, to do as she commandeth," adding in a lower tone, as if
to himself, "Women swallow at one mouthful the lie that flattereth, and
drink drop by drop the truth that is bitter.  But the Lalla Azala careth
not for flattery, and seeketh only to do good.  She is a pearl among
women."

Then accompanying him to his house close to the principal gate, we were
treated as honoured visitors.  A guest-dish, sweet as the dates of
Al-jauf, was prepared for us, and we ate _fara_, or roasted locusts
seasoned with cheese, _tuwo-n-magaria_, or bread made from the fruit of
the magaria tree, roasted fowl and dates, washed down with copious
draughts of _giya_ made of sorghum.  After our meal, eight <DW64> girls
came forth and gratified our ears with a performance on various
instruments.  There was the _gauga_, very much like our own Arab
_derbouka_, only larger, the long wind instrument, or _pampamnie_, a
shorter one like a flute, called the _elgaita_, the double tambourine
called the _kalango_, the _koso_, the _jojo_, or small derbouka, and the
_kafo_, or small horn, which in unison created an ear-splitting tumult
impossible to adequately describe.

The negresses blew, thumped and grinned as if their lives depended upon
the amount of sound they obtained from their various instruments, but,
worn out by the forced march, I heeded not their well-meant efforts to
entertain, and actually fell into a heavy slumber with the mouthpiece of
the pipe my host had thoughtfully provided for me still between my lips.

In the night, awakened suddenly by the loud blowing of a horn and
frantic shouting, I lay and listened.  As it continued I got up and
aroused Tiamo, who slept near.  For some minutes we strained our ears to
ascertain the cause of the hubbub, apparently at the city gate, when
suddenly our host burst into the apartment panting.

"Alas!" he cried, in a hoarse whisper.  "The soldiers of the Sultan have
arrived.  Listen!"

The noise continued.  Armed men were battering on the great gate that
closed at night-fall and never opened till dawn, except to admit an
Imperial messenger.  We could distinctly hear their voices demanding
admittance in the name of the Sultan.

"Already have I bribed the guards of the Kofa with twenty pieces of
silver.  When questioned, they will deny thine entrance here," the old
dyer exclaimed in reassuring tones, as at the same moment there fell
upon our ears the answering voices of the sleepy guards, urging them to
be patient while the gate was unbarred.

Tiamo and I exchanged uneasy and significant glances in the dim light
shed by a hanging lamp of brass.

"Suppose they determine to search for us," the dwarf suggested, in
alarm.

"The assurance of the guards will throw them off our scent, and at dawn
they will rest after their long journey.  Then will the gate be opened,
and we shall be enabled to escape.  Take thine ease in peace, for of a
verity, the way will be long ere thou canst again rest."

And hastily raising the curtain that hung before the arched door, he
disappeared.

Feeling myself safe beneath the hospitable roof of one who owed to Azala
a deep debt of gratitude, I threw myself again upon my divan, and soon
dreamed of the beautiful woman whose countenance fascinated me, and
whose glorious hair held me entangled in its silky web.  How long I
dreamed I cannot tell, for again I was awakened, this time by the ugly
dwarf shaking me by the shoulder.

"Rise, O master," cried El-Sadic, in alarm.  "We are discovered!
Already the soldiers of the Sultan have entered the house!"

As, half dazed, I stood rubbing my eyes in wonderment, Mohammed el-Arewa
burst in upon us, gasping in a low tone,--

"Gather thy belongings quickly, and follow me.  It is thine only
chance."

In less time than it occupies to relate, we snatched up our articles of
dress, and hurried after him through several doors, until he came to a
double one, whereat was seated a black slave.  As we passed quickly
through this, the odour of fragrant perfumes greeted our nostrils, and,
in the semi-darkness, there was the _frou-frou_ of silk, and the sound
of hasty, shuffling feet.  A second later, we found ourselves in a small
apartment, lit more brightly than the others, tastefully decorated in
green and gold, and containing many priceless Arab rugs and soft divans.

"Rest here undisturbed," he said, waving his hands in the direction of
the inviting-looking lounges, around which were scattered traces of
women's occupation.  "Within the apartments sacred to my women they will
not search for thee.  Though I commit an offence against our law, thou
art safe in this, my harem.  I will shield thee, even with mine own
life, for the sake of the Lalla Azala, upon whom may Allah ever shower
his blessings!  Rest, then, while I go and complete the preparations for
our flight."

"We thank thee, O father!"  I answered, fervently.  "May thy face be
ever brightened by the sun of Allah's favour!"

But he was already out of hearing, so suddenly did he leave us.

Within a quarter of an hour, sounds of a loud and fierce altercation
reaching us, caused us to stand rigid and silent.  So rapidly were the
words spoken in the Hausa tongue, that many of them were to me
unintelligible, but, glancing at the dwarf, I noticed that his brow was
contracted.  His eyes glittered with a keen, murderous expression that I
had never seen before, as, with unsheathed knife in hand, he stood near
the doorway of the harem on the alert, determined not to be taken
without a struggle, and to sell his life dearly.

The curtain on the opposite side of our place of concealment stirred,
and a fair face peered forth inquisitively, listening as attentively as
ourselves, to the heated argument outside.  Her great, fathomless eyes
were surmounted by two delicately-pencilled arches, and her black,
glossy hair fell down her neck, covering her cheeks with its warm
shadows.

With a suddenness that startled us, a deep voice, raised louder than the
others, expressed a conviction that we were hidden there, and declared
his intention of making a thorough search, whereupon approaching
footsteps sounded on the paving; the young woman withdrew her head with
a slight scream, realising that her privacy was to be intruded upon, and
Tiamo and I stood together, dismayed at our base betrayal by the keepers
of the city gate.

It was an exciting moment.  In desperation, I drew my two-edged
_jambiyah_--determined to fight desperately, rather than fall alive into
the hands of the Sultan's torturers.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

THE FATHER OF THE BLUE HAND.

As with bated breath we listened, Mohammed, upon whom Tiamo had bestowed
the sobriquet of "The Father of the Blue Hand," spoke in Arabic, denying
in clear, indignant tones that any stranger had found succour beneath
his roof, and expressing his readiness to assist his Majesty the Sultan
in arresting the rascally Dervish spy.

"Proceed no further," he cried, evidently barring their way resolutely.
"Lend me thine ears.  Though a worker at the dye-pots I have, by
diligence and integrity, amassed riches, and am honoured among the men
of Sokoto.  Desecrate not the quarters of my wives by intruding thy
presence upon them.  If thou thinkest that I lie when I tell thee that
no stranger hath eaten salt with me, ask of the Governor, of the Cadi,
of the Hadj Al-Wali, chief imam, whether untruths fall from my lips.  By
my beard! thou art mistaken.  Even though thou art fighting-men of the
Sultan 'Othman--whom may Allah enrich and guide to just actions!--his
Majesty would never suffer thee to penetrate into his servant's harem."

"He lieth!  He lieth!" they all cried, loudly.  "The spy came hither,
accompanied by a slave of small stature.  Own it, or thy lying tongue
shall be cut out."

And one of the men added, "His Majesty hath given us orders to bring
unto him the head of the Dervish from Omdurman--whom may Allah cast into
the pit Al-Hawiyat!--but thine own hoary head will do as well," whereat
the others, with one accord, jeered at our protector.

The declaration of my pursuers caused my heart to sink.  To be
decapitated as a spy was as deplorable an end as to starve to death in
the desert.  But there was no escape; I resigned myself to the will of
Allah.

The altercation increased, Mohammed being assailed with a thousand
maledictions, while my ugly companion and myself held our peace in fear
and trembling.  Although the soldiers alternately threatened and cajoled
for a considerable time none entered the apartment wherein we stood, yet
our discovery seemed imminent, and looking around for means of escape we
could detect none.

Suddenly, however, there was a shuffling of feet upon the flags, and a
voice, loud in authority, cried,--

"Back, O men-at-arms!  What meanest this?  Let not thy feet desecrate
the mats of Mohammed el-Arewa's harem, for of a verity he is honest and
loyal, a trusty servant of our Imperial Master.  By my beard! thy Koran
giveth thee no right to intrude upon woman's domestic privacy.  Back, I
command thee.  Back!"

"Who art thou, son of _sebel_, who vouchest for this dyer's loyalty, and
darest to give orders unto the emissaries of his Majesty?" asked one of
the armed men, evidently their leader.

"My name," cried the newcomer, "my name is Shukri Aga.  I am Governor of
Sokoto."

Dead silence followed.  The men mumbled together in an undertone, while
our friend and protector briefly explained the position of affairs,
laying stress on the fact that the soldiers had threatened to strike off
his head.  With one accord the men fell upon their knees before the
representative of their Sultan, beseeching forgiveness, declaring that
they had been misinformed, and that they had felt assured from the first
that a devout man such as our host, would never harbour a dangerous spy.

But the Governor was inexorable.  Irritated by the insolent manner in
which his right to interfere had been questioned, he turned upon them
angrily, saying--

"Get thee gone instantly.  To-morrow the cadi shall curb thine excess of
zeal, and peradventure a taste of the bastinado will cause thee to
remember that a man's harem is sacred.  Begone!"

Receding footsteps sounded as the soldiers of the Sultan, trembling and
crestfallen, having evoked the wrath of a Governor whose harshness was
notorious, filed out without a murmur.  Then I thanked Allah for my
deliverance, while my pagan companion grinned with satisfaction from ear
to ear.  The Governor crossed the patio with our host, and remained with
him drinking coffee and smoking for a full half-hour, when he departed,
and Mohammed hastened to reassure us, exclaiming piously, "_Inshallah
bukra_" (Please God, to-morrow), afterwards leaving us in order to
conclude his arrangements for our journey.

By what means he succeeded in again silencing the tongues of the two
watchmen at the city gate, I know not, nevertheless, when the moon was
setting, and the dying moonlight and the first pallor of dawn were
mingled in a ghastly half-light, the ponderous gate creaked upon its
hinges, and I passed out, accompanied by the dwarf and the dyer.  We
fled straight on, leaving our path to fate.

As I rode my _meheri_ rapidly over the grey, sandy plain, under a sky
colourless and cheerless, Mohammed showered upon me a profusion of the
finest compliments, pronounced in the most refined and sweet accent of
which the Hausa tongue is capable, while I, finding myself again in the
desert, after so narrowly escaping my enemies, thanked him sincerely for
his strenuous and devoted efforts on our behalf.

"I owe much to the Lalla Azala--whom may Allah refresh with the abundant
showers of his blessings--and her friend is likewise mine," he said.

He was showily and picturesquely dressed in a green and white striped
robe, wide trousers of a speckled pattern and colour, like the plumage
of a Guinea-fowl, with an embroidery of green silk in the front of the
legs.  Over this he wore a crimson burnouse, while around his fez a red
and white turban was wound crosswise in neat and careful manner.  A gun
was slung over his shoulder by means of thick hangers of red silk
ornamented with enormous tassels, and his hands and arms were still
stained a deep blue.  His mount was a splendid camel, the head and neck
of which was fancifully ornamented with a profusion of tassels, bells,
and little leathern pockets containing charms.

"The Lalla Azala desireth me to conduct thee south to the border of the
land of Al-Islam, so that thou canst escape thine enemies," he said,
when we turned our backs upon the great, sun-whitened walls of the
ancient capital of Sokoto.  "We must therefore cross the desert and gain
the forest with all speed, for doubtless the plains are being scoured by
hawk-eyed horsemen, who will not spare thee, now that a price hath been
set upon thine head."  Then, raising his hand before him, westward,
towards the dark, low range of distant hills, he added, "Yonder are the
Goulbi-n-Kebbi, while to the left thou seest the caravan-route that
leadeth to Gando.  To venture within towns or villages would be unsafe,
therefore we must cross the hills and seek the forest of Tebkis beyond."

"Knowest thou the routes in the forest?"  I asked.

"Yes, I learned them years ago when, in my youth, I accompanied the
ivory-traders from Agadez far south, even unto the banks of the mighty
Congo."

"And the route we are following.  Whither will it lead us?"

"To the Niger, where dwell the pagans," he answered.  "At the river bank
I shall leave thee to return to my home."

"In thy wanderings in the south thou hast, I suppose, witnessed many
strange things," I said, knowing the long, tedious journeys performed by
ivory caravans.

"For ten weary years I travelled through desert and forest," he
answered, "and many strange peoples and strange countries of the pagans
have mine eyes beheld."

"Yet, during thy travels, hast thou never discovered the Rock of the
Great Sin of which the wise men tell?"  I asked.  It was evident Azala
had not disclosed to him the object of my quest, therefore I was
determined to ascertain what he knew regarding the strange legend.

The old man laughed, shaking his head.

"Mine eyes have never been gladdened by its sight, although many are
assured that the rock actually existeth, and hideth some wondrous
marvel.  In twenty lands the conviction is current that the Rock of the
Great Sin is more than imaginary.  That it existeth, though none can
tell where, I have with mine own ears heard from the <DW64>s on the Dua
river, as well as those who live in the forests of far Buraka.  In
Dahomey, in Yorouba, in Foumbina, in the country of Samory, in the
desert of the Daza, and in the great swamps of Zoulou beyond Lake Tsad,
the same popular conviction existeth as firmly as among our own people.
The pagans, while believing as implicitly as we of Al-Islam that the
rock is unapproachable, are also imbued with an idea that the very air
in its vicinity is poisonous, and to this attribute the fact that nobody
has been able to approach sufficiently near to take observations.  In
Gourma the <DW64>s declare that the rock is by night and day enveloped
in a dense, black smoke which veileth it from all human eyes, for their
fire-god resideth there and hideth himself in its wondrous fastnesses.
The Bedouins of the Digguera entertain a firm-rooted conviction that the
river Al-Cawthar and the paradise of those who fall valiantly in battle
lieth beyond the mystic rock; the Bazou of the Marpa Mountains, on the
other hand, maintain that the rock is the centre of the earth, that it
is hollow, and that those who betray their friends, or who attack their
blood-brothers, go therein to dwell in fearful torment, while the
Kanouri and the Tuaregs declare it to be the abode of all the prophets,
martyrs and saints of Al-Islam, who, though believed to be dead have
been transported thither unseen.  They say the faces of the holy men are
blooming, their eyes bright, and blood would issue from their bodies if
wounded, and further, that the Angel Israfil watcheth over them, ready
to sound the great trumpet on the last day.  These, and hundreds of such
quaint beliefs have been related to me by <DW64>s, wise men and
story-tellers in the course of my wanderings, but the Rock of the Great
Sin itself no man hath ever set eyes upon, and I should regard as a
maniac any person who went forth expecting to discover it."

"Why?  Are there not many regions still unknown to men?"  I asked.

"Truly, but our perspicuous Book telleth us that what Allah hath hidden
man should not seek," he answered, piously.  "For centuries many have,
out of curiosity, sought the strange rock which pagans believe to the
abode of their gods, and some sects of Al-Islam assert is the
dwelling-place of the mighty dead, but none has discovered it.  It is
Allah's will that mortal eyes shall never rest upon it, therefore bad
fortune and violent death overtake those who defy the divine wrath and
attempt to penetrate the mystery."

"Always?"

"Always," the old man answered, with solemnity.  "Upon the inquisitive,
Allah, to whom the knowledge belongeth, setteth the mark of his
displeasure with the two-edged sword of Death."

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

IN THE WILDERNESS.

On over the stony hills called the Goulbi-n-Kebbi, where around us
stretched, as far as our wearied eyes could penetrate, a trackless waste
of yellow, sunlit sand; on across a desert peopled only with echoes, a
wilderness where there was nothing but He, and where the hot, violent
wind sent blinding clouds of dust into our faces at every step of our
beasts; on over the rough rocks, where a little stunted herbage
struggled for an existence, we pressed forward, scarcely halting
throughout the blazing, breathless day.

Inured as I was to the baking heat and many hardships of desert life, I
nevertheless found this journey terribly fatiguing.  But Tiamo and I
were flying for our lives.  To escape south into the unknown <DW64>-land
of Central Africa, beyond the territory of the Sultan 'Othman, was our
object, therefore neither of us complained of the pace at which our
solemn-faced guide conducted us.

At a small oasis, where we found an encampment of Salameat Arabs, we
exchanged our camels for asses, and when the sun sank before us three
days later we entered the forest of Tebkis by a track which led due
south in serpentine wanderings, and compelled us to proceed in single
file.  Several times old Mohammed drew my attention to the traces of
elephants.  We had now passed beyond the boundary of the Sultan's
Empire, and had at last entered the little-known Land of the Pagans.  As
we pushed forward the forest became more dense, but the trees with
golden shafts of light glinting through the foliage, cast cool shadows,
for which we were thankful.  Still we travelled on, until, just as it
was time for prayers, we reached the site of what had apparently years
ago been a large town.

"There are sad recollections connected with this spot," Mohammed said,
in answer to my inquiries.  "In my early youth the town of Kousara,
which stood here, was an important place, and to it Ibrahim, Sultan of
Sokoto, the predecessor of our present ruler, retired after his palace
in Sokoto had been sacked by Magajin Haddedu, King of Katsena, which at
that time was an independent state.  From here he waged unrelenting but
unsuccessful war against the bloody-minded enemies of Al-Islam, and
once, indeed, the troops of Haddedu were driven out of the city of
Sokoto; but they soon returned with fresh zeal and with a fresh force of
fighting-men, and the Sultan Ibrahim was expelled from his ancient
capital for ever.  Then commenced a campaign against him, in this, his
forest retreat, and after several battles this town of Kousara was
taken, ransacked and burnt."

A solitary colossal baobab, raising its huge, leafless, smoke-blackened
frame from the prickly underwood which thickly overgrew the locality,
pointed out the market-place, once teeming with life, a half-charred
monument of a fierce and desperate struggle for religious and political
independence.  But in order to get away from this neighbourhood, so full
of melancholy associations, Mohammed, cursing and execrating the memory
of Haddedu, pushed forward until we came to a large granitic mass
projecting from the ground, which my Arab companion called Korrematse,
and stated was once a place of worship of the pagans.  Here we
dismounted and spread our mats for the _maghrib_, afterwards encamping
at the wild, deserted spot until dawn, when we moved off still
southward, three hours later obtaining our first glimpse of the broad
Niger, glittering in the bright morning sunlight.

At the river-bank it became a question for me to decide in which
direction I should travel upon my strange quest--the nature of which I
had been careful not to impart to Mohammed--and at length, knowing that
in the north Gando, Borgu and even the fetish city of Nikki had been
well explored by traders of my own race, I decided to continue
southward, following the river as far as possible, and then striking in
the direction of the sunrise across the unexplored regions in search of
any information that would lead me to the spot where was promised an
elucidation of the indelible mark I bore, and of a mystery which had
puzzled the wise men of Al-Islam for centuries.

After much parleying and considerable persuasion, Mohammed decided to
accompany us through the country of the Nupes, therefore we moved along
the river bank through swamps of giant mangroves, those weird trees with
gaunt grotesque roots exposed in mid air that seemed to spend their
leisure in forming themselves into living conundrums.  To the medley of
unsightly tree-forms the contrast of the bank of forest which bordered
the river-side when the mangrove swamps were past proved a welcome and
pleasing contrast.

Proceeding with difficulty along a track made by the natives, we found
the fringe of forest exquisite both in colouring and form.  In
colouring, because mingled with every tint of green were masses of
scarlet, yellow and purple blossoms; in form, because interlaced with
the giant mahogany and cotton trees were the waving, fern-like fronds of
the oil palm, and the still more beautiful raphia, as well as colossal
silk-cotton trees, veritable giants of the forest.  Dum and deleb palms,
the kigelia with its enormous branches, the shea, or butter-tree,
mimosas, euphorbias, gummiferous acacias, and hundreds of varieties of
thorny and scrubby plants.

Indeed, as day after day we slowly ascended the river by the narrow
winding track, the scene on the opposite side was a panorama of
beautiful colour.  We met one or two traders of the Franks and many
woolly-headed natives, half-clad and wearing strange amulets and curious
head-dresses; we passed through many palm-shaded villages, but were
unmolested, for being two Arabs travelling alone with a single <DW64>
slave we were regarded as traders and not as slave-raiders, or "wicked
people," who always appeared suddenly, with an armed band ready to burn,
massacre and plunder.

Besides, Mohammed had taken a wise precaution before setting out upon
the journey.  While Shukri Aga, the Governor of Sokoto, had taken coffee
with him on the memorable night prior to our departure, he had obtained
from him a letter in Arabic, without which credential we might have been
regarded with suspicion by the various chiefs through whose territory we
travelled.  It read:--

"_Praise be unto Allah, Lord of all creatures, and to His Prophet, for
the gift of the pen by which we can make known our salutations and our
wishes to our friends at a distance.  This letter cometh from Shukri
Aga, son of Abdul Salami, who was called Kiama, Governor of Sokoto, in
the name of the Great Sultan 'Othman, whose actions are directed by the
one Allah, with salutations to his friend Mohammed el-Arewa, citizen of
Sokoto.  Thou art our friend in this affair.  Thou art not among the
warriors; thou art a traveller in many towns of different people.  Look
now, he is a traveller on account of buying and selling and of all
trades.  Thou shouldst hear this.  Friendship and respect existeth
between us.  If he come to you, dismiss him with friendship until he
cometh to the end of his journey.  Assuredly he is high in favour with
the Sultan of our land.  Thou shouldst leave this Arab alone.  It is
trade he requireth of thee; he is not of the wicked people, but peace_."

Armed with this letter of introduction we ascended the river, receiving
the greatest civility from the industrious people, who, however, were
living in daily dread of their lives from the incursions of the wild
Borgu raiders.

Until we arrived at the town of Lokoja, at the confluence of the Benue
river with the Niger, a journey occupying thirteen days, Mohammed
remained with us.  Then we parted, he to return home by the route of the
ivory caravans which ran due north, through Zozo and Zamfara, we to
ascend the Benue river in search of the Rock of the Great Sin.  When on
the morning he embraced me, sprang into his saddle, and raising his hand
wished us farewell, I felt that I was parting from an old friend.  To
him my dwarfed companion and myself owed our lives; to him we owed our
safe conduct beyond the clutches of the Sultan's horsemen; to him we
owed the letter from the Governor of Sokoto which now reposed in the
pocket of my gandoura; to him we owed the directions that we were about
to follow, in order to reach the great, unexplored land.

"May Allah, peace and safety, attend thee.  May the One Merciful guide
thy footsteps, be generous to thee, and give thee prosperity," he cried,
as he turned to leave.  "And may the sun of his grace shine upon thee
and illuminate the path of thy return to the true-hearted woman thou
lovest.  At the _isha_ each night will I remember thee.  Farewell, and
peace.  _Fi amaniillah_."

"And upon thee may the Omniscient One ever shower his blessings.  May
the Prophet be thy protector," I cried in response.

But he had cried, "_Yahh!  Yahh_!" to his ass, and the beast, thus urged
forward, was jogging rapidly away on the first stage of his long journey
northwards.

My pledge to Azala, and her earnest words that recurred to me, alone
prompted me to continue my journey.  A wanderer in desert and forest,
with the soul of the true-born Bedouin, ever restless, ever moving, I
had seen much of that half-civilised life led by the people beyond the
influence of the Roumis.  In London, cooped up amid the so-called
civilisation of the English, their streets and shops, their wonderful
buildings, and their women with uncovered faces, I cared nought for
study, longing always for the free life of the plains that knows not
law.  Even of Algiers I had tired, and chosen a wandering existence of
my own free will, exiling myself even from my Arab clansmen, and
becoming a soldier of the great Mahdi, who, with his contemptuous
disregard for human life, had spread the terror of his name in letters
of blood.  Yet through it all the one mystery of my life, the indelible
mark upon my breast, had remained unsolved.  Nay, its mystic
significance had increased, for having looked with love for the first
time upon a woman, I had found that she also bore the mystic device.

It was to endeavour to penetrate this mystery, to discover the spot, the
reflection of which had appeared often in Kano as a mystic
cloud-picture, that I had set out, and I became filled with a
determination to strive towards it as long as Allah gave me breath.
Forward I would fight my way, and plunge without fear into the
trackless, unknown regions of which Mohammed had spoken, and question
the people of the various countries eastward, to ascertain if any could
direct me to where stood the gloomy Rock of the Great Sin.

Accompanied by the ugly dwarf, whose conversation was always quaint, and
who entertained me with tales of the prowess of his people, as numerous
and varied as those stored within the brain of a Dervish storyteller, we
travelled onward day by day, week by week, up the swiftly-flowing Benue,
where manioc, pumpkins, yams, kola-nuts, colocasia, rijel, sugar-canes,
and the helmia, whose tuberous root resembles the potato in taste and
appearance, grew in great abundance through the fertile Foulde country,
beneath the high granite crags of Mount Yarita, and at last, leaving the
river, a mere stream so small that one could stand with a foot on either
bank, we made a long and toilsome ascent, at length finding ourselves
upon a great, sandy plateau devoid of herbage.  Guiding our course by
the sun, we struck one day at dawn due eastward, over great dunes of
treacherous shifting sand, into which the feet of our asses sank at
every step, rendering progress very slow and extremely difficult.

For a long time we were both silent; it was as much as we could do to
advance with our animals halting and turning obstinately at every step.
Suddenly I was startled by Tiamo crying aloud in dismay, "_Balek!
Elgueubeli_!"  (Take care! the sandstorm).

Then, for the first time, I realised that a strange darkness had fallen,
that the morning sun had become utterly obscured by a dense, black
cloud, and gigantic sand columns were whirling over the plain at furious
speed.  Next moment, a howling, tearing wind swept upon us with the
force of a tornado.  As I twisted my ragged haick quickly about my face,
to shield my eyes and mouth, my ass, apprehensive of our danger, veered
round with his hindquarters to the tempest.  I leaned towards the ass's
neck, and felt him tremble beneath me.

Then, in an instant, I received a terrific shock; it seemed to me that a
camel's pack of sand had fallen all at once upon my head.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

ZU, THE BIRD-GOD.

So heavily had I been struck that it was with difficulty I regained my
breath and kept my seat.  For some minutes the sand whirled about me so
thickly that Tiamo, only a leopard's leap away, became obscured in the
sudden darkness.  With mouth and eyes filled with fine sand I
experienced a horrible sensation of being stifled, and clutched
frantically at my throat for air, but in a few moments the storm grew
less violent, and when I looked for the dwarf he had disappeared.

At first it seemed as though the strong wind had carried him completely
away, but in a few seconds I discovered him half buried, and struggling
in the great ridge of sand that had been formed behind us.  Quickly I
hastened to his assistance and extricated him, when with his habitual
hideous grin, as if amused by his own words, he told me how, being of
small weight, the great wind had lifted him from the back of his ass,
and rolling him over, buried him in the loose sand.

His was indeed a narrow escape, but apparently he was little worse for
his exciting experience than myself, and even as we spoke the wind
abated, the sky cleared, the sandstorm swept northward on its course to
Lake Tsad, and the glaring sun shone again in the dead milk-white sky.
For half-an-hour we halted to rest, then recommenced with fresh vigour
the painful, tedious march over the dreary waste where Nature made a
pause.

Four long and wearying days we occupied in traversing that lonely plain,
at length descending into a fertile valley, through which a large river
ran towards the south-east.  This, we learned from a group of
dark-skinned natives, who at first threatened us but afterwards became
friendly, was known to them as the Ba-bai.  The men, savages of coppery
hue, were apparently hunters of the Bangbai, a powerful tribe who were
constantly carrying carnage and victory far and wide southward, in the
direction of the mighty Congo, and who were held in awe by all the
neighbouring tribes.  Of these Tiamo, who found he could converse with
them in his native dialect, inquired whether they had any knowledge of
the rock we sought, but with one accord they shook their heads, and
replied, raising their bows and spears towards the sky.  Their answer,
as rendered into Arabic by the dwarf, was,--

"Of the Rock of the Great Sin our fetish-men have told for long ages.
It is said to be far away in the sky.  It cannot be on the earth, our
spear-men have travelled all over the earth, and none has seen it."

So, ever failing to find a clue, we continued our way through the lands
of the Gaberi and the Sara, along the bank of the Ba-bai, which
sometimes wound through wide, rocky wildernesses, at others through
valleys where palms and bananas grew in wondrous profusion, and often
through forests and mangrove swamps that occupied us many days in
traversing, where there was an equatorial verdure of eternal blossom and
the foliage was of brightest green.

All along the bank of the Ba-bai, as we ascended still further, pressing
deeper into the country of the pagans, there were forests of uniform
breadth, overshadowing warm, inert waters--forests full of poisonous
odours and venomous reptiles.  This country, as all of the great land of
Central Africa, rested under a spell of sombre gloom and appalling
silence; yet it was a great relief for the eye, fevered and weary after
the glaring monotony of desert sands.

For a whole moon we continued our journey due south along the winding
river, until one night we came to a point where the waters broke off in
two directions to the north and to the south.  Northward, I supposed it
would take us away into the desert again, therefore I chose the smaller
river running up from the south, and for many days we travelled onward,
learning from the natives of a strange little village, who seemed
generally well-disposed towards us, that the river was known to them as
the Bahar-el-Ardh, and that it had its source in the dense forest where
lived the fierce people called the Niam-niam, whose flights of poisoned
arrows had killed many of their bravest warriors.

Up this river we journeyed many days, until at length, near its source,
we came to a village of conical huts, the denizens of which viewed us
with suspicion, and threatened us with their long, razor-edged spears.

When, however, I had assured the chief, who sat before his little hut,
that I was not one of the Wara Sura, the soldiers of the dreaded
slave-raider, Kabba Rega, who periodically visited their country,
devastated their land and carried off their cattle, and we both became
convinced that friendship was possible, the mystery of our presence was
explained by Tiamo, that we were only travelling to discover a great
rock which was reported to be in their country.  Had he ever heard of
such a rock?

He answered eagerly: "Meanest thou the Great Rock where dwelleth the
bird-god Zu, `the wise one'?"

"I know not thy gods, for I am a son of Al-Islam, and follower of the
Prophet," I replied, through the dwarf.  "Tell me of thy bird-god."

"Zu dwelleth upon the summit of a high rock," he answered.  "It was he
who stole the tablets of destiny and the secrets of the sun `god of
light,' and brought them down to earth, but he himself was banished to
the summit of the Rock of the Great Sin, where he dwelleth alone, and
may not descend among us."

"And the rock.  Hast thou never seen it?"

"I have heard of it, but mine eyes have never gazed upon it.  Our sacred
spots are always hidden from us."

"From whom hast thou heard mention of it?"  I inquired of this chieftain
of the Niam-niam.

"Some men of the Avisibba, who were taken prisoners by me in a fight
long ago, made mention that one of their headmen had seen it.  They knew
not its direction, but thought it was beyond the Forest of Perpetual
Night."

"And the Avisibba.  Who are they?  Where is their country?"  I demanded,
eagerly.

"Continue up this river for twelve days, until thou comest to a point
where three streams diverge.  Take the centre one, which in nine days
will lead thee through the country of Abarmo to Bangoya, thence,
travelling due south for fourteen days, thou wilt reach the great river
the Aruwimi, upon the banks of which dwell the man-eaters of the
Avisibba."

"Man-eaters!"  I gasped.  "Do they eat human flesh?"

The chief smiled as Tiamo put my question to him.  "Yea," he answered.
"They eat their captives, therefore have a care of thine own skin.
Mention no word that thou hast seen me, or, being our enemies, thou wilt
assuredly die."

I thanked him for his directions, and prepared to resume my weary quest,
but he bade me be seated, and his wives prepared a feast for myself and
my dark companion.  Heartily enough we ate, for the food we had brought
with us had given out long ago.  One's living in that region, unexplored
only by ivory and slave-raiders, was, to say the least, precarious;
partaking of a savage's hospitality one day, and the next thanking Allah
for a single wood-bean.  But through our many hardships Tiamo never
grumbled.  He fingered his amulets, and presumably prayed to his gods,
but no word of dissatisfaction ever fell from his lips.  Though gloomy
and taciturn, he proved an excellent travelling companion, and his
devotion towards his mistress Azala was unequalled.  When his mind was
made up, he was a man of great nerve, fertile resource, and illimitable
daring.  At the invitation of the chief of the Niam-niam, we smoked and
remained that night within his village, circular and stockaded to keep
out the wild animals, then at dawn gave him a piece of cloth and bade
him farewell.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

THE FOREST OF PERPETUAL NIGHT.

Onward, along the track by the river bank, penetrating deeper and deeper
into the great, limitless, virgin forest of the Congo--that region
absolutely unknown to civilised man--we proceeded by paths very
infrequently employed, under dark depths of bush, where our progress was
interrupted every few minutes by the tangle.  For food, we had tubers of
manioc; for drink, the water of the river.

Approaching the native town of Bangoya, I climbed into a tree to view
it; but not liking the savage look of the people, we avoided the place,
and, acting on the advice we had received, left the river bank and
turned towards the great Forest of Perpetual Night, striking due south
in search of the Aruwimi river, and the cannibals of the Avisibba, who
knew the whereabouts of the Rock of the Great Sin.

As we left the river we commenced to tramp over primeval swamps, almost
impenetrable, and low-lying land that had been submerged by the winter
flood.  We were alone, in a trackless, unexplored land, far from cities
and the ways of men.  The moon glanced in through the leaf gaps, like a
face grown white with fear; the bright-plumaged birds fluttered and
chattered, disturbed, and a wind stole through the tree tops, with a
sound like the roar of ocean's wrath heard in the calm of ocean's
depths.  Nor foot of man, nor foot of beast had trodden large areas of
those pathless thickets--save, perhaps, some homeless elephant--since
the days of an elder creation, and one's imagination could fancy the
giant lizards and extinct amphibians without incongruity in such
desolate wilds.  In parts all Nature was still, in that wide,
pestilential swamp that gave entrance to the virgin forest; neither bird
nor monkey disturbed the silence, unless it be a crocodile moving slowly
in the ooze, a long-legged wader, or a solemn crane.  Soon, however, the
ground became drier, the trees more thick, and at last we plunged into
the wonderful forest of which I had long ago heard so much from <DW64>
slaves, even away in far-off Omdurman--the huge, towering forest and
jungly undergrowth that covers an area of over three hundred thousand
square miles of the centre of the African continent.  Here, one can
travel for six whole moons, through forest, bush and jungle, without
seeing a piece of grassland the size of a praying-mat.  Nothing but
leagues and leagues--endless leagues of gigantic, gloomy forest, in
various stages of growth, and various degrees of altitude, according to
the ages of the trees, with varying thickness of undergrowth, according
to the character of the foliage, which afforded thicker or slighter
shade.

Throughout many days we strode on fast through the mighty trees, and
forced our way onward, travelling always southward as near as we could
guess, through this primeval forest, a journey fraught with more terrors
than any we had previously experienced.  The great trunks, gloomy, gaunt
and sombre, grew so thickly as to shut out the blessed light of the sun,
therefore, even at high noon, there was only twilight, and, for many
hours each day, we were in darkness--impenetrable and appalling.  Had it
not been that I was convinced we should ere long reach the Aruwimi, I
should have turned back, but, once having plunged into that trackless
forest, there was no returning.

The attacks upon us by insects drove us almost to the verge of madness.
By day tiny beetles bored underneath the skin and pricked one like
needles; the mellipona bee troubled one's eyes; ticks, small and large,
sucked one's blood; wasps in swarms came out to the attack as we passed
their haunts; the tiger-slug dropped from the branches and left his
poisonous hairs in the pores of the skin; and black ants fell from the
trumpet-trees as we passed underneath, and gave us a foretaste of
Al-Hawiyat.  At night there were frequent storms; trees were struck by
the lightning, and the sound of the tempest-torn foliage was like the
roar of the breakers on a rocky shore.  Snakes, chimpanzees and
elephants were among our companions, while the crick of the cricket, the
shrill, monotonous piping of the cicada, the perpetual chorus of frogs,
the doleful cry of the lemur were among the sounds that rendered night
in that lone land hideous and repulsive.

Suffering severely from hunger, without light or sunshine, and compelled
to be ever on the alert lest we should be attacked, it was a journey
full of terrors.  The tribes of the forest were, I knew, the most
vicious on the face of the earth, and every noise of breaking twigs, or
of the falling of decayed branches, caused us to halt with our rifles in
readiness.  The legs of our asses had been rendered bare by the myriads
of insects, and the centipedes, mammoth beetles and mosquitoes caused us
considerable pain, yet that unexplored forest was full of fascinating
wonders.  Many of the trees, weird and grotesque, were centuries old,
and some giants--the teak, the camwood, the mahogany, the green-heart,
the stinkwood, the ebony, the copal-wood with its glossy foliage, the
arborescent mango, the wild orange with delicate foliage, stately
acacias, and silver-boled wild fig towered to enormous heights, and over
them, from tree to tree, ran millions of beautiful vines, streaming with
countless tendrils, with the bright green of orchid leaves.  Great
lengths of whip-like calamus lianes twisted like dark serpents, masses
of enormous flowering convolvuli and red knots of amoma and crimson dots
of phrynia berries were confusedly intertwined and matted until all
light from heaven was obscured, except a stray beam here and there which
told that the sun was shining and it was day above.  The midnight
silence of the forest dropped about us like a pall.

As we struggled onward, existing as best we could upon roots and fruit,
and with our clothes torn to shreds by the brambles, thoughts of Azala
constantly occurred to me.  Of time I had kept no count, but already
four moons must have passed since I had left Kano.  Perhaps the
conspiracy between the Khalifa and Khazneh, Aga of the Women, had been
carried out, but having sent warning of it by Ayehsa to Azala, I felt
assured that the woman I loved would place his Majesty on his guard, and
the base machinations of the pair of scoundrels would be frustrated, and
the Empire saved from those who were seeking its overthrow.

Azala trusted in me to elucidate the mystery.  Her deep, earnest request
uttered before we parted, rang ever in my ears in that trackless, lonely
region, her words stimulated me to strive onward to ascertain from the
fierce savages of the Avisibba the whereabouts of the Rock of the Great
Sin.

"What time has elapsed since we set forth?"  I asked of Tiamo, one day
as we plodded doggedly forward.

"Nearly four moons, O master," he answered, promptly.  "See!  I have
notched the days upon my gun's stock," and he held out his gun, showing
how he had preserved a record of time.  I told him to continue to keep
count of each day, then asked him if anxiety or fear possessed him.

"I am the slave of the beauteous Lalla, sent on a quest to bring her
peace.  Thou art her devoted friend.  While thou leadest me I fear not
to follow," and mumbling, he fingered his amulets.

"Be it as Allah willeth," I said.  "Peradventure he will reward us, and
gladden our eyes with a sight of the mystic rock.  If it is anywhere on
earth it is in these regions, unknown to all but the ivory-raiders who
come up from the Congo and return thither."

"Let us search, O master," the dwarf, said encouragingly.  "Though our
stomachs are empty and our feet sore from long tramping, yet if we
continue we shall find the river."

"Bravely spoken, Tiamo," I answered.  "Thou art well named El-Sadic.
Yea, we will continue our search, for with a light heart and
perseverance much can be accomplished.  Though of small stature, thou
hast indeed a stout heart."

He grinned with satisfaction, and we trudged onward in silence through
the falling gloom, resolved to bear our weariness bravely for the sake
of the beautiful woman who, imprisoned in the great, far-off palace, was
watching and waiting anxiously for our return to release her by solving
the secret.

The strange device that seemed to link our lives puzzled me even in that
dark forest, and many hours I remained silent, wondering whether I
should ever ascertain how we both came to bear marks exactly similar in
every detail.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

A PAGAN LAND.

In that dull, dispiriting gloom I knew not the time of the _maghrib_ or
the _isha_, nor the direction of the Ka'abah of the Holy City,
nevertheless I spread my mat and prayed fervently to Allah, the
Compassionate, the Merciful, to allow the light of his blessing to shine
upon me and guide my footsteps to where I might obtain the clue I
sought.  Tiamo stood regarding me with a look which plainly told that he
considered my prayers as mere empty forms and ceremonies.  One of his
peculiarities was that he believed not in Allah nor in his apostle
Mohammed, and holding the pious in contempt, he placed faith in spirits,
magic and sacrifices to the pagan deities.

Having toiled on in the forest for twenty days and discovering no sign
of the Aruwimi, we began seriously to doubt whether we were not
penetrating those sunless glades in the wrong direction, and travelling
parallel with the river instead of towards its bank.  Without sun or
star to guide us, we were wandering beneath the giant trees, the foliage
and creepers of which had become so dense that now and then further
progress in that depressing darkness seemed impossible.  Yet ever and
anon we found tracks of elephants and hippopotami, which we took, our
eyes ever strained before us to behold some welcome gleam of light which
would show us where ran the river.

All was dark, gloomy, rayless.  Though neither of us admitted it, we
both were aware that we were lost amid that primeval mass of tropical
vegetation, into the depths of which even the savages themselves dare
not venture.  We had one day crossed a number of small swamps, and
thick, scum-faced quagmires, green with rank weeds, emitting a stench
most sickening, and on emerging from the foetid slough into which our
feet sank at every step, a dozen black heads suddenly appeared above the
undergrowth.

Next second, ere we could recover from our surprise, the weird echoes of
the forest were awakened by fiendish yells, as twenty black warriors,
veritable companions of the left hand, wearing strange head-dresses with
black tufts of feathers, and unclothed save for a piece of bark-cloth
around their loins, and a thick pad of goat-skin on the left arm to
protect it from the bow string, bounded towards us, running long and
low, with heads stretched forward and spears trailing, shouting,
brandishing their long, broad-headed weapons, and drawing their bows
ready to send their poisoned arrows through our bodies.

They had evidently lain in ambush, believing us to be scouts of Kabba
Rega, or of Ugarrowwa, Abed bin Salem, or some other ivory-raider from
the Congo, and so suddenly did they appear, screaming, threatening and
gesticulating, that I deemed it best to throw down my rifle and raised
my hands to show I had no hostile intent.  Seized quickly by these tall,
slim, thick-lipped, monkey-eyed men, who bore quivers full of arrows
smeared freshly with a dark, copal- substance, we were dragged
onward in triumph for nearly two hours, preceded by a band of leaping,
exultant warriors who, from the interest they took in our asses and the
close manner in which they all scrutinised them, I judged had never seen
such animals before.

One of our captors, snatching my rifle from my grasp, held it aloft in
glee, crying,--

"Tippu-tib!  Tippu-tib!" whereat his companions laughed and yelled
triumphantly.

This incident brought to my memory that the renown of the relentless
slave-raider Tippu-Tib had reached Omdurman, and that this name had been
bestowed upon him by the natives because the noise made by the rifles of
his dreaded band sounded like "tippu-tib."  This savage's joy when, a
few moments later, on touching the trigger the rifle discharged, was
unbounded.  The others crowded around him, chattering and gesticulating
like apes, then finding they could not cause another explosion they
handed it to me, compelling me to reload it.  Again it was fired, one of
the dusky denizens of the forest narrowly escaping, for the bullet
struck his head-dress and carried it away, much to the amusement of his
companions.

While this was proceeding our position was exceedingly critical.  As
prisoners in the hands of these vicious warriors our lives were in
greatest danger, and whither they were hurrying us we knew not.

As in sorry plight we were dragged forward, Tiamo addressed a question
to one of the sinewy savages who held him.  At first it was apparent
that their tongue was different to any he knew, but after some questions
and replies, the dwarf, in a wail of dismay, cried to me in Arabic,--

"We are lost, O master!  We are lost!"

"Keep a stout heart," I answered.  "We may yet escape."

"Alas! never," he answered, in despair.  "We have fallen into the hands
of the ghoulish Avisibba!"

"It is these men of whom we have been in search," I observed.

"Yea, O master!  But have we not been told that they kill and eat their
captives?  Have we not been warned that they are among the fiercest
cannibals of the Forest of the Congo?"

The truth of his assertion I could not deny.  I glanced at the two
half-nude warriors who held me, and saw their white teeth had been filed
to points.  The distinguishing mark upon their bodies appeared to be
double rows of tiny cicatrices across the chest and abdomen; they wore
wristlets of polished metal, several small rings in their ears, and
around their necks I distinguished in the twilight objects which caused
me to shudder in horror.  Each wore around his neck a string of human
teeth!

Roughly they dragged us onward, until presently we struck a native path
tramped by travel to exceeding smoothness and hardness, but so narrow
that we were compelled to walk in single file through the dense jungle.
The path diverged suddenly at a point where a tree trunk had fallen
across it, and this point was avoided by my captors, who, instead of
stepping over the obstruction, plunged into the jungle and rejoined the
path further on.  The reason of this I was not slow in ascertaining.  I
found that in that fallen tree was one of the defences of the village we
were approaching.  Just beyond the trunk, where the stranger would place
his foot in stepping over it, these crafty forest satyrs had placed a
number of sharp skewers smeared with arrow-poison, concealed by dead
leaves that had apparently floated down from the trees.  Therefore, an
enemy approaching would receive a puncture, which in a few minutes would
result in death.

Suddenly, through the gnarled boles of the trees before us, we saw a
gleam of blue sky, and shortly afterwards found ourselves at a small
clearing on the bank of a broad river, which our captors told us was the
Nouellie, or, as some termed it, the Aruwimi.  At the bank two
war-canoes were moored near a small village, and our asses having been
carefully tethered we were placed in one of the boats, and, escorted by
the remainder of the yelling, exultant cannibals, rowed up the winding
river a considerable distance, keeping along the opposite bank.

It was evident we were to be taken to the principal village, being
regarded as valuable prizes.

Accustomed as my companion and myself had grown to the perpetual
twilight, the sudden sunlight and brilliance of day dazzled us.  The
waters seemed stagnant and motionless; the sun was at its zenith, and
the heat so terrible that even the black rowers, in spite of their
exultation at having captured two strangers, ceased rowing for a few
moments, keeping in the deep shadows of the mangroves and allowing the
canoe to drift.  Again they rowed, and the boat, dividing the waters,
continued its sinuous course up the river, threading its way quickly
between the sombre forests.  Upon the banks we could see great blue
alligators, stretched lazily in the mud, their slimy mouths agape, as on
their backs perched tiny, white birds, resting to plume themselves.  On
the entwining, interlacing roots of the mangroves, brilliant
martin-fishers and curious lizards took their afternoon siesta, while
butterflies, with gorgeous wings, flitted here and there, sparkling like
jewels in the sunshine.

The scene was brilliant and beautiful after the darkness of the Great
Forest, but we had no time to admire the river's charms, for in a few
moments our canoe was turned suddenly into a creek, our captors sprang
ashore, dragging us out, and while several men ran on in front to
announce in the village the arrival of prisoners, the others pushed us
forward with scant politeness.

As soon as we came within sight of the village--a large collection of
low huts surrounded by a tall palisade, which we learned was called
Avisibba--hundreds of yelling savages of both sexes came forth to meet
us, and as we were triumphantly dragged along the wide space between the
two rows of huts, the crowd pressed around us, heaping curses upon us,
and causing a continual and ear-splitting din.  Between the village and
the Aruwimi was a belt of forest about two gunshots wide.  Each house
was surrounded by strong, tall palisades of split logs, higher than a
man, which rendered the place defensible even against rifles, and as we
were marched into the centre of the place with our captors holding up
our rifles, exhibiting them to the people, I noticed their threatening
expressions.

The populace were urging their warriors to kill us, and I feared the
worst.  Pondering on the difficulties of the situation, I could discern
no ray of hope for the success of my mission.

When, however, our belongings had been thoroughly examined by the people
in the centre of the village, the excitement slowly abated, and after
every man, woman and child had come to gaze upon us with open-mouthed
curiosity, we were lashed securely to two trees opposite one another and
left to our own sad thoughts while our savage captors leaped, beat their
tam-tams and held great rejoicings within our sight, pointing in our
direction and capering gleefully before us.

In the centre of the village we could see men and women busily
constructing some kind of platform of roughly-hewn logs.  Transfixed
with horror, our breath came and went quickly.  We knew that these
people were fierce cannibals of bad repute, and, bound and helpless,
dreaded the worst.

They were erecting a kind of rude altar whereon our life-blood was to be
shed, and our hearts torn out and held up to the execration of the
dusky, screaming mob.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

AVISIBBA.

Slowly the shadows lengthened as the fierce, chattering horde ran hither
and thither, scattering the goats and fowls in their haste to prepare
the platform.  Upon a large and malodorous refuse-heap, close to the
spot where we were secured, many human skulls and bones had been flung,
showing only too plainly that the Avisibba were eaters of human flesh.
The sun-blanched skulls, of which there were scores, thrilled us with
horror, for their presence spoke mutely of the horrible fate awaiting
us.  Presently, something white attracted my attention at a little
distance beyond the pile of village refuse, and almost at the same
moment we both discovered that we were not the only prisoners in the
hands of the Avisibba, but that two other men were secured to large
stakes at a little distance from us.  The white garment that had
attracted my attention was a burnouse, and, to my amazement, I saw that
its wearer was an Arab, and that his companion in misfortune was a
half-clothed savage of a dusky copper hue.

"Hail!  Son of Al-Islam!  Whence comest thou?"  I shouted in Arabic,
endeavouring to attract his attention.  But my greeting was lost amid
the shrill yells and unceasing chatter of our merciless captors.  A
group of the black warriors, each wearing a strip of bark-cloth and a
necklet of human teeth, noticing my effort to arouse my fellow-prisoner,
leaped before me, gesticulating, shouting gleefully, grinning from ear
to ear and rubbing their paunches with their hands with lively
anticipation.

Again I shouted to my luckless fellow-prisoner, but Tiamo remarked,
"See! his chin hath fallen upon his breast.  The sun hath stricken him,
and he hath lost consciousness.  Only his cords save him from falling
prone to earth."

The dwarf spoke the truth.  No doubt my co-religionist had remained
bound to the stake during the whole day, and there being no shade,
thirst and heat had consumed him.  Whence he came was a complete
mystery.  I was unaware that any Arab had penetrated the terrible Forest
of Perpetual Night, and it suddenly occurred to me that possibly there
might be some approach to the Aruwimi from the sun-lit land of Al-Islam
other than that we had traversed.

From these fierce, pugnacious savages, who set no value upon human life,
I could obtain knowledge of the whereabouts of the Rock of the Great
Sin!  They were indeed of those who have erred and denied Allah as a
falsehood, and who shall eat of the fruit of the tree of Al-Zakkum, and
fill their bellies therewith, and shall drink boiling water.  I looked
upon the strange, weird group dancing around us, ready to take our lives
and cast our bones upon the refuse-heap, wondering how I could
propitiate them and obtain the knowledge I sought.

"Speak unto them, Tiamo," I cried.  "Explain that we are not enemies;
that we are only belated wayfarers in search of the Great Rock."

The dwarf addressed them, but apparently they did not catch the meaning
of his words, for they only laughed the more.

"A hundred times, O my master, have I told them of our quest," Tiamo
answered, dolefully.  "But, alas! they will not listen.  They declare
that we are spies of Kaba Rega; that we shall die."

"Are the others spies?"  I inquired.

"I know not.  They will not loosen their tongues' strings."

It was evident we were in a very critical position, and I cried unto
Allah to place before me the shield of his protection.  Years ago I had
heard, during my studies at the French Lycee at Algiers, that almost all
the races in the Great Forest of the Congo practise cannibalism,
although in some parts it is prevented by the presence of white
civilisation.  An extensive traffic in human flesh prevails in many
districts, slaves being kept and sold as articles of food.  Contrary to
an ignorant yet very generally accepted theory, the <DW64> man-eater
never eats flesh raw, and certainly takes human flesh as food purely and
simply, and not from religious or superstitious reasons.  Among the
Avisibba we saw neither grey-haired persons, halt, maimed nor blind, for
even parents were eaten by their children on the approach of the least
sign of old age.

We saw skulls used as drinking-vessels, and even as we waited,
breathlessly apprehensive of our fate, we witnessed our captors piling
up a great fire near the platform with dried sticks and leaves.  So full
of horror was each moment that it seemed an hour.  The excitement in the
village increased.  Men brandishing their spears, and women wearing
bunches of freshly-plucked leaves at the back of their loin-cloths in
honour of the coming feast, leaped, danced and roared with bull voices.
Little black children came and looked at me curiously, no doubt
remarking upon the whiteness of my skin in comparison with theirs; then
ran away, dancing and clapping their hands, infected with the wild,
savage glee of their elders.

The sun sank, the dusk deepened, and as there gathered the shadows of a
starless night, the blazing fire in the centre of the village threw a
red, lurid glare upon the fantastic-looking huts, the crowds of savages,
and the thick foliage of the primeval forest by which we were
surrounded.  Presently there was a great stir among the warriors, mats
were hurriedly spread beneath a sickly dwarf tree near to where we were,
the great ivory horns gave forth mellow blares, reminding me of the
Khalifa's Court at Omdurman, and from among the excited crowd the chief
of the Avisibba, a tall, thin-featured savage, wearing a fine
leopard-skin, advanced and seated himself upon the low stool placed for
him.  The flickering light from the fire showed that beneath the strange
square helmet of burnished copper, surmounted by a large bunch of
parrot's feathers, was a face full of humour, pleasure and contentment.

When the whole village had assembled before him, pointing towards us,
shouting and gesticulating violently, he suddenly turned and spoke
briefly and low to his sub-chiefs and satellites.  There was an
instant's silence until the sub-chiefs spoke.  Then wild, piercing
yells, truly the war-cry of cannibals, awakened the echoes of the forest
as the whole dusky horde rushed off to where our fellow-captives were
secured.

It was evident they were to be sacrificed first.

A few moments later the bonds that had held the copper-hued <DW64> to the
stake were loosened, and he was hurried by a dozen warriors into the
presence of their chief, amid a storm of triumphant cries.  The courage
displayed by the unfortunate captive was indomitable.  Folding his arms,
he stood before the chief of his enemies, gazing upon him with withering
contempt.  The onlookers were silent.  The chief, squatting upon his
low, six-legged stool, uttered some fierce words, apparently
interrogating him, to which the doomed man replied with scornful
gesture.

Again the tall warrior in the copper helmet gave the victim a quick
glance, his eyes gleaming with unearthly glitter in his almost
featureless face, and repeated his question; but the proud
forest-dweller reared his tall body up, raising his voice until his
words reached me.  Tiamo was equally startled with myself, for the
half-naked savage was speaking in Arabic, apparently ignorant of the
tongue of the cannibals.

Standing calmly before the chief, he delivered some terrible curses upon
him, while the crowd of savages were silent, striving to understand his
meaning.

"Thou art a dog, and a son of a dog," he shouted.  "Cursed is he who
breaketh his plighted vow; cursed is he who nourisheth secret hate;
cursed is he who turneth his back upon his friend; cursed is he who in
the day of war turneth his back against his brother; cursed is he who
eateth the flesh of his enemies; cursed is he who defileth his mouth
with human blood; cursed is he who deviseth evil to his friend whose
blood has become one with his own.  May sickness waste his strength and
his days be narrowed by disease; may his limbs fail him in the day of
battle, and may his arms stiffen with cramps; may the adder wait for him
by the path, and may the lion meet him on his way; may the itch make him
loathsome and the hair of his head be lost by the mange; may the arrow
of his enemies pin his entrails, and may the spear of his brother be
dyed in his vitals.  May a blight fall upon thine accursed land, O
Sheikh!  May thy wives be seized as slaves by the pigmies of the
Wambutti, and may the vengeance of Allah, the One Mighty and Just,
descend upon thee.  May thy face be rolled in hell-fire, and thy torment
be perpetual; may the flame and smoke surround thee like a pavilion, and
if thou cravest relief may thy thirst by slacked by the water that shall
scald thy countenance like molten brass.  I am in thy hands; verily,
Allah will punish him who taketh the life of a Believer.  Whoever shall
have wrought evil shall be thrown on his face into the fire
unquenchable."  The fierce rabble gazed at each other, puzzled and
unable to understand a single syllable.

"Well spoken!"  I cried excitedly, in Arabic.  "If it is Allah's will
that we die, we fear not.  It is written that the One Omniscient
favoureth the Faithful, and lighteneth his burden."

The captive started at hearing words in the tongue he understood, and
turned in my direction; but we were in the shadow, therefore it was
evident he could not distinguish us.

The silence was unbroken for a few seconds, save by the ominous
crackling of the fire, while the chief consulted with his satellites;
then the latter, waving their hands, uttered some words.  A big warrior
placed the ivory horn to his lips and blew thrice lustily, and in a
moment the scene was one of intense excitement.  Fifty impatient pairs
of hands seized the luckless man, and allowing him no further utterance,
hurried him away to the small platform ten yards distant, within full
view of us.

Scarce daring to look, I held my breath.  The howls of wild beasts were
heard in the forest.  Yet curiosity prompted me to ascertain in what
mode my own life was shortly to be taken, and I gazed, fascinated, at
the black figures moving and dancing in the red light thrown by the
burning branches, like demons let loose from Al-Hawiyat.  Suddenly a
shrill scream of agony rent the night air, and sent a thrill of horror
through me.  Then I could see that our captors had stretched the
unfortunate wretch upon his stomach on the planks of the platform, and
while twenty pairs of hands held him firmly down, incantations were
being uttered by a man shaking pebbles in a magic gourd, while at the
same time a black giant was wielding a huge club of black wood,
relentlessly breaking the bones of the victim's arms and legs.

I closed my eyes to shut out the sight.  With the wild Ansar of the
Khalifa I had witnessed many fearful tortures to which prisoners had
been subjected, but never before had I seen a man's limbs crushed in so
methodical and heartless a manner.  The victim's screams and groans grew
fainter until they ceased entirely, for he had lost consciousness under
the excruciating pain.  When again I summoned courage to glance in his
direction, I observed that four men had seized him, and were carrying
his inanimate form towards the narrow stream that flowed swiftly by on
its way to join the Aruwimi.  The fire, at that moment stirred by an
enthusiast, illumined the village brilliantly, enabling me to watch the
subsequent movements of these ghoulish fiends.  At first it appeared
that they were about to wash or drown their captive, but such proved not
to be the case, for three of the men jumped into the stream, and,
pulling in the helpless victim, still alive, they tied him to a stake in
the water, with his head firmly fixed in a forked stick above the
surface, in order to prevent him from committing suicide by drowning on
regaining consciousness.  Then I remembered that long ago I had heard a
rumour that this tribe were in the habit of placing the body, thus
mutilated and still living, in water for periods varying from two hours
to two or three days, on the supposition that this pre-mortem treatment
rendered the flesh more palatable.  I shuddered.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

THE IVORY RAIDERS.

Those moments were full of torments, fears and anxieties.  Neither Tiamo
nor myself uttered a word.  We knew our fate, and awaited it,
overwhelmed by misfortune.  Assuredly a grievous punishment is prepared
for the unjust.  For many moons we had toiled onward together,
surmounting every obstacle, penetrating the Forest of Perpetual Night,
wherein none from the north had ever dared to venture, until our
features had become famine-sharpened, and our feet blistered and torn.
Yet we had endured the privations, faced the terrors of the dark, dismal
forest, and the poisoned arrows of hidden enemies; had fed for weeks
upon the flat wood-beans, acid wild fruit and strange fungi, encouraged
to strive for existence by the knowledge that here, amid these primitive
denizens of the woods, we could obtain a clue to the whereabouts of the
mystic rock we sought--the spot where was promised a solution of the one
extraordinary mystery of my life.  Never once had Tiamo hesitated or
failed.  He was as true to me as to his mistress, Azala, and ofttimes in
the depths of the great, gloomy region he had urged me to look forward
with hope to a triumphant return to Kano and to the graceful,
true-hearted woman who loved me so dearly.

But having fallen into the hands of the Avisibba all further progress
towards the mystic Land of the No Return was arrested.  Vainly I had
looked about for some mode of escape, but, alas! could discover none.
With these fierce warriors all argument and declarations of friendship
had proved futile.  They were man-eaters, who looked upon all captives
as lawful food; and we knew that our fate could not be much longer
delayed.

The Arab, who had not yet regained consciousness, was the next victim
dragged into the chief's presence.  Quickly he was divested of his
burnouse, and the chief, rising with imperious gesture, bade his
attendants array him in the cloak of his prisoner.  As he wrapped it
about him with a self-satisfied air, the people raised their voices in
admiration, and at a sign dragged the unconscious wretch towards his
doom.

Already the pebbles rattled in the magic gourd, and above the chatter of
the dusky rabble, incantations were sounding loudly, when my eyes,
turned purposely from the horrible sight, suddenly caught a glimpse of
an object slowly moving over the roof of plantain-leaves that covered
one of the huts.  Again I looked, with eyes strained into the dark
night, and distinguished the figure of a man, lying full length upon the
roof, creep cautiously along and peer over at the weird scene.  Suddenly
another dark head appeared against the night sky, and as I glanced
around at other huts, I saw a man lying flat upon the roof of each.

Almost before I could fully realise that the operations of the cannibals
were being watched so narrowly, a red flash of fire showed where the
first mysterious figure was kneeling, followed by the report of a gun,
and next second the chief fell forward from his stool, dead--shot
through the heart.

Startled by the report, the whole village was instantly in confusion,
but ere they could discover whence the shot was fired, a withering
volley was poured into them from the roofs of the huts, by which many
fell dead and wounded.  Then we became aware that the village was the
object of attack, and, by the flashing of the guns on every side, knew
it was surrounded.  The ivory horn was sounded, and the Avisibba
responded with alacrity to the call to arms, but volley after volley was
poured into the centre of the place, and bullets were whistling about us
and tearing their way through the foliage overhead.

The first shot had been well aimed, but although their chief was dead,
the warriors, shouting defiance in loud, strident tones, seized their
spears, shields and bows, and commenced to shoot their poisoned arrows
wherever a flash betrayed the position of an enemy.  Who, we wondered,
were the assailants?  Their possession of guns told us nothing, as many
of the cannibal tribes near the Congo possess firearms.  Nevertheless,
the attack would probably result in our lives being spared, therefore we
pressed ourselves as closely as we could to the trees to which we were
bound and awaited the result.

For fully five minutes our mysterious assailants kept up a rapid rifle
fire.  The air was filled with the uproar of the shouts, as the mass of
noisy, lusty-voiced cannibals defended their homes with arrow and spear,
but, finding that each volley maimed or killed some of their number,
they at length swarmed out of the roughly-made wooden gate of the
village to repel the attack in the open, leaving their women and
children behind.

The great fire burned low, but upon the platform I could distinguish the
inanimate form of the Arab, stretched as it had been left, and the body
of the cannibal chief was still lying where it had fallen, his plumed
helmet having been assumed by his son.  Beyond the stockade enclosing
the rows of huts, the din of heavy firing increased, and the yells of
the savages rose louder as the fight continued, until, at length, one or
two wounded natives staggered back to their homes and fell to earth,
each being quickly surrounded by a chattering crowd of excited women.
At length the savage shrieks outside sounded fainter, the firing seemed
to recede, as if the natives had taken to the forest, and their
assailants were following them, when suddenly, from the roofs there
dropped a dozen men, wearing white gandouras, firing their guns
indiscriminately at the women, in order to frighten them into submission
as prisoners, and, as they did this, about two hundred others swarmed in
from the opposite direction, having entered by the gate.

I stood staring at them--amazed.  They were shouting in my own tongue!--
they were Arabs!  To two of the men who rushed past us, I cried in
Arabic to release me; and, finding I was one of their race, and that
Tiamo was my slave, they quickly drew their _jambiyahs_ and severed our
bonds.

Delighted, we both dashed forward, and regained freedom.  A dozen of our
rescuers were trying to resuscitate their unfortunate tribesman lying on
the planks, and were so far successful that he was soon able to stand.
The attack had been delivered just at the right moment; had it been
delayed another instant his limbs would have been shattered by the heavy
mace.  Meanwhile, into the village there continued to pour large numbers
of Arabs, with their <DW64> allies, and, while some secured and bound the
women and children as slaves, the remainder entered and looted the huts
of everything that was considered of value.  Once or twice, men near me
received wounds from the arrows of a few cannibals lurking around
corners, therefore, I deemed it prudent to seize the gun and ammunition
bag of a dead Arab, an example imitated by Tiamo.

Up to this moment we knew not the identity of our half-caste rescuers,
for all were so excited that we could learn nothing.  Presently,
however, when the women and children had been marched outside to join
the warriors who had been taken as prisoners, I gave one of the Arabs
"peace," and expressed thanks for my timely rescue.

"It is Allah's work, O friend.  Thank him," he answered, piously.

"Of what tribe art thou?  Whence comest thou?"  I inquired, eagerly.

"We come from the Kivira (forest).  We are the men of Tippu-Tib," he
answered.

"Tippu-Tib!"  I echoed, dismayed, well-knowing that these ferocious
bandits were the ivory-raiders whose sanguinary and destructive marches
were common talk, even in Omdurman.  Tippu-Tib was, according to rumour
in the Soudan, the uncrowned king of the region between Stanley Falls
and Tanganyika Lake, for thousands of Arabs had flocked to his standard,
and his well-armed caravans were dreaded everywhere throughout the Great
Upper Congo Forest.  In their search for stores of ivory they had, I
afterwards learnt, levelled into black ashes every settlement they
entered, enslaved the women and children, destroyed their plantain
groves, split their canoes, searched every spot where ivory might be
concealed, killed as many natives as craft and cruelty would enable
them, and tortured others into disclosing where the treasure was hidden.

These bandits were now marching through the Great Forest for the sole
purpose of pillage and murder, to kill the adult aborigines, capture the
women and children for the Arab, Manyuema and Swahili harems, and seize
all the ivory they could discover.  In the wholesale slaughter that
preceded the burning of the Avisibba village not a man was spared.  The
fight ended in a ghastly massacre.  Some escaped into the depths of the
forest, but the others were shot down to the last man.  Then the
fighting-men and slave-carriers searched every nook in the village until
at length the chief's store of ivory, consisting of over eighty fine
tusks, was discovered secreted in a pit beneath one of the huts, and
being unearthed, amid much excitement was distributed among the
carriers.  Afterwards the village was burned to the ground.  Truly
report had not lied when it attributed to the men of Tippu-Tib the most
revolting, heartless cruelty and wanton destruction.

We had been rescued from a horrible death, but swiftly indeed had the
curses of the man whose limbs had been so brutally crushed fallen upon
the savage chief; swiftly indeed had Allah's wrath fallen upon the
village.  Both our fellow-captives had, I learned, been scouting at dawn
on that day, and been seized by the Avisibba.  Tippu-Tib was not present
in person, preferring to remain away in the far south, near Ujiji, while
his men gathered wealth for him; his head men, it was said, being
rewarded with all ivories weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, all
over that weight belonging to him, and those under being kept by the
finders.  By this arrangement every man in the caravan was incited to do
his best, and it is little wonder that they should descend upon villages
without mercy, each fighting-man and slave seeking to obtain the largest
share of slaves, ivory and other loot.  It is not surprising either that
the very names of Tippu-Tib, Kilonga-Longa, Ugarrowwa, Mumi Muhala,
Bwana Mohamed and other ivory-raiders, should be held in awe by the
natives of the great tracts of primeval forest and grassland, covering
thousands of square miles, between the country of the Niam-Niam and Lake
Kassali and between Lake Leopold II and the unexplored Lake of Ozo.

There was delay in distributing the burdens among the carriers, delay in
securing the sorrowing band of Avisibba women and children, delay in
packing up the loot for transportation, and in cooking and eating the
fowls, plantain flour, manioc and bananas which had been found in the
huts.  Therefore it was not until the shadows of the trees, creeping on
as the sun passed overhead, reminded the raiders that the day was
wearing on, that they left the smouldering ashes of the village to
resume the march.

During the great feast that followed the fight, I had explained to
Ngalyema, the half-breed headman, that I was an Arab from the north, and
related how I and my slave had been seized in the forest and brought to
the village as captives.  When he had listened intently to my story, he
said, laughing,--

"Allah hath willed thy release.  Join our expedition and share the ivory
with us, for assuredly we have been favoured on our journey, and have
secured many tusks and hundreds of slaves," and he lolled upon his arm
and pulled apart a piece of fowl with his fingers.  Finding I was a
true-bred Arab, he had placed me on a social level with himself, and
spoke openly.

"Whither goest thou?"  I inquired.

"Eastward, up the river to Ipoto, where our headquarters are at present
established.  Thence we shall continue to ascend the Ituri to Kavalli's,
and afterwards to the grasslands that border the Albert Nyanza.  But
what mission bringest thou hither from the far north, without
fighting-men?" he asked, looking at me sharply.

"I am in search of a spot, the direction of which none knoweth save
Allah," I answered, it having suddenly occurred to me, that perhaps, in
the course of his wanderings, he might have obtained the knowledge of
which I was in search.

"What is its name?"

"It is a wondrous black crag, and is known to those who live in the
deserts as the Rock of the Great Sin."

"The Rock of the Great Sin!" he slowly repeated, gazing at me in
astonishment.  "Thou, O friend, art not alone in seeking to discover
it?"

"Not alone?"  I cried.  "Who seeketh it beside myself?"

"A white man who came to Uganda by smoke-boat across the Victoria
Nyanza."

"What was his name?"  I asked, eagerly.

"I know not.  He was a Roumi of the English, and one of Allah's
accursed."

"Didst thou have speech with him?"

"Yea, he sought me at Masaka eight moons ago, and knowing that I had led
my master's caravan across the forest may times, asked me whether I
could direct him to the Rock of the Great Sin, and--"

"And didst thou guide him thither?"  I demanded, breathlessly.

"Nay.  He offered two bags of gold and ten guns to any who would guide
him thither, but unfortunately neither myself nor any of my followers
knew its whereabouts."

"Why did this tou bab (European) desire to discover it?"  I asked.

"He did not reveal.  I told him that within the rock was the place of
torment prepared for unbelievers, but my words only increased his
curiosity and anxiety to find it," and the thick-lipped headman grinned.

"Then thou canst give me absolutely no information," I observed,
disappointedly.  "Hast thou, in the course of thy many journeys afar,
learned nothing of its existence beyond what the wise men and
story-tellers relate?"

"Since I left Masaka I have, in truth, learned one thing," he answered,
his capacious mouth still full of food.

"What is it?  Tell me," I cried.

Ngalyema hesitated for a moment, then answered,--

"Three moons ago, during a raid upon one of the villages of the Wambutti
pigmies, three days' march into the forest from Ipoto, one of the dwarfs
of the woods who fell into our hands told me he knew the whereabouts of
the rock, and that it was far away, many, many days' journey in the
forest, and quite inaccessible."

"In which direction?"

"I know not," the headman answered.  "The dwarf had been wounded by a
gunshot, and pleaded for the release of his wife.  I kept him while I
settled a dispute which had arisen about some ivory we had discovered in
the settlement, intending to question him further, but when I returned
to where I had left him he was dead."

"And his wife?  Did she know anything?"

"No; she had heard of the rock as the dwelling-place of some pagan
spirit that they feared, but knew not where it was situated."

"Then, whither dost thou advise me to search for information?  Among the
pigmies of the Wambutti?"

"Yea.  It is evident they are aware of its existence, though apparently
they regard it as a sacred spot, and guard the secret of its existence
jealously.  The manner in which the dwarf appealed to me, declaring that
he would disclose the secret if I released his wife, showed that he
believed he was imparting to me information of the highest importance.
What is hidden there I cannot tell; but it is strange that both the
white man and thyself should desire to rest thine eyes upon it."

"I have taken an oath to a woman to endeavour to discover it," I
answered, simply.  "I will accompany thee in thy return towards the
country of the pigmies and continue my search among them."

"If thou goest among them, may the One Merciful grant thee mercy,"
Ngalyema said.

"He alone can guide the footsteps and reveal that which is hidden," I
added.  "Onward to Ipoto will I journey with thee, and strive to learn
the secret of the forest-dwarfs.  Of a verity will I follow the clue
thou hast given unto me.  Allah maketh abundant provision for such of
his servants as he pleaseth.  He knoweth whatever is in heaven and
earth."

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

NGALYEMA.

There is much truth in our Arab saying, that a day of pain appears
everlasting if one does not dream of the bright to-morrow.  A life's
unrest, indeed, seems but a day's if one looks to the calm that Allah
has promised shall be the reward of Believers.  Beyond the pain and
weariness is a white dawn, reunion and peace.  Life with the fierce
brigands of Tippu-Tib, the ivory king, was full of vicissitudes and
horrors, as along the narrow native track, through the gloomy forest, we
pushed forward.

Owing to the large number of rapids, it was impossible for the raiders
to use the native canoes to ascend the Aruwimi on their return to Ipoto,
where they had temporarily established themselves; therefore, in order
to secure more ivory and slaves, Ngalyema had decided to take a route
which ran into the forest, six days' journey from the river, and which
the guides assured us would follow the course of the Ituri and pass
through a district where many settlements might be raided.

Compelled to travel in single file, our journey through the dark,
endless Forest of Perpetual Night was slow, tedious and hazardous.  At
almost every step we were retarded by stumps, roots, climbers,
convolvuli and green-scummed pools, while, by the absence of light, we
were chilled and depressed, and the poisonous odours arising from the
decaying mass of vegetation sickened us.  Here and there, where the
interlaced foliage overhead allowed the sunshine to struggle through,
flocks of parrots screamed and whistled gleefully, and the tall
tree-trunks looked grey and ghostly in the pale light; but our progress,
creeping among the dense undergrowth, and climbing over fallen
patriarchs of the forest, was full of anxiety.  Plantains grew
everywhere, therefore there was no lack of food; but the brutality with
which the raiders treated their slaves caused a number of deaths ere we
had been a dozen days on the march.

At length, one morning, the scouts, consisting of the two native guides,
and about twenty Arabs, who were some distance ahead, rushed back with
the news that they had come upon a large clearing, and that we were
evidently approaching a village.  The order to halt was immediately
given, and Ngalyema himself, with a small force, went rapidly forward
with the scouts to reconnoitre.  In an hour they returned, stating that
there were several villages in close proximity, and, with my gun ready,
I accompanied the fighting-men in their dash forward.  Passing across
the clearing, where every plantain-stalk bore an enormous bunch of the
fruit which filled the air with its odour, and where corn and
sugar-canes were profusely cultivated, our pioneers suddenly came across
a number of poisoned skewers, artfully concealed in the path, and these
having been carefully picked out, we crept along, past a heap of bones
of slaughtered game, to surround the settlement.

It was exciting work.  We knew not whether the alarm had already been
raised and the natives were lying in ambush.  Each moment we expected to
be greeted with a flight of poisoned arrows from the concealed
defenders; but as we got within sight of the huts it seemed that our
approach had been unnoticed.

Suddenly, however, the white garments of the raiders attracted
attention, and in a few moments the village was in a tumult of
apprehension.  Without hesitation, our thick-lipped headman ordered the
raiders to disperse into the jungle and surround the village, and as
they dashed away and I took up a position behind a tree at a little
distance from Tiamo, we could hear loud blasts being blown upon a horn.

In an instant the raiders opened a galling fire.  A number of my
fellow-marksmen had clambered up the adjacent trees, others were
concealed in the dense undergrowth, while a small body still remained in
the rear, prepared to charge when commanded.  A few seconds after the
alarm had been raised, the black warriors, armed with bows, arrows,
shields and long spears, poured out of the stockade, yelling and
brandishing their weapons, but so well had the attack been planned, that
each volley of the Arabs felled dozens of the blacks.

Finding that we had got into ambush so cleverly, they retired
immediately within their stockade, and from their cover launched flights
of poisoned arrows in every direction.  The missiles, the merest scratch
from which would produce tetanus and death, swept through the foliage
above us and stuck in the trunks of the trees in our vicinity,
nevertheless wherever a black head or savage head-dress showed above the
high stockade, it was picked off with unerring precision by our
sharpshooters.

The rattle of musketry, however, had alarmed the neighbouring villages,
and almost before we were aware of it we were attacked in the rear by a
crowd of yelling savages armed with clubs and bows.  For a few minutes
our position appeared exceedingly critical; but this contingency had not
been overlooked, for suddenly I noticed a number of our men, who had
been left to guard the slaves, were drawing off the defenders'
reinforcement, and shooting them down with a cool recklessness that was
surprising.

For half-an-hour the fierce fusillade continued, until at length
Ngalyema gave the signal to charge.  To this the Arabs quickly
responded, and in a few moments had stormed the stockade and were
inside, swarming over the huts, and fighting the savages hand-to-hand.
The _melee_ was exciting, but against guns savage weapons proved to be
of little avail, and ere long a ruthless massacre of the unfortunate
blacks became general.  The very air was halituous of freshly-shed
blood.  As at Avisibba, the women and children were secured, the place
looted, and every nook and corner searched, to discover the secreted
tusks.  None, however, could be found.

Ngalyema had evidently good cause for belief that a considerable amount
of ivory had been collected, and after his men had proceeded to the
three other small villages in the immediate vicinity, thoroughly
searched them, and captured the defenceless portion of the inhabitants,
the chief of the Avejeli, whose life had been spared, was brought before
him.  His name was Yakul, a stalwart savage, of proud bearing, wearing a
loin-cloth of goatskin and a conical shaped head-dress ornamented with a
swaling crimson plume, while upon his arms, wrists and ankles were four
bangles fashioned from _matako_, the brass rods imported by white
traders on the Congo.

Through one of the guides, who spoke the Momvu tongue, the headman of
the raiders put a question, asking where his ivory was concealed.  On
hearing the inquiry, even before it was fully translated, he drew
himself up, looked keenly into Ngalyema's face, and answered,--

"Thou hast killed and enslaved my people, and thou mayest kill me.  Thou
art the friends of Tippu-Tib, against whom our wise men have long warned
us.  Finish thy dastardly shedding of blood.  Kill me, and go."

"We have no desire to kill thee," the headman answered, with a smile.
"Indeed, thou shalt regain thy liberty, and thy wives shall be returned
unto thee if thou wilt disclose the hiding-place of thine ivory."

"Thou hast destroyed my people.  See now!  Thou hast already applied the
fire-brand unto my village!" he cried in fierce anger, shaking both his
black fists.  "Go.  May the curse of the Evil Spirit who dwelleth in the
darkness of the Great Forest, follow thee until death."

"Pick out thy wives," the other said, pointing to the large group of
trembling women and children.  "They are free, and likewise thyself, but
the men of Tippu-Tib depart not hither until thou hast led them unto the
place where thou hast concealed thy treasure."

The chief's fierce black eyes flashed with angry fire, as, waving his
hand with a gesture of impatience, he replied,--

"Already have I answered."

His four wives, however, watching the progress of the negotiations, and
overhearing the offer of Ngalyema, dashed forward and flung themselves
before their master, beseeching him to save his own life and theirs by
disclosing the secret.

But he waved them aside with regal gesture, and folded his arms
resolutely.

Then, one of the women rose, and turning to the Arab headman, said,--

"To save our lives I will reveal the spot unto thee.  Come, it is but an
arrow's flight distant!"

The chief heard the words and sprang straight at her throat, but ere he
could reach her the Arabs pulled him down.  She stood erect and queenly,
a splendid specimen of savage womanhood.

"Follow me," she cried, wildly, and twenty of the raiders, myself
included, sprang forward and accompanied her a little distance into the
jungle until we came to a great ironwood-tree.  For a moment she halted,
with her back towards it, apparently taking bearings by a
cottonwood-tree with silvery bark, and then, counting thirty paces in
its direction, told us to search.

In a few minutes the dead leaves and fallen boughs were cleared,
revealing a floor of hewn wood, and this being torn up the coveted
treasure, consisting of more than a hundred magnificent tusks, was
discovered beneath.

Shouting with glee, the raiders rushed back to their leader, announcing
the news, and triumphantly dragging the chief's wife back with them.
Her three female companions cried loudly to the headman to release them,
but he only laughed brutally, and ordered the Arabs around him to put
them back with the other slaves.  Then, finding to their dismay that the
headman's promise would not be fulfilled, the whole of the captured
women made the forest ring with howls of execration, and heaped upon the
raiders the most terrible curses their tongues could utter.

Meanwhile, the ivory was being pulled out of its hiding-place, and
allotted in burdens to the slave-carriers.  The flames, now spreading
from hut to hut, leaped, roared and crackled, and a thick black smoke
ascended, drifting slowly over the tops of the giant trees.

Turning to the proud chief of the Avejeli, the headman, through the
<DW64> interpreter, exclaimed,--

"I gave unto thee a chance to escape, but thou wouldst not accept it,
even though the liberty of thy wives depended upon thy word."

"The word of a follower of Tippu-Tib, like water fallen upon sand, is
never to be found again," Yakul answered.

Ngalyema bit his lip in anger, and waving his hand to those around him,
exclaimed in Arabic,--

"Bind him.  Let the son of offal die!"

In a trice cords were slipped around the ankles, wrists and neck of the
unfortunate wretch in such a manner as to render him utterly powerless.
Then the Arabs asked,--

"Speak, O leader, in what manner shall the pagan's life be taken?"

"Take him yonder into the forest, and find a nest of red ants at the
foot of a tree.  There bind him, smear upon him some plantain juice, and
let the insects devour him."

"Thou hast spoken well, O leader!" the brigands cried, exultingly, and
before he could realise the horrible fate that awaited him, the
unfortunate chief, whose only offence was the strenuous and gallant
defence of his home and his people, was hurried away into the jungle by
the joyful rabble.

The shouting of the men executing the brutal Ngalyema's orders could be
heard away in the forest, while the remainder of the bandits proceeded
with their work of relentless destruction.  Not content with levelling
the villages to ashes, they cut down the plantain grove, trampled down
the corn, and destroyed the manioc, afterwards refreshing themselves
with draughts from a trough of banana wine found in the village.

When the party returned from securing the chief in a position where he
would be quickly eaten alive by the pests of the forest, the whole of
the fighting-men reassembled, apparently beside themselves with delight
at the complete mastery they had obtained over the savages.  Piteous
appeal availed the unfortunate slaves nothing.  They were beaten, cuffed
and tied together--two who attempted to escape, including the chief's
wife who had divulged the whereabouts of the ivory, being shot dead, and
their bodies kicked ruthlessly aside.

At length the raiders, headed by one of the captured women, who was
promised her liberty if she would act as their guide, moved forward
along a narrow track leading into the depths of the forest, enriched by
one hundred and thirty tusks, and nearly two hundred slaves.

As the men marched, onward, goading on the slaves with revolting
brutality, I lingered behind for a moment to pick up a curiously-shaped
axe that had apparently been forgotten.  As I did so a loud, despairing
shriek fell upon my ear.

I glanced around.  The last of the rear guard of Tippu-Tib's brigands
had disappeared along the dark track.  I remembered that the register of
the actions of the righteous is in Illiyyun, the book distinctly
written: those who approach near unto Allah being witnesses thereto.

Again the piercing shriek was repeated, and I knew that the unfortunate
wretch, bound to a tree, was being tortured to death, and literally
devoured by a myriad insects.  The injustice of his sentence caused me
to hesitate, and a second later I resolved to release him.

I had but a few moments in which to accomplish it, for I well knew that,
if discovered, my own life might be taken by the wild, bloodthirsty
horde, who were indeed companions of the left hand, whom Allah had cut
off, and over whom was the arched fire.  Nevertheless, I dashed into the
jungle, axe in hand, and guided by the condemned man's cries, found him
lashed tightly to a tree, and already covered from head to foot by the
pests.

In an instant my axe severed his bonds and he sprang forward, and
falling upon his knees, gratefully kissed my feet, uttering many words
of thanks which I could not understand.

But I had not a moment to linger, therefore I gave him "peace," and
speeding back again to the smouldering ashes of the village, plunged
into the forest depths down the dark, narrow path my merciless
companions, the ivory-raiders, had taken.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

PIGMIES OF THE FOREST.

On every hand on their march eastward my companions spread destruction
and death.  The raiders' track was marked by blood and ashes, for almost
daily they shot down natives, burned villages, and added to the number
of their slaves.

The horrors of that journey through the eternal gloom were endless, and
the many cruelties and butcheries perpetrated in cold blood sufficient
to send a thrill of horror through the most callous heart.  Through all
my varied experience with the hordes of the Mahdi and the Khalifa, I had
never witnessed such scenes of fiendish brutality.  Tiamo, whose savage
nature had at first rejoiced in being one of this lawless band, was soon
sickened, and often shuddered and expressed disgust.

Yet through all I had one goal in view, one object to attain--the
discovery of the mystic spot where the Secret of the Asps might be
revealed.  The dreams that waved before my half-shut eyes were ever of
Azala.  Ever uppermost in my mind was the thought of her imprisoned in
that great palace, surrounded by every gorgeous luxury, yet not allowed
to participate, and patiently awaiting my return.  Each day, when
darkness set in, I thought of her opening her lattice, praying for
Allah's favour and breathing words of love to be borne afar to me upon
the sunset wind.  When should we again meet, I wondered.  Perhaps never.

But the story of my strange journey, stranger than man had ever before
undertaken, slips away from me as I think of her.

The notches on Tiamo's gun, which he fortunately recovered before
leaving Avisibba, showed that the day arranged for the attack upon Kano
by the Dervishes had long passed, for already we had been absent five
moons.  If Ayesha had not delivered my warning, or if the Sultan had
disregarded it, then the Empire of Sokoto was doomed.  Of what dire
consequences would result from the non-delivery of my hastily-scrawled
message I feared to contemplate, for I knew that if the Ansar entered
Kano, the woman I loved would most certainly be seized and carried away
to grace the harem of the brutal Ruler of the Soudan.

But, trusting to the guidance of the One Guide, I strove to assure
myself of her safety, and with a stout heart pushed forward, determined
to overcome every obstacle that beset my path.  Bitten and stung by
numberless tribes of insects, including a beetle so small that it could
not be detected with the naked eye, but which burrowed deeply into the
flesh, producing most painful sores; continually on the alert against
the many green, gold and black snakes, puff-adders, pythons and other
deadly reptiles, we went forward, week by week, until the wretched
slaves, half-starved and brutally ill-used, became mere shrunken
skeletons of their former selves, disfigured by terrible ulcers caused
by the insects, while the fighting-men themselves became lean, pale and
weakened.  Through a suffocating wilderness of arums, amoma and bush,
over damp ground that exuded foetid, poisonous vapours, we struggled
onward, until one day we were startled to hear on before us the sound of
muskets, loud, wild shouting, and the violent beating of tam-tams.

Ngalyema and his men halted quickly to listen.  The sounds approached.

"Thank Allah!" the headman cried in delight when, in a few moments, a
strange, half-bred Arab pushed his way toward us, giving us loud and
profuse greetings.  "Our guides have not deceived us.  We are at last at
Kalunga!"

Pushing forward, our scouts had apprised the raiders' settlement of our
approach, and the wildest excitement at once prevailed.  My companions,
with one accord dashed onward, and on accompanying them I found myself
in a great, open clearing around a strong stockade, within which stood a
number of well-constructed huts.  Here, once again, after a perpetual
gloom lasting nine weeks, we saw the blessed light of day, the cloudless
sky and the brilliant sun, and breathed the pure air laden with the
sweet perfume of many flowers.

We were, I discovered, actually in the country of the Wambutti pigmies,
some of whom, sleek little people, about the height of a sword, and of
the colour of yellow ivory, I saw among the Arabs.  Kalunga was an
out-lying station established by Tippu-Tib's brigands in order to extend
their raids deeper into the Forest of Perpetual Night; and it was
Ngalyema himself, who, a few hours later, suggested that from the
curious race of forest-dwellers in the vicinity I might possibly obtain
knowledge of the whereabouts of the Rock of the Great Sin.  He even
suggested that one or two of his own fighting-men should accompany me on
my lonely journey south in search of the pigmies, but knowing that he
desired to obtain for himself knowledge of the spot, I firmly declined
his offer, declaring that I felt less open to attack accompanied only by
Tiamo than if his slave-raiders bore me company.

During two days I remained at the Arab settlement, watching the manner
in which the slaves were secured previous to deportation to the
headquarters at Ipoto, on the Ituri river, forty days distant; then,
with my trusty companion, El-Sadic, I left the place at dead of night,
in order to escape Ngalyema's vigilance, and again we plunged into the
forest depths along the narrow, winding, half-effaced track which had
been pointed out to me as running south to the distant villages of the
mysterious race of dwarfs.  In that impenetrable darkness our progress
was slow, but when day dawned above, just sufficient light struggled
through the dense foliage to enable us to pursue our way.  It was a
lonely journey, full of terrors and anxieties, for were we not
approaching the tribe, of all the people in the Forest of Night the most
hostile?

Ever on the alert lest we should receive the poisoned shaft of some
hidden dwarf of the woods, or tread upon a poisoned skewer, we struggled
still onward.  Day succeeded day until we kept no count of them.  Tiamo,
who had borne the fatigues of our long journey without a murmur, and
bravely faced the perils to which we had continuously been exposed, now
appeared to have grown despairing and gloomy.  The eternal twilight was
certainly not conducive to high spirits, but my dwarf companion seemed
overwhelmed by some strange precursor of evil.

As deeper into the forest we penetrated, food became scarcer, and hunger
consumed us daily.  We were subsisting on wood-beans, occasional
plantains, bananas and some wild fruit, but as not a gleam of sunshine
gladdened our eyes, or breath of pure air refreshed us, it was scarcely
surprising that my slave should give vent to his innermost thoughts.
One morning, in the dim, grey hour when things were just creeping out of
darkness and everything was colourless and unreal, he appeared unusually
gloomy, and when I inquired the cause, answered,--

"In the night, O master, I had a dream.  The future was revealed unto
me," and he shuddered perceptibly.  "Verily, I believe that our quest is
futile; that death is nigh unto us.  I have a presentiment that the eyes
of the beauteous Lalla Azala will never again be gladdened by sight of
thee, and that mine own bones also will be stripped by the scavengers of
the forest."

"Let not such gloomy apprehensions find a dwelling-place within thee,
Tiamo," I answered, forcing a smile.  "Relinquish not thy brave bearing.
For aught we know we are, even at this moment, on the point of a
discovery."

"The men of Tippu-Tib assured me that the dwarfs of the Wambutti resent
the intrusion of strangers, and murder those who dare approach them
except in force," he exclaimed, gloomily.

"Did we not set forth to seek the Rock of the Great Sin, and didst thou
not express thy readiness to accompany me whithersoever I went?"  I
asked.

"I did, O master," he answered.  "But I knew not that we should seek to
penetrate the country of the man-eaters."

"Allah,--may he be glorified!--counteth them as flies, but extendeth
unto us his guidance and protection," I said.  "Put thy faith in the One
Guide, and he will comfort and preserve thee."

Mumbling some mystic words in his own tongue, the meaning of which I
knew not, he fumbled with his amulets and raised his open hand above his
head, as if imploring the protection of his pagan gods.  Then, rising to
his feet, and with a look of renewed energy, he exclaimed,--

"Of a verity thy lips utter the truth.  We may be even now near unto the
shore of the Lake of the Accursed, and upon the verge of discovering
that which is weirdly mysterious and unknown.  I will abandon fear and
continue to seek with diligence for that of which we are in quest."

"We have both promised," I said, solemnly.  "We have travelled afar, and
are but fulfilling our duty towards the Lalla Azala, thy mistress."

"True, O master," he said.  "Pearls of wisdom fall ever from thy lips as
rain upon a thirsty land.  I am ready.  Let us move forward."

At the bidding of my ape-like companion I rose, and again we started
along the disused track, rendered almost impassable by trailing
creepers, vines, and thick undergrowth.  During that day we struggled
forward, passing through a village that had apparently been burned by
the Arabs some months before, and, continuing our way still southward,
we entered a path that had been so widened by elephants that we could
walk side by side and converse, when suddenly, without warning, the
earth beneath us gave way and we were both precipitated headlong into a
deep pit that had been artfully concealed by leaves, twigs, and a thin
layer of earth.  My knee was bruised severely, but in a moment I
struggled to my feet to gaze around.  I raved to and fro, screaming and
crying upon Allah and Eblis, for I was dismayed to discover that the pit
had been dug so deeply, with sides slanting inwards, that to escape was
utterly impossible.

We had been caught by one of the elephant-traps, in the arrangement of
which the pigmies display so much ingenuity and cunning.  We had fallen
into an abyss of doom.

"Alas, O master! this misfortune hath shackled our footsteps!" the dwarf
exclaimed, rubbing his abnormally large woolly head where he had struck
it.  "I dreamed that we were dying."

No word passed my lips.  In vain I searched frantically for some mode of
escape, but could discover none.  My companion's words, were, alas! too
true!  We had nothing left, but misery!  The heart of night, and the
forest's heart were tranquil in primordial silence.  The mishap was
worse than a misfortune, for it meant either capture by the malicious
little denizens of that weird realm of perpetual darkness, or a
lingering death from starvation.

To endeavour to reach the surface, I mounted the dwarf upon my
shoulders, but my heart sank when I saw that the point to which he could
stretch his hands was still fully a spear's length below the ground.
Had he been a full-grown man and not of dwarfed stature, it was possible
that we might have escaped by this means, but all schemes that we
devised proved impracticable, and we were compelled to walk backwards
and forwards within the dark, deep hole, awaiting the arrival of our
exulting captors, who would, no doubt, believe that in me, an Arab, they
had caught one of their arch enemies--the raiders of Tippu-Tib.

The gloom grew deeper, the birds far above ceased their chattering, a
fact which told us that it was the hour of the _maghrib_, when, suddenly
in the silence, we heard leaves rustling, and twigs broken as by
footsteps.

Next second, a black head appeared, cautiously leaning over the pit
looking down upon us, and a voice uttered a loud cry in a language
neither of us knew.

My heart leaped, and beat quickly.

The savage's face seemed to smile in mockery of my dismay; his scream of
delight was the death knell of all my hopes, and, as the sinister head
was withdrawn, I stood breathless, unarmed, wondering in what form death
would come to us, and praying to Allah that we might die swiftly and
painlessly, for I dreaded the horrible, revolting tortures I had so
frequently witnessed.

I remembered it was the hour when Azala, in the far-off city of the
Sultan, was wafting to me, from her high lattice, a fervent message of
comfort, of peace and of love.  There came before me the pale image of
those hours of enchantment.  Upon the successful accomplishment of my
strange mission depended all our future, all our happiness.  I struggled
to look the circumstances fairly in the face, to see the folly of my
wild frenzy, and to reason with myself.

But a profound sense of loneliness, helplessness and despair had settled
upon me.  I became seized by an excessive dread.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

FACING MALEC.

Above, in the dimness, there moved again a grotesque, spectral shadow.
The savage was peering into the pit, but it occurred to me that he was
unable to distinguish us in that rayless obscurity.

He shouted in a hoarse voice, and I saw that in his hand he carried a
long spear.  Neither of us replied or moved a muscle.  We watched in
silence, waiting with drawn breath.  Everything, except the hole above
where the unkempt head showed as a round, black projection, was
profoundly dark, and when I looked up again it had disappeared.  A deep
stillness fell, broken only by the distant trumpeting of an elephant;
then suddenly we heard a noise like the breaking of sticks and the
tearing of foliage.  With our eyes riveted upon the hole through which
we had fallen, we were, a few minutes later, startled by the appearance
of a curious glare, as if a fire had been lighted, and suddenly the
black denizen of the forest appeared at the hole, holding above his head
a roughly-made torch.  Its fickle light shone down upon us, but at the
same time illumined the black, savage face of the man who held it.

Involuntarily I gave vent to a loud ejaculation of surprise.  In an
instant I recognised the sable features.  The man who had discovered us
was none other than Yakul, the fearless chief of the Avejeli, whom I had
rescued from death!

"Peace, O friend!"  I cried excitedly in Arabic, remembering that
although he had been questioned by Ngalyema in the Monvu tongue, yet he
nevertheless understood the language of the Desert.

"See!" shouted the dwarf, in despair, unaware that I had released him
from his tortures.  "See!  It is the chieftain that the raiders
condemned to die.  He will assuredly seek revenge upon us!"

I saw him, and even through the mask of my madness I knew him again, and
terror took hold of me.  But our anxious apprehensions were in an
instant dispelled, for Yakul, recognising me, waved his torch, shouting
in very indifferent Arabic,--

"Nay, do not be surprised, O my rescuer!  Truly am I thy friend.  Be
patient, and ere long thou shalt both escape."

And as the weird, black figure uttered these reassuring words in a
shrill tone, he placed the torch upon the ground and left.  Reappearing
in a few moments, he shouted, and commenced to lower a long wreath of
climbing plant that he had cut from a tree, and when he had secured the
end to a neighbouring trunk he bade us ascend with care.

Thankful for this sudden and unexpected deliverance, Tiamo clambered up
first, and I followed, finding myself a few minutes later standing
beside my pagan ally, expressing fervent thanks for our timely rescue.

"If thou hadst not severed my bonds, the scavengers of the forest would
long ago have cleaned my bones," the tall, keen-eyed savage answered,
leaning upon his spear.  The fine goatskin he had worn as a mark of
chieftainship had been replaced by a strip of common bark-cloth, and he
no longer wore his curiously-shaped helmet, with its swaling plume.  His
village had been burned by the fiendish brigands of Tippu-Tib, nearly
all his people had been murdered or enslaved, his treasure-stolen, and
he was now a homeless wanderer.  Briefly I explained to him the accident
that had befallen us, at the same time expressing a fear that the
pigmies might discover us.

"Fear not that," he answered.  "I have ever been an ally of the dwarfed
people of the Wambutti, and in my company not a hair of thine head shall
be injured."

"Art thou on thy way to them?"  I inquired.

"Yea, and nay," he answered.  "Since thou didst release me, I have
followed closely thy footprints."

"Followed me!"  I echoed, remembering how many days he must have
journeyed.

"Since the raid of the destroyers I have been ever behind thee, and have
ofttimes watched thee and thy companion unnoticed."

"For what reason hast thou sought to thus keep observation upon me?"  I
asked, puzzled.  The small fire he had lit still threw a faint glow,
sufficient to reveal his dark and not unhandsome face, and Tiamo stood
by, speechless and wondering.

"I desired to ascertain that thou wert journeying along the right path,"
the chief replied, mysteriously.

"The right path?  What meanest thou?"

"An Arab dareth not to journey with one slave through the Kivira, unless
he hath some definite object in view," he said, with a low, rather harsh
laugh.  "At risk of thy life thou didst release me from a certain and
horrible death, and in return I have secretly watched thy progress
towards thy goal."

"My goal!"  I cried.  "What knowest thou of my goal?"

"Already have I told thee that, since my rescue, I have been as thy
shadow.  I followed thee to Kalunga, and there overheard thy
conversation with the brutal headman Ngalyema, in which thou didst tell
him of thy search, and he, with consummate craftiness, offered to send
his armed men with thee.  As I lay hidden, I heard thee tell him of
thine anxiety to reach the Rock of the Great Sin, because upon the
success of thy mission depended the happiness of the woman thou lovest.
My life was in thine hand; therefore I determined at once to assist
thee."

"To assist me!"  I exclaimed, breathlessly.  "Knowest thou where the
Rock of the Great Sin is situated?"

"I do, O my friend," he answered solemnly, still leaning upon his spear,
with the other hand resting upon his hip.

"And canst thou direct us thither?"

"In order to accompany thee unto the rock, I dogged thy footsteps,
determined not to make my presence known if thou couldst obtain from
others the information thou seekest.  Until sunrise to-day thou didst
travel in the direction of the abode of evil, but after last night's
sleep thou didst turn off from the right track, and hence I found it
imperative to make my presence known and give thee warning, so that thou
mayest turn back and again strike the right path.  In consequence, I
sped forward, expecting to find thee settling down for the night, but
instead I discovered thou hadst fallen headlong into a trap set for
elephants.  Thou hast been, however, extricated--"

"Thanks to thee," I interrupted, laughing.  But he continued,--

"Extricated by one whose life thou hast saved for no other reason than
because the condemnation was unjust," and he paused.  Then, looking
round, he added, "Come, let us be seated at yon fire; let us eat and
sleep that we may be refreshed for to-morrow's journey."

All three of us walked to the fire, and seating ourselves, the pagan
chief produced some ripe bananas and some wild fruit, which we ate
ravenously while he chattered on unceasingly.

"Have thine eyes ever gazed upon the Rock of the Great Sin?"  I asked
presently, when he had described how he had followed the men of
Tippu-Tib for many days at imminent risk of detection.

"Yes.  Once, years ago, I gazed upon it from afar, but dared not to
approach it."

"Why?"  I inquired.

"Of a verity the spot is sacred.  He who endeavoureth to ascertain its
secret, will assuredly be smitten by a terrible pestilence--the hand of
the Evil One who dwelleth therein, will strike swiftly, and the
adventurous investigator will wither like a rootless flower beneath the
sun."

Tiamo, silent, with eyes opened wide, hugged his knees and drank in
every word Yakul uttered.  My curiosity was also thoroughly aroused, and
I urged the chief to relate to me all he knew regarding the strange,
unexplored spot.  Its mystery had been deepened by each superstition or
legend I had heard regarding it, yet it was curious that nearly every
popular belief asserted that some strange deity of good or evil dwelt
therein, or in its vicinity.  But at length I had now discovered one who
had actually gazed upon it with his own eyes, and knew the way thither.
There was no longer doubt of its reality; it actually existed, rising
lonely and solitary from the dark waters of the Lake of the Accursed,
just as it had been mirrored in the heavens.

For the first time during our long and fatiguing search, sometimes
across great tracts of virgin forest wherein man had never before set
foot, we now at last heard it described minutely from the lips of an
eyewitness.  Eager and elated, we both felt that we were on the point of
a discovery, and were prepared to risk the strange pestilence so dreaded
by the pagans and the touch of the unseen evil hand, in order to explore
the dark and gloomy crag, where it had been asserted by Azala the
Mystery of the Asps remained hidden.

Yakul, as he munched his bananas, told us how, eight years before, when
assisting the Iyuku and Indebeya peoples against the Manuyema, there had
been severe fighting, and with his warriors he had followed a host of
the invaders south through an unknown part of the Great Forest, until at
length he had driven the enemy into a natural trap, for, on account of
the Lake of the Accursed and the range of inaccessible mountains beyond,
they were unable to retreat further, and being compelled to again fight,
they were completely wiped out by the Avejeli.

During the battle in that little-known region he discovered they were
within actual sight of the Rock of the Great Sin, but of the whole of
his brave warriors not a man dared to venture nearer on account of the
declarations of their wise men, that if any attempted to approach the
forbidden spot a terrible pestilence and total destruction would
inevitably fall upon the tribe.  In consequence of this he had stood
afar off and viewed the rock and the unknown and unapproachable land
beyond, fearing lest, by going nearer, he should invoke the wrath of his
pagan gods, or cause revolt among his warriors, who had become cowed and
terrified at discovering themselves in the shadow of the dark rock,
which was the seat of the dreaded Evil Spirit of the Kivira.

While within sight of the Rock of the Great Sin, they declared the air
was deadly.  They began to suffer from joint aches, he told us; their
knees were stiff, and pains travelled through their bodies, causing them
to shiver and their teeth to chatter, after which their heads would burn
and the hot sweat would pour from them, so that they knew no rest.
During the two days they remained there life was but one continuous
ague, and they left the country declaring it to be bewitched.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

A PROPHECY.

"Fearest thou to return?"  I asked the chief of the Avejeli, when he had
concluded his interesting description of the overthrow of the Manuyema.

"If thou desirest me to bear thee company, I will guide thee until thine
eyes can discern the black rock, and the poisonous waters surrounding
it," he answered.  "Then, if thou art fully determined to approach it, I
will remain until thou returnest."

"I cannot sufficiently thank thee for thy promise, O friend," I
answered.  "For many moons have I wandered with my slave, over the
desert and through the endless and terrible Kivira, in search of some
one who could direct me unto the spot I seek.  Now that thou hast given
me thy promise to conduct me thither, thou hast of a verity revived my
hopes with the refreshing shower of thy good favour."

"Are we not friends?"  Yakul asked.  "Already thou hast shown, in manner
plain, a boundless generosity towards me; therefore gladly will I
conduct thee to the sacred place thou seekest."

"Indeed thou art my friend.  May the most perfect peace ever rest upon
thee, and may wisdom always distinguish thee above thy fellows," I
answered, adding, "Thou hast spoken of the rock as the seat of the Evil
Spirit of the Forest.  Tell me, why do thy people of the Avejeli regard
it as sacred?"

"Because, beyond the rock is an inaccessible and mysterious tableland
which none have ever gained.  Some believe it to be a country filled to
overflowing with bananas, yams, manioc, corn, honey and fruit, and
peopled by a strange race of monkeys, who live in huts like ourselves,
and are armed with bows and spears.  Others declare that the plateau,
though covered with grass at the edge, where visible, is nevertheless a
glaring, barren, and uninhabited wilderness of endless extent."

"And what is the name of this unknown country?"  I asked, curious to
know whether the pagan tribes entertained a belief similar to ours.

"It is called the Land of the Myriad Mysteries, because, to the dwellers
on the edge of the forest, the first flush of dawn appeareth always like
a mysterious blood-red streak from behind the rock.  By our wise men it
is said that away there dwelleth the great Evil Spirit, whose invisible
myrmidons lurk in the silent depths of the forest, ever ready to bring
destruction and death upon those they may seize."

"Believest thou that the Evil Spirit hath power supreme?"  I inquired.

"Yea, most assuredly.  Once, many years ago, the Good Spirit, who
dwelleth in the sun, reigned supreme in the Kivira, until a rivalry
arose between the god of Life, and the god of Destruction, and they
struggled fiercely for the mastery.  At first, the Good Spirit was the
most powerful, for into the bright light which he shed the Evil One
dared not venture.  But at length the god of Darkness, with considerable
ingenuity, invoked the aid of the trees of the forest, and they,
obedient to him always, raised high their spreading heads, interlaced
their giant branches, and shut out the sun's light, thus allowing their
master, the Evil Spirit, to obtain complete control of the earth.  It
was then that he took up his abode in the Land of the Myriad Mysteries,
placing between his seat and the dwelling-place of mortals a lake, the
water of which will, it is said, poison arrows dipped into it, and a
chain of mountains, unapproachable by reason of the death-dealing odours
exhaled from the swamp in the deep valley at their base."

The chief paused, hugged his knees, and gazed gravely into the dying
embers.

"Hath no man ever been able to penetrate into the mysterious abode?"  I
asked.

"Many lives have, it is said, been lost in foolhardy attempts by the
curious," he answered, slowly.  "None has, however, successfully braved
the wrath of the One of Evil, who dealeth death with aim unerring.  Our
wise men have said that when, generations ago, the Evil Spirit conquered
his rival, entrance was gained to his kingdom by a remarkable cave in
the rock, and that in the cave there lived a hideous wild beast with
eight legs, whose tusks were each the length of a spear, whose claws
were each an arrow's length, whose eyes were like flaming brands, and
whose breath was as the smoke of a camp fire.  The god's attendant
spirits were forbidden to pass beyond the zealously-guarded portal, but
one day a spirit, more adventurous than the rest, managed to escape into
the abode of men.  His spiritual form enabled him to cross the poisoned
waters without a canoe, but as he was passing rapidly over the plain his
absence was detected by the god of Darkness, who, in his wrath, suddenly
turned him into a human being, and doomed him to wander the earth as an
outcast forever.  He is wandering now, for aught we know.  Truly, the
wrath of the King of the Land of the Myriad Mysteries is to be feared,
and death cometh swiftly to those who offer him not offerings of flesh,
and arouse his anger by expressing disbelief that he ruleth the earth."

"Then, according to thy belief, the Good Spirit is powerless?"  I said.

"Yea, he hath, alas! been vanquished, and the god of Darkness holdeth
supreme sway over men," he answered.  "Among mine own people I have
witnessed more than one case where a man expressed disbelief in the One
of Evil at dawn, and ere darkness hath fallen he has come to a violent
and unexpected end.  The punishment of the sceptical is always death."

"And the dwelling-place of the Ruler of the World is that high land,
towards which, at sunrise, we shall be pushing forward to discover?"  I
said.

"Yea.  But have a care of thy life, O friend," he urged, in a tone of
consternation.  "Thou mayest gaze upon it from afar, but to approach it
will be to encompass thine own end."

"When we reach within sight of it I shall decide how to act," I laughed,
amused at the pagan's apprehensions.  "Strangely enough we have, in our
land, a legend very similar to thine, which telleth how one adventurous
man escaped from the mysterious region, after which the cave became
closed and all entrance and egress barred.  The mystery fascinateth me,
and I am determined at all hazards to seek its solution."

"Dost thou think thou wilt succeed where valiant men for ages past have
failed?" he asked, in a tone of reproach.

"I may fail also," I said.  "If thou wilt lead me thither, I will make
at least an effort."

The black chief did not reply, but sat silent and motionless, still
hugging his knees, and gazing with thoughtful, heavy expression into the
fire.  Perhaps he was trying to devise some scheme whereby I might be
deterred from committing an act which he considered sheer folly.  But I
was determined to keep the promise I had made to Azala, and seek some
explanation of the mystic marks upon our breasts.  It was strange that
every tribe--followers of the Prophet and pagans alike--possessed some
curious legend regarding the unapproachable country; strange, also, that
so many of the quaint beliefs coincided in two facts; namely, the escape
of an adventurous spirit and the subsequent disappearance of the cavern.
These legends had apparently been handed down through so many ages that
they had now become bound up in the quaint and simple religious belief
of the pagans, proving the great antiquity of the original incident or
story upon which they were founded.

That some extraordinary mystery was therein hidden, I felt
instinctively, and longed for the days to pass in order to stand before
the gigantic rock and examine it closely.  Tiamo, much impressed by what
Yakul had said, was likewise eager to view the spot; but the chief's
declaration that it was the dwelling-place of the Evil Spirit caused him
considerable perturbation, for, as a pagan himself, he believed
implicitly in the existence of Jinns, and in the One of Evil, which he
constantly declared lurked in the most gloomy depths of the Forest of
Perpetual Night.  Once or twice on our lonely journey he had been
terrified at seeing in the darkness some mysterious object moving, but
it generally turned out to be a monkey, a leopard, or some other animal
startled by our sudden invasion of his domain.

At such times I laughed at his dread of darkness, but I confess that
more than once in that weird and terrible wilderness of trees I, myself,
had become infected by his abject fear, and stood in readiness to
witness some uncanny being advance towards us.  Now, however, my little
apelike companion expressed a profound belief that the seat of the Evil
Spirit was actually beyond the Rock of the Great Sin, and that the
story, as related by Yakul, was the most sensible solution of the
mystery he had yet heard.  I could not reprimand him, because I did not
wish to cast doubt upon the belief of the grateful savage who had proved
our sincere friend.  Therefore I held my peace, declaring that I would
express no opinion before I saw the spot.

Yakul laughed when I thus made reply to my slave, and turning to him,
said,--

"Thy master acteth with discretion.  Ofttimes, we trip in the hurry of
the tongue.  They are wise who speak not before examining a matter
themselves."

"For many moons have we journeyed in search of the Rock of the Great
Sin," the dwarf answered, "and, even though I may fear him who dwelleth
therein, yet I, like my master, will not be deterred from approaching it
closely."

"Then, thy life will pay the penalty of thy rashness," the chief
observed, slowly nodding his head to emphasise his words.

"The result of any folly will be upon us alone," Tiamo said, in a
resentful tone.  "Lead us thither, and leave us to our own devices."

"Such is my intention," answered the chief of the Avejeli.  "If thou
hadst searched through the Forest of Perpetual Night, thou wouldst not
have obtained a guide, even though thou hadst offered him a sack of
cowries, or an ass's load of brass rods."

"Why?"  I inquired.

"Because the secret of the existence of the seat of the Evil Spirit in
our midst is carefully guarded by the forest tribes, and to lead a
stranger thither is an offence punishable by death.  Our prophets have
for centuries urged upon us the necessity for keeping the whereabouts of
the rock secret, declaring that some day a stranger will come from the
north, and seek to penetrate the mystery.  If the stranger is
successful, then the vengeance of the Evil One will descend upon all
forest-dwellers in whose keeping the secret remaineth, and sweep them
out of existence by means of a terrible scourge of leprosy.  Therefore,
the tribe of pigmies holding the country near the rock are deadly
hostile towards those who approach them, and none, save the Manuyema,
have ever been permitted to go near, and even they were all quickly
massacred by us, not one being spared to spread the news among his
compatriots."

"Then, in acting as our guide, thou art running a risk of death?"  I
exclaimed, in surprise.

The chief nodded assent, adding: "It is the only means by which I can
repay thee for giving me my life."

"If our efforts are satisfactory, thou wilt assuredly receive ample
reward," I said.

"I want none," he replied.  "But bring not upon our people the doom that
hath so long been prophesied," he added, with earnest fervency.

"I may be the stranger whose coming hath been foretold," I observed,
laughing.

El-Sadic, the dwarf, grinned from ear to ear, and rubbed his thighs,
while Yakul moved uneasily, and, taking up a stick, slowly stirred the
fire.

"I trust not," he said, in a harsh tone.  "It would be better that I had
died where the murderers of Tippu-Tib bound me, than I should be
instrumental in leading the destroyer of our race unto victory."

"Destroyer of thy race!"  I echoed.  "I have no desire to destroy either
the pigmies of the forest, or the stalwart dwellers of the river banks.
My campaign is not one of conquest, but of curiosity.  In searching for
the rock I am but redeeming a pledge to the woman I love.  Therefore,
have no fear as to my intentions;" and laughing again, I added,
"Whatever may occur, thou wilt assuredly be remembered."

"But the prophecy, it is--"

"Heed it not, be it what it may," I urged, interrupting him.  "Be thou
our guide, and give us thy protection through the country of the
pigmies.  Assuredly wilt thou be fitly rewarded."

"I take no reward from one to whom I owe so much," he answered, proudly.
For a few moments he hesitated, then added: "I have promised to direct
thy footsteps unto the mysterious region of the Evil One, and will do
so, notwithstanding the prophecy.  The pledge of Yakul is never broken.
Therefore, trust in me, and within twelve days thine eyes shall be
gladdened by the sight of the gloomy rock for which thou hast so long
searched."

I thanked him, assuring him that by such an action he would repay my
small service a thousandfold, and he accepted my expressions of pleasure
with that calm dignity which had held him exalted above all others of
his tribe.

"Then let us rest," he said.  "To-morrow we must retrace our steps one
march, and then strike in the direction of the sunrise.  Yakul shall
lead thee, but if thine adventurous expedition shouldst cost thee thy
life, let it not be upon my head, for already have I given thee full
warning of the dangers that must beset thee."

"Thou art exonerated from every blame, O my friend," I answered.  "Of
our own free desire we go forward unto the Land of the Myriad Mysteries,
and we are ready that the consequences rest with us."

"Well hast thou spoken, O master," my slave exclaimed.  "Wheresoever
thou seekest for truth, there also will I bear thee company."

"Then let us refresh ourselves by sleep, and let us proceed at sunrise,"
said the chief of the Avejeli; and soon afterwards, having made couches
of leaves, we stretched ourselves around the embers of our fire, the
flickering of which cast weird, grotesque shadows upon the boles of the
giants of the forest.

How long I slept I have no knowledge, but the crackling of wood awakened
me.  Opening my eyes quickly, without moving, I saw the flames had sunk
and sleep had stolen over my two companions.  Tiamo lay on his side, his
hand on his _jambiyah_ at his waist, while Yakul snored and rolled as if
he did not like the ground to lie upon.  The single ember that blazed
threw its light upon some dark bushes within my line of sight.

Suddenly I thought I detected a small object moving in the deep shadow,
and strained my eyes into the gloom.  Yes!  I was not deceived!  Another
dark form moved, then another and another, and as one crept out on
tiptoe from the thick undergrowth, I saw it was a tiny, half-naked
dwarf, wearing a curious square head-dress, advancing noiselessly, a
small poisoned arrow held in his bow ready to fly at the first sign of
our awakening.

The one creeping towards us did so with evil intent, for there was a
keen, murderous look in his tiny, beadlike eyes.  During the first few
moments of this discovery I remained spellbound, allowing our
adversaries to creep forward until within two spears' length of us.

Then I sent up a loud shout of alarm that rang through the great forest
and came back again with strange, almost sepulchral echo.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

ON THE HORIZON.

Instantly the tiny people of the Wambutti, none of whom reached higher
than my waist, scampered back into the undergrowth, startled by my
unearthly yells, but at the same moment Yakul jumped to his feet in
alarm, an arrow in his bow.

"Why hast thou given warning?" he cried, glancing at me.  "What hideous
shape hath frightened thee?"

"See! in yonder bushes, the pigmies are lurking," I gasped in alarm,
pointing to the spot where they had concealed themselves.

"How didst thou detect their presence?" he inquired.

"I watched them."

Turning towards the thick bushes, the savage chieftain shouted some
words in a tongue unknown to me, and next second the impish little
denizens of the forest depths sprang from their hiding-places, and
recognising their friend, came crowding around, dancing and greeting us
effusively.

Briefly Yakul explained our position.  His eyes were fire; his passion
for his slaughtered and enslaved race, and his passion for revenge, were
as the lode-star of his life.  After consultation, the hunters of the
Wambutti relit our fire by rubbing two sticks together, and squatted
around it, laughing and chattering in their strange language until the
grey light, glimmering through the tall trees, told us that dawn had
come.  Times innumerable had the Avejeli assisted the dwarfs against the
raiding dwellers on the grasslands and on the river banks.  The
yellow-complexioned pigmies, dwelling as they do deep in the
impenetrable depths of the boundless Forest of Perpetual Night, are
formidable enemies, for they conceal themselves so cleverly that their
arrows and spears pierce the intruder before he is aware of their
presence.  As hunters, these little-known men stand first among the
pagan tribes of Central Africa, and in return for food and bark-cloth
supply the neighbouring tribes with quantities of ivory, and the
deadliest of arrow poisons.  Their complexions are much lighter than the
dwellers by the river or on the plains, and their villages are mere
collections of tiny huts that appear like little straw-covered mounds
placed in the centre of a forest clearing.

At first our weird little friends seemed inclined to regard me with
considerable distrust, but on Yakul's assurance that I was no ally of
Tippu-Tib's, their distrust gave place to curiosity as to my purpose in
travelling through the forest.  Yakul reminded them of the promise of
assistance they had many times given him, and told them of my mission;
whereupon, after consultation with their headman, they consented--not,
however, without some reluctance--to guide us towards the Land of the
Myriad Mysteries; and after re-arranging their elephant-trap into which
we had fallen, our fire was extinguished and we struck camp, turning our
faces in a north-easterly direction.  Through a great, gloomy tract of
primeval forest, where the foliage was so dense that scarcely a ray of
light could struggle through to illuminate our weary footsteps, we
passed over marshy ground, where poisonous vapours hung undisturbed by
the faintest breath of air, and where neither animals nor birds could
live; on over the decaying vegetation of centuries; on, day after day,
now scrambling over fallen giants of the forest, and ever and anon
sinking knee-deep in quagmires of foetid slime.  Often we struck an
elephant track which assisted us, but were always compelled to leave it
very soon in order to continue our course.  Thus through many dreary
hours we pressed forward in the dull, dispiriting gloom.

Confident in the knowledge that each bivouac brought us nearer the spot
for which I searched, I heeded neither fatigue nor peril, and judge my
satisfaction, joy and eagerness, when at last we suddenly emerged from
the forest gloom into the blessed light of day.  Halting, I inhaled the
first invigorating breath of pure air I had breathed for many weeks.

The dwarfs raising their hands above their heads, gave vent to some
cabalistic utterances; then, trembling with fear, stood, not daring to
proceed further into the country forbidden.  Yakul called us to witness
that our friends had guided us in the right path, and Tiamo, turning to
me, cried excitedly in Arabic,--

"Of a verity, O master, soon will our eyes be delighted at the sight of
the great rock.  The chief Yakul is assuredly as sincere a friend as if
he had made blood brotherhood with thee."

Facing towards the holy Ka'aba, I thanked Allah for his deliverance, and
recited the Testification with some verses from the book of Everlasting
Will.

Under a brilliant noonday sun the open country spread wide before us, a
beautiful plain, covered with grass of freshest green, and stretching
away into the far-off horizon, where a range of mountains rose blue,
misty and indistinct.

"Behold!" shouted Yakul, pointing with his spear to the distant serrated
line a moment later.  "Behold, yonder peak that standeth higher than the
rest, and is shaped like the prow of a canoe, is the spot which thou
seekest.  Lo! it is the Rock of the Great Sin!"

My eyes, strained in the direction indicated, could just distinguish the
point where one mountain rose higher than its neighbours, its summit
apparently obscured by the vapours that hung about it.

"Art thou certain that yonder crest is actually the rock we seek?"  I
asked, shading my eyes with my hands, and eagerly gazing away to the
blue haze that enshrouded a mystery upon the elucidation of which my
whole future depended.

"Of a verity the grassland beneath thy feet is the same field whereon my
people gained the signal victory over their enemies.  Behold! their
whitening bones remain as relics of that fight; and yonder, afar, lieth
the forbidden Land of the Myriad Mysteries."

"Let us hasten thither, O master," urged Tiamo, who had been standing
agape in amazement, eagerly drinking in every word uttered by the sable
chieftain.

"In short space shall we reach the shore of the wondrous Lake of the
Accursed," Yakul exclaimed.  "By to-morrow's noon our faces shall be
mirrored in its waters."

"Let us speed on the wings of haste," I said; and then, remembering
Yakul's confidence in the non-success of my strange mission, I added,
"Each hour is of serious moment.  Already have I tarried too great a
space on my way hither, and must return more quickly than I came.  How I
shall journey back to Kano I know not."

"Thou needest not retrace thy footsteps along the route thou hast
traversed," answered the chief.  "Due north of yonder rock there runneth
a track which leadeth through the Great Forest to Ipoto.  Thence,
crossing the Ihourou river, the way leadeth on through the desolate
country of the Mbelia unto the mountain called Nai, whence thou canst
journey in six marches to Niam-Niam, and onward unto thine own desert
land."

Our friends, the dwarfs, had grouped themselves under the shadow of the
trees on the edge of the forest, conversing seriously.  None summoned
sufficient courage to wander forth upon the verdant land, where flowers
grew in wild abundance, and where herds of buffalo grazed undisturbed.
This strange land, unknown to all except themselves, they held in utmost
awe.  They dared not approach it more closely, lest the dreaded
pestilence that had been prophesied should fall and sweep them from the
face of the earth.

Yakul approached their headman, urging him to accompany us and explore
the mysterious rock, but the tiny man only shook his head, and drawing
himself up, answered,--

"Verily, we are thy friends, O friend, but seek not to cause us to
invoke the wrath of the Destroyer, lest the pestilence should fall upon
us.  He who resteth his eyes on yonder rock will assuredly be smitten,
and his entrails withered by the breath of the Evil Spirit of the Forest
that scorcheth like the flame of a burning brand.  To pass over yonder
grassland is forbidden."

"We go forward in search of the Land of the Myriad Mysteries," the chief
of the Avejeli explained.

"Then assuredly thou goest unto certain death," the dwarfs replied,
almost with one accord, shaking their heads and shrugging their narrow
shoulders.

"Be warned," their headman added.  "The Destroyer is mighty; he ruleth
the Great Forest and its people.  Assuredly he is swift to punish!"

"He who will bear us company unto the Lake of the Accursed, let him
stand forth, or if he dare not venture, then let him hold his peace,"
said Yakul, standing erect, spear in hand.

But not a dwarf advanced.  All feared to pass across the fertile plain,
and investigate the mysterious country beyond.

Then, after much parleying and many solemnly-uttered warnings on the
part of the pigmies, my two companions and myself left them, setting our
faces resolutely towards the sacred lake, the approach to which was
prohibited to all.

The grass was soft beneath our feet after the difficult march through
the untrodden forest; the sight of flowers, of animals and of birds
refreshed our eyes after the eternal silence and appalling gloom in
which we had existed through so many weary days; and as the sun sank in
a sea of crimson behind us, and our shadows lengthened across the grass,
I halted for a few moments to repeat the sunset prayer, remembering that
there was one afar off who had opened her lattice and breathed upon the
hot, stifling desert wind a fervent message of love.

Within sight of the entrance to the mysterious Land of the No Return I
wondered, as I strode forward, what the result of my mission would be;
whether, by good fortune, I should be enabled to reach the Rock of the
Great Sin in safety; whether the explanation of the mysterious Mark of
the Asps upon my breast would ever be revealed; whether the true-hearted
woman I loved so dearly still stood in peril of the vile intrigues
around her; whether the Khalifa's plot had been frustrated, and whether,
by Allah's grace, my feet would ever again tread the well-remembered
courts of the luxurious Fada at Kano.

The traditions of the sons of Al-Islam and those of the pagans were
alike so ominous that, as the dark mountains gradually became misty and
indistinct when the night clouds enveloped them, I became filled with
gloomy apprehensions, fearing failure, and the fulfilment of the
strange, terrifying prophecies of the dwarfs.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

THE GREAT SIN.

Hastily we sped forward early next morning, our eyes eagerly riveted
upon our goal.

The saffron streak of dawn showed behind the great, gloomy range of blue
and grey, and as the fleecy clouds lifted, we saw that the higher peaks
beyond were tipped with snow.  The lofty crests were tinted with an
unusual blood-red light.  Truly the country beyond had been justly named
by the pagans the Land of the Myriad Mysteries.

Soon we ascended a knoll, and at its summit were enabled to distinguish,
straight in front of us, a pool of dark water which, at that distance,
seemed only a leopard's leap in width, lying immediately beneath the
Rock of the Great Sin.

"Behold!" cried Tiamo, who had sped forward a few paces and gazed
around.  "See!  O master!  Yonder must be the Lake of the Accursed, the
poisonous waters that all men fear!"

Even as I gazed, the sun shone forth from behind the mountains which
Yakul called the Jebel el-Mantar (Mountains of the Look-out), and the
shadow cast by the dark, towering rock fell across the black, silent
pool.  We quickened our pace, each of us breathlessly eager to
investigate the mysterious spot.  A great golden eagle came from his
nest on the summit of the rock, soaring high above us, while a crowd of
grey vultures hovered around with a persistency which seemed precursory
of death.

"Alas!  The birds of evil follow us," exclaimed Yakul, observing them;
but neither Tiamo nor myself answered, for we were both too full of our
own thoughts, fearing lest our mission should prove abortive.  My slave
fingered his amulets, uttering many strange exhortations, while my
companion, the chief of the Avejeli, raised his long, sinewy arms
towards the rock and cried aloud to the Evil Spirit, humbly
acknowledging that he had broken the commandment, and earnestly craving
forgiveness.

Nevertheless, we still hurried forward, and, half-an-hour before the sun
reached the noon, were standing at the shore of the black pool, upon the
unruffled surface of which the high, inaccessible face of the rock
descending sheer into the water was faithfully reflected, with every
detail of colour and form.

The scene was exactly similar in every particular to that which, from
the lattice in the palace of Kano, I had seen reflected upon the sky.
The mirage, though inverted, had been an exact reproduction of the wild,
gloomy landscape.

With wondering eyes I gazed around, seeking to discover some clue to the
mystery, but was at a loss how to commence.

The width of the Lake of the Accursed, from the spot where we stood to
the base of the rock, was about a gunshot, and it extended on either
side along the bases of the mountains as far as the eye could reach.
The Rock of the Great Sin rose, a wall of dark grey stone devoid of any
vestige of herbage, towering rough and rugged to enormous height, and
overhanging in such a manner that it could not be scaled.  Like the
giant mountains and rocky pinnacles around and beyond, it was utterly
inaccessible.  Even if the water had not formed a natural barrier no man
could ascend its precipitous face or climb its rugged, overhanging
crags; while all around a chain of impassable rocks and mountains reared
their mighty crests between us and the mysterious Land of the No Return.
Suddenly I felt in my throat a strange sensation as of asphyxiation.
Violent fits of coughing seized both my companions, while my own throat
seemed to contract strangely, until I could only breathe in short,
painful gasps.

Just at that moment my eyes fell upon the long, narrow pool, and I saw,
wafted slowly along its glassy surface, a thin blue vapour.  Bending, I
placed my hand in the water; it was just tepid, and strongly impregnated
with sulphur.  Then I noticed that, within an arrow's flight of the
shore, not even a blade of grass grew.  The Lake of the Accursed was
evidently fed by a large number of hot springs, and the strong
sulphurous fumes given off exterminated life in every form.  The
assertions of the pigmies were correct.  Those who approached the waters
were in imminent peril of death.

Finding ourselves in this critical position, we all three sped away to
the zone where the grass grew abundantly, and there found that we could
again breathe freely.  Without approaching nearer to the Lake of the
Accursed, we proceeded to investigate the rocks to right and left.
Apparently these high, grey crags flanked the bases of the giant,
snow-capped mountains that beyond, in the unknown Land of the No Return,
reared their heads to the cloudless heavens; but though we searched
throughout the long and brilliant day, we were unable to discover any
means of approach to the unknown and unexplored plateau that lay behind.
As far as we travelled east or west the poisonous waters and soft,
slimy swamps formed a natural gulf that precluded any attempt to scale
the dizzy heights forming the outer, impregnable limits to the strange,
rock-girt realm.

Times without number I stood gazing up at the dark mysterious rock, the
spot held in awe alike by pagans of the Forest of Perpetual Night and
true Believers.  It had remained for me to discover that which for
generations my kinsmen had sought and failed.  So far, indeed, Allah had
allowed me to be successful, but the promised elucidation of the mystery
seemed as far off as ever, and as evening fell and the gigantic
mountains, magnificent in their wild ruggedness, became crimsoned by the
fiery afterglow, I began to realise the utter impossibility of obtaining
from that grey, frowning wall any explanation of the Mark of the Asps,
or of gaining the Land of the No Return, whereon the foot of man had
never fallen.

When the plain was flooded with roseate radiance, we held earnest
consultation together, and agreed that to remain nearer the lake for any
length of time would prove fatal.  Even Tiamo, who had been so sanguine
of success, now expressed a fear that, with the exception of discovering
the rock, our journey could have no further result.  Yakul endorsed the
dwarf's opinion, as, sitting upon his haunches, hugging his knees, he
repeated a prayer to the Evil Spirit whose vengeance he feared.

Night came soon, and the mountains were silver with moonlight.  The
waters of the lake glittered in the white beams; the silver moon queened
heaven amid her court of silver stars.  What was there beyond that
impassable barrier?  A world all purity, all peace; a blanched world,
bleached of blood and shame; a world of mystery, so fair it seemed to
wait for some ethereal being, tall and radiant, winged with light, to
path its unknown valleys.  Sleep came not to my eyes.  By some strange
intuition I felt that at that spot some weird mystery remained hidden,
and having travelled thus far, and actually discovered the Rock of the
Great Sin, the spot that had remained a mystery through ages, I was
determined that nothing should deter me from exploring further.

Yakul and the dwarf were eating their morning meal as I strolled alone
at the edge of the zone, beyond reach of the poisonous, insidious
vapours.  Once again I gazed up at the weird, precipitous crag in abject
wonderment.  With its towering summit standing out boldly against the
vault of cloudless blue, and its delicate tints of brown and grey
faithfully reflected upon the still waters, it rose, a barrier between
the Known and the Unknown--mysterious, marvellous, magnificent.

With arms folded and chin upon my breast, I surveyed its inaccessible
base, seeking for the hundredth time to discover some means of gaining
the land beyond, when suddenly my eyes were attracted by a portion of
the rock close to where the waveless waters lapped its enormous base.
In its aspect there was nothing very remarkable, yet my eyes, on the
alert for the slightest clue, detected that for a short distance the
black strata of the rock ran at an entirely different angle to the
remainder, as if at some time or other the base had been disturbed by
some violent upheaval.  Covering my mouth with my hand to exclude the
suffocating vapours, I rushed down to the edge of the lake, straining my
gaze in its direction.  At about a spear's length above the surface,
this strange inequality extended, but apparently the rock above had
remained undisturbed by the volcanic action.

The legend alleging that the savage serpent, which ages ago guarded the
entrance to the Land of the No Return, had smote the rock in his wrath,
and that its rocky portals had instantly closed, recurred to me.  Could
that spot have been the actual entrance to the Unknown Land?  Might not
the zealously-guarded gate have closed and sunk beneath the surface of
the unfathomable waters?

I held my breath, feeling myself on the verge of a discovery.  Yet to
investigate seemed impossible, for we had no wood from which to
construct a raft, and the very air was poisoned by noxious vapours that
wafted in serpentine gusts across the surface with the faintest zephyr.

Yakul shouted, but I heeded him not.  I was gazing fixedly at the Rock
of the Great Sin, striving to devise some means by which to reach and
examine the disturbed portion of its base.  It occurred to me that, by
diving into the water, I could perhaps swim across and return without
becoming asphyxiated, therefore I walked back to where my two companions
were squatting, and amazed them by announcing my intention to cross the
Lake of the Accursed.

"But are not its waters fatal?  Thou wilt, of a verity, be poisoned!"
cried Tiamo, springing to his feet and clutching my arm in alarm.

"Unto the Lalla Azala I gave my pledge that I would strive to elucidate
this mystery," I answered, calmly.  "I shall plunge in yonder, and
strike towards the rock.  If I fail, return quickly unto her and tell
her in what manner I died.  Tell her that for many moons have I
journeyed until at last I discovered the Rock of the Great Sin, and
that, in seeking what was hidden, I was brought unto Certainty.  But, by
the grace of the One Merciful, who hath guided me by the sun of his
favour, I hope to find strength sufficient to make my investigation, and
return hither in safety.  In case I should not," I added, removing one
of my amulets from the little string of talismans, sewn carefully in
soft leather, that I had worn always next my skin ever since I could
remember, and handing it to him, "in case I should fail, take this to
the Lalla Azala, and tell her that my last thoughts were of her."

"Truly I will, O master," answered the dwarf, grasping the small golden
circle, and feeling it with nervous, trembling fingers.

"Is it not folly, O friend, to trust thyself in yon sacred lake?  There
is death in its breath," Yakul urged, regarding me with a strange look
of pitying suspicion, as if fearing that I had taken leave of my senses.
To him the very suggestion seemed preposterous.  He had feared to
approach the waters, and my resolution to desecrate them by plunging in
filled him with awe.

"It cannot be avoided," I answered.  "I seek that which I desire to
find, and am determined to make the attempt if Allah--whose name be
exalted!--willeth it."

"And if thou failest?" he asked.

"Allah alone knoweth the hearts of men.  He leadeth me, and I am not
afraid," I answered.

"Alas!  I fear thou wilt find naught," the savage chieftain exclaimed.
"Yon mystery is hidden from man, and vengeance falleth upon him who
seeketh to tear aside the veil."

"I know," I said.  "A hundred times hath the same words been spoken unto
me.  Each man to whom I mentioned the object of my journey prophesied
failure, yet their prognostications have, up to the present, proved
untrue.  I stand here, before the rock which followers of the Prophet
have sought for ages, but could not find, and I tell thee I am resolved
to investigate further."

"Have a care of thy life, O master," cried my slave.  "Think, the Lalla
Azala, who loveth thee, could live no longer if thou wert dead."

"It is to aid her, El-Sadic, to fulfil my pledge, to gain that which she
hath said will bring us together never to part, that I essay this
attempt.  I go.  If I fail, act as I have spoken.  May Allah accord thee
his favours."

Convinced of the fruitlessness of any effort to deter me from diving
into the poisonous pool, the pagan dwarf bowed his head, while Yakul
drove his spear viciously into the ground and turned from me with a
gesture of impatience.  Addressing Tiamo, I asked him to accompany me,
and we walked along the edge of the grass to a point opposite where the
strata of the rock had apparently been disturbed.  Then, halting a few
moments, I gave him a further message of affection to deliver to my
enchantress in case my strength should fail.  Overcome with emotion, the
faithful slave again and again pointed out the perils of such a rash
attempt, urging me to abandon it, but I was determined, and quickly
divested myself of a portion of my clothing.

Aloud I besought the Omniscient One to bear me on the strong arm of his
aid, and shouting a word of encouragement to my alarmed companions, I
dashed across the strip of parched, barren ground, holding my breath,
throwing myself upon the mercy of the One Merciful--then, a moment
later, I plunged headlong into the reeking, malodorous waters.

The strange sensation of asphyxiation seized me as I rose to the
surface, but, determined not to turn back, I struck out boldly for the
opposite side, where the rock descended sheer into the lake.  Keeping my
mouth well closed I took long, bold strokes, each of which brought me
nearer to the precipitous face of the giant rock.  The shouts of my
excited companions broke upon my ears, but I swam on, striving with all
my might.

Exerting every muscle, I clave the waters, propelling myself towards the
point that had been disturbed by the singular upheaval.  Very soon,
however, my breathing became shorter and more difficult.  The surface of
the water seemed gloomy and ominous in the shadow cast by the sacred
rock, and although I had long considered myself a strong swimmer, yet
the difficulty of gaining breath paralysed my muscles, and a strange
cramp that I had never before experienced seemed to seize me in iron
grip.

In the centre of the dreaded Lake of the Accursed I felt my strength
fast ebbing.

With set teeth I struggled against the fate that threatened each moment
to overwhelm me, and, after resting a few seconds, struck out again
straight towards my goal.  As I neared it I was astonished to find that
swimming was much easier, and my pace increased.  Then suddenly I became
aware that a current was carrying me swiftly towards the very spot I
desired to reach.  The dark rock rose before me, bare and imposing, and
the black strata, that from the shore had appeared like lines thin as
bow strings, now showed wide, rugged and distinct.  My satisfaction at
being thus assisted by a current, the existence of which I was ignorant,
was quickly succeeded by a fear that froze my blood, as suddenly I
noticed, right under the disturbed portion of the rock, a great eddying
whirlpool, towards which I was being swiftly carried.

To enter those circling waters meant certain death.  With all my might I
fought and struggled, endeavouring to turn back, but, alas! found myself
utterly powerless, being carried helplessly forward towards the
funnel-shaped depression in the centre of the whirlpool, where all
objects that entered were sucked down into its deep, unfathomable
depths.  When in England, I read of fatal circling currents in the sea,
but the discovery of one in a still lake dismayed me.

Onward I was swept, the current gaining greater rapidity every moment.
Knowing that no hand could be outstretched to rescue me, I cried
farewell words to my companions.  But my voice, thin and weak as a
child's, could not reach them.  For life I fought desperately, but all
effort was futile.  Like a mere chip of wood floating upon the surface I
was drawn into the fatal circle, and carried round the outer edge of the
strange whirlpool with such terrible velocity that my head reeled, and a
sickening dizziness overcrept me.

So near I passed to the mysterious rock, that in order to steady and
save myself, I clutched at its smooth, gigantic base with both hands.
But only for a second.  Over the pale yellow slime with which the stone
was covered my frantic fingers slipped, and falling back powerless into
the eddying waters, I was again swept into the fatal, ever-narrowing
circle.

The eddying current whirled me round and round with amazing swiftness
for a few moments, until suddenly I reached its centre, and felt myself
being sucked down by an irresistible force.  An instant later I knew
that the black waters had closed over me.  Confused sounds roared in my
ears like the thunder in Ramadan, but ere my sensibility became utterly
obliterated I knew I was being carried deep down into a darkness that,
even in my critical state of breathless half-consciousness, filled me
with an all-consuming terror and chilled my heart.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

WHERE DWELT THE DEVOURER.

In the appalling darkness that overwhelmed me, I fought, blindly beating
the water with frantic hands.  As I struggled to extricate myself from
the power of the whirling current my arms suddenly struck against stones
on either side.  With desperate effort I put out my hands, and to my
amazement found myself being carried onward, by a rushing flood, through
what appeared to be a narrow tunnel in the face of the rock, deep below
the lake's surface.  Though but half conscious, I remember distinctly
reflecting that the whirlpool had no doubt been caused by this violent
outrush of water descending to feed some subterranean river, and that
the chasm had probably been caused by the volcanic disturbance that had
first attracted my attention.  Half suffocated, and powerless against
the roaring torrent, I was sucked downward, deep into the fathomless
chasm.

Suddenly my fingers came in contact with a projecting ledge of rock,
which I gripped with all my might, just managing to steady myself, and
so arrest my further progress.  Drawing breath, I was amazed to find
that my head was above water, although the wild roar of the flood was
deafening, and in the total darkness I could distinguish nothing.  With
set teeth I strained every muscle, and after several futile attempts, at
length succeeded in scrambling over black, slime-covered stones beyond
reach of the roaring torrent rushing down to mysterious subterranean
depths.  Strangely enough, the air seemed fresher than outside in the
lake, for here, in the heart of the rock, there appeared to be
ventilation.  This discovery renewed my hopes.  The aperture that
admitted air would prove a means of egress from that dark, loathsome
place, if only I could discover it.  Though still giddy from the effects
of the whirling waters, I rose slowly to my feet, and found that I could
stand upright.  With eager fingers outstretched before me I felt my way
carefully onward over the rocks, rendered slippery by the sulphurous
deposits of ages.  In fear and trepidation lest I should slip and fall
into some yawning fissure, I nevertheless groped on up a steady incline
until suddenly my eyes caught a faint but welcome glimmer of grey light.

Towards this I stumbled on, falling once upon my hands and severely
grazing them, but taking no heed of the accident in my breathless
eagerness to discover some means of escape.  I stood facing the mute
darkness, all mystery, and gloom.

Clambering on over some rough boulders, and passing between the great
rocks that had fallen so near to one another that it was with difficulty
I squeezed between them, I at length found myself in an enormous cavern,
from the vaulted roof of which depended gigantic stalactites, while high
up, and inaccessible, was an aperture that admitted light and air, but,
in front of me, all was a black, impenetrable darkness.  The great place
had, undoubtedly, been formed by the action of the water, but the
process had involved an enormous length of time, and now the course of
the subterranean stream had been diverted by some upheaval.

With the evil-smelling waters dripping from my ragged gandoura, I stood
gazing around the great, natural chamber in wonderment.  Was this the
cavern described in the legends as the entrance to the Land of the No
Return? the dwelling-place of the savage reptile that acted as janitor?
My eyes were fixed upon the Cimmerian gloom beyond, for I feared to come
face to face with some unknown and uncanny tenant of that chamber, where
my timid footsteps echoed away into the impenetrable blackness, in which
every sound became exaggerated, and every object weirdly distorted.

The sides of the cavern were apparently of rough, black granite, but in
the grey light that fell across the place, the long crystals of
fantastic shape glistened and shone with the brilliance of diamonds, and
the floor, rough and uneven, was formed of huge boulders, that had
evidently been tossed hither and thither by the violent volcanic
eruption that had altered the angle of the strata outside.  Little
rivulets flowed over the floor, cutting deep channels in the stones,
where blind and colourless crayfish of enormous size, and of unknown
type, slowly crept, while, disporting themselves in the water, were
strange, finny denizens of the subterranean river.  On examination, I
found they had no eyes, and had lost the colouration characteristic of
their outer-world relatives, by reason of passing their whole time in
total darkness.  There were also great, grey toads, and fat,
slowly-moving lizards, alike sightless and uncanny.  From where I stood,
the distant, roaring waters sounded like the continual, monotonous
moaning of the storm-wind, and it was with failing heart that I
proceeded with my explorations, for I well knew that to reach the exit
high above was utterly impossible.

Without food or fresh water, I had been drawn into that great cavern by
the whirlpool and entombed.  Tiamo and Yakul, watching for me to rise to
the surface, and finding that I had utterly disappeared, would, I knew,
conclude that I had been drowned; and the dwarf, acting upon my
instructions, would return to Kano, bearing the sad tidings to Azala.
Alas!  I could not communicate with them.  In my helplessness I cried
aloud unto Allah, the Most High, to show me the right path, but my wild
wail only echoed through the hollow cavern, like the mocking voice of
Azrael.

Under the great opening, that was overshadowed by a huge boulder, but
into which blew fresh air in stormy gusts, showing that near the spot
the rocks were open to the sky.  I stood in full consciousness that
could I but climb to that altitude I should be enabled to enter the
forbidden land.  Yet all thought of gaining that exit had to be
abandoned.  Even if I could scale the steep wall of the cavern, to reach
the opening in its roof was impossible.

Here was yet another barrier between myself and the unknown.

Having carefully surveyed the cavern to right and left, I went forward
at last, clambering over great, sharp stones that hurt my feet and
grazed my elbows, and splashing into deep black pools, until, passing
beyond the circle of light towards the portion of the strange place that
remained in total darkness, my eager eyes suddenly caught sight of a
portion of the black wall of the cave that had evidently been rendered
flat and smooth by the hand of man, and upon it, deeply graven in the
stone, but now half-obliterated by Time's effacing finger, was a
wall-picture, the extraordinary character of which held me amazed,
petrified.

Over the strange, fantastic outlines my eyes travelled, deciphering the
ancient scene it was intended to represent.  An exclamation of amazement
involuntarily escaped my parched lips, for it furnished me with the
first clue to the mystery I was striving to elucidate.  It told me of
things of which I had never before dreamed.

Truly, I had struggled through the natural, and hitherto impassable
barrier between the known world and that unknown, and was now actually
on the threshold of a land of a thousand wonders.

The earnest, appealing words Azala had uttered, when requesting me to
seek the truth, recurred to me, and, as I gazed upon these outlines,
limned upon the rock-tablet by hands that ages ago had fallen to dust, I
felt myself on the verge of a discovery even more extraordinary than any
my wildest thoughts had ever framed.

The detail of the mysterious picture was amazing.  Its art was unique--
the art of a cultured, luxurious civilisation which had long been
forgotten, even in the age when our lord Mahomet lived--but in it was
one feature so curious and remarkable that its sight held me breathless,
agape, transfixed.

The tablet, fashioned from the solid rock, was of great extent, with
life-sized figures in bas-relief, sculptured with consummate skill, and
as soon as my eyes caught sight of it I recognised its great antiquarian
value.  The study of forgotten nations had always attracted me from
boyhood.  Indeed, I had followed the example set by my father, who was
perhaps the best-known antiquarian among the Arabs of Algeria, and was
frequently sought out by travellers interested in the relics of bygone
ages.  While I was still a lad, he, at that time living in Constantine,
met an Englishman named Layard, who came to examine the inscriptions at
the Bab-el-Djabia and the ruins at Sidi Mecid, and subsequently embraced
the opportunity of accompanying him through Kurdistan and Mesopotamia as
interpreter.  Afterwards, he assisted in the excavations on the sites of
ancient Babylon and Nineveh, where many wonderful archaeological
treasures were brought to light.  He was present when the great winged
bull was discovered beneath the mound of Nimroud, and on account of the
keen interest he took in the various sculptures unearthed, and his
ability to sketch them, he was promoted to be one of the Englishman's
chief assistants.  Thus, from the first great discovery of Assyrian
remains, my father had been enabled to study them, and when he returned
home four years later, he brought with him many copies of strange
cuneiform inscriptions, and drawings of curious sculptures, all of which
interested me intensely.  From him I thus derived my knowledge of the
inscriptions of Babylonia, imperfect though it might be, but yet of
sufficient extent to enable me to discern the Arabic equivalents of the
strange lines of arrowheads graven upon this rock, and forming part of
the picture I had so unexpectedly discovered.  While at college in
Algiers, I had eagerly devoured the few books in French, explaining the
monuments of Babylonia, and in London had continued the study, by that
means adding to the knowledge I had already gained under the tuition of
my father.  Few sons of Al-Islam are archaeologists, but, as with my
father, so also with me, the study had been a hobby, and on many
occasions the French professors had expressed surprise at the extent of
my knowledge of that strange language known as cuneiform.

By the dress and physiognomy of the figures portrayed upon the
rock-tablet, I at once discerned they were not ancient Egyptian, as I at
first believed, but Assyrian.  The general arrangement of the picture
showed it to be a record of similar character to those found in the
wonderful buried palaces of Nineveh and Babylon.

In the faint glimmer of light I stood straining my eyes upon this silent
record of a forgotten age.  The first object I distinguished was a
winged circle at the right-hand corner; the emblem of the
Babylonian supreme deity.  Below, in a chariot drawn by three
handsomely-caparisoned horses, were three warriors in coats of mail, one
being in the act of discharging an arrow at the enemy, one driving, and
the third shielding his companions.  The trappings of the horses, and
the decorations of the chariot itself consisted of stars and other
sacred devices, while at the side was suspended a quiver full of arrows,
and the helmets of the warriors showed them to belong to the early
Babylonian period.  Following the chariot was a eunuch on foot, with a
bow over his shoulder, a quiver slung behind, and bearing in his hand a
kind of mace.

He was represented attired in a dress ornamented richly with gold and
heavy fringe, while his upper garment was apparently a golden
breastplate, across which showed the band by which the quiver was
suspended.  He wore no head-dress, and his feet were bare, but his
position and bearing denoted that he was the servant of a monarch.
Behind him there was depicted a chariot, not so gorgeously decorated as
the first, drawn by two horses and led by two men, probably eunuchs.
Over the horses' heads rose high plumes, three in number, tassels fell
over their foreheads and hung around their necks, together with
rosettes, engraved beads and the sacred star; their tails were bound in
the centre by ribbons, and suspended from the axle of the chariot was a
large tassel.  Standing behind, as if already passed by the expedition,
the sacred tree was elaborately and tastefully portrayed, the tree
bearing a large number of those mystic flowers that are so prominent a
feature in early Babylonian decoration, showing that the dwellers within
that wonderful city were possessed of highly-refined taste.  Below was a
picture of two scribes, writing down the number of heads and the amount
of spoil, while the tablet behind them was occupied by many lines of
graven arrowheads.

Underneath was pictured, in graphic detail, a peaceful, religious
procession of gods, borne on the shoulders of warriors.  Each figure was
carried by four men: the first was that of a female seated on a throne,
holding in one hand a ring, in the other a kind of fan, and on the top
of her square, horned cap was a star.  The next figure was also that of
a female, wearing a similar cap, seated in a chair, and holding in her
left hand a ring; she was also carrying something in her right hand, but
its form I could not distinguish.  The third figure puzzled me
considerably; it was much smaller in its proportions than those
preceding it, was half concealed in a case or box, and had a ring in the
left hand; while the fourth was that of a man in the act of walking,
holding in one hand a thunderbolt, and the other an axe, evidently the
Babylonian deity, Belus or Baal.  Upon the identity of the other gods I
was undecided, but in the right-hand corner of the tablet was sculptured
a figure of the goddess Istar, the Assyrian Venus, draped and standing
erect on a lion, crowned with a mural coronet, upon which was a star,
denoting her divinity.  In one hand she was represented as bearing the
moon, and the other grasped two objects which had first attracted my
attention and riveted my gaze.  She was holding out two serpents,
entwined in such a manner as to form the puzzling device with which my
breast was branded--the Mark of the Asps!

Taking a small, flat stone, I stood on tiptoe and carefully scraped away
the dirt of ages from that portion of the sculpture, finding underneath
the two serpents engraven in minute detail.  Then I scraped the dress of
the eunuch and found the same symbol there depicted.  Save in one or two
instances, the ages that had passed since the great rock-tablet had been
hewn had left it untouched.  The deeper portions of the picture were,
however, filled with dark grey moss and the accumulated dirt of
centuries, but with the aid of the stone I commenced to scrape the
inscriptions and very soon succeeded in so far cleaning them that the
lines were decipherable.

It was apparent that the intention of the sculptor had been to portray,
at the base of the picture, the procession of gods being carried into
the Temple of Istar, or Astarte, but the reason she bore in her hand the
entwined serpents was a mystery inscrutable.  Upon the walls of the
palaces at Nimroud, many representations of the goddess, bearing in her
hand a single serpent, had been discovered, but never before had she
been found pictured with the mystic symbol that had been the problem of
my life.

I stood before the dark face of rock, speechless in wonderment, for
here, as Azala had predicted, I had actually made a discovery, amazing
and bewildering.  The mark that we both bore upon our breasts had for
ages remained engraven there, a symbol of forgotten deity, a device, no
doubt, held in reverence and awe by a civilisation now vanished.

That vast, weird cavern, filled with the monotonous roar of tumbling
waters, inhabited by blind, unknown animals and reptiles, yet rendered
almost fairylike by its wonderful stalactites, which glittered whenever
a shaft of pale light caught them, was indeed peopled by ghosts of the
past.  By whose hand had those marvellous pictures been chiselled?  By
whose order had that tablet been prepared?  The dark, gloomy place was,
indeed, well named the Gate of the Land of the No Return.  Was I not
actually within the Rock of the Great Sin?  What, I wondered, was the
nature of the great sin to which the rock had remained a mute witness?

With arms folded, I stood gazing upon the sculptured stone, long and
earnestly, thinking, with affection, of the graceful, trustful woman who
loved me, and for whose sake I had struggled to set foot upon ground
that for ages had remained untrodden by man.  Even at that moment I
knew, alas! that her slave, Tiamo, would be on his way back to Kano to
impart the news of my death, and I myself was powerless.  To return was
impossible.  I was compelled to proceed.

But if I failed to discover any exit?  The dread thought chilled my
heart.  Perhaps, after all, I had been entombed, and my fate would be
death from starvation.

With only an impenetrable darkness beyond, the outlook was by no means
reassuring; nevertheless, I struggled desperately to stifle my
apprehensions, determined to decipher, as far as my knowledge served me,
the cuneiform inscription, which I anticipated might explain the mystery
of the symbol borne by the goddess Istar, whose worship formed such a
historical feature in the religion of Babylon.

As I gazed around the dull, dispiriting, natural chamber, there crept
over my heart a terrible sense of loneliness, such as I have never
before experienced.  Seized by an appalling, indescribable dread, I
shuddered.

Next second, however, I set my teeth firmly, arguing within myself that
upon my coolness my escape might depend, and then commenced a careful
study of the parallel lines of chiselled characters.  For fully an hour
I was engaged in scraping and deciphering each word, finding their study
so fascinating, that I actually forgot that I was alone in that
wonderful natural prison.  A considerable time elapsed before I could
discover the commencement of the inscription, but having done so, I
found that, with the exception of one or two small places, where the
action of time upon the stone had caused it to fall in scales and thus
efface the words, I could decipher it sufficiently well to ascertain its
purport.

The words I read caused me to stand aghast.  The statement, quaintly
expressed and sometimes vague, staggered belief.  Commencing about the
centre of the tablet, it read as follows:--

"Ruler of the World and Builder of Babylon, the City of Cities, I,
Semiramis, daughter of the Moon-god, Sin, who conquered the hosts of my
enemies, who is never triumphed over by my foes, who put my captives to
the sword and offered sacrifices, caused this record to be written by
Nebu-sum-Iskum, my scribe, in the month Elul, day 18th, year 25th.
Semiramis, Queen of Babylon.

"_The record of my warriors, the battle-shout of my fighting, the
submission of enemies hostile, whom Anu and Rimmon to destruction have
given, on this my tablet and my foundation-stone have I written.  The
tablets of my father duly I cleaned_; _victims I sacrificed; to their
places I restored for future days, for a day long hereafter, for
whatsoever queen hereafter reigneth.  When the temple of Anu and Rimmon,
the gods great, my lords, its walls grow old and palaces decay, their
ruins may she renew, my tablets and my foundation-stones duly may she
cleanse, victims may she slay, to their places may she restore, and her
name with mine may she write.  Like myself, may Anu and Rimmon, the
great gods, in soundness of heart and conquest in battle bountifully
keep her.  He who my inscriptions and my foundation-stones shall
conceal, shall hide, to the water shall lay, to the fire shall burn, in
dust shall cower in a home underground, a place, not seen for
interpretation shall set, the name written shall erase and his own name
shall write, and an attack evil shall devise; he also, from the world I
have left, who seeketh to enter this my kingdom called Ea, the Land of
the Lord of Wisdom, may Anu and Assur, the gods great, my lords,
strongly injure him, and with a curse grievous may they curse him.  May
he wither beneath the touch of Niffer, lord of the Ghost Land, his
kingdom may the gods dissipate, and may he be rooted up and destroyed
from out of his country; the armies of his lordship may they devour, his
weapons may they break, the destruction of his army may they cause; in
the presence of his enemies wholly may they cause him to dwell; may the
Air-god with pestilence and destruction his land cut off; want of crops
famine and corpses against his land may he lay; against the sovereignty
of his full power may he speak; his name, his seed in the land may he
destroy_.

"_To extend my empire I left Ninyas, my son, to govern Babylon, and went
forth with my legions into the land of the Ethiopians, and there
overthrew mine enemies, of captives taken forty thousand, and of oxen
twenty thousand, and much spoils of gold and silver and precious stones.
And the number of the slaughtered men amounted to thirty thousand.
Even while my warriors were counting their great spoils came there unto
them news astounding, that over Babylon my son, Ninyas, had proclaimed
himself king, whereupon my army that I had led rose up against me, their
quern, and marched northward, through the land of the Egyptians, to the
banks of the river where I built Babylon and constructed my gardens
that overhang and are unsurpassed.  May they enter the regions of
corruption, the dwelling of the deity Irkalla: may dust be their food,
their victuals mud; may the light they not see, and in a terrible
darkness dwell.  Of my legions and my slaves as many as have remained
loyal unto me, numbering twenty thousand, renounced their citizenship,
and after wandering and fighting for twenty moons, accompanied me unto
this place, the road whose way is without return, to the house whose
entrance is without exit, there to found a country that I have named Ea,
and raised up my throne in a city which standeth from this Rock of Sin,
the Moon-god, fifteen marches towards the sunrise...  Here have I
offered sacrifices to the Sun-god and to Anu, and set up this my record.
To this, my land, none may enter and none may leave on pain of a death
terrible and swift.  Upon him who breaketh this my commandment may the
wrath of the Air-god most avenging fall, may he be smitten with
pestilence, may his limbs rot and drop asunder, and may he fall captive
in the hands of the great Devourer of the Living...  Lo!  I am Astarte,
worshipped by men in the temples of Babylon, and the star is set upon my
head.  This my commandment have I written here, at the Gate of the Land
of the No Return, which is the only entrance to the country without
exit; the country in which I have raised the city called Ea, the gates
of which are of brass, and the magnificence of which surpasseth even
Babylon which I built, and upon which my curse hath now fallen.  These
are the words of Semiramis, the queen whom men call Istar, daughter of
the Moon-god, the conqueror of all enemies, who founded the Kingdom of
Ea, to which men from the world we have left may not enter, neither may
a single man, woman or child among my subjects leave.  Verily, this my
kingdom is the Land of the No Return, and I, Semiramis, who ruled over
Babylon, and who, as Istar, ruleth all men throughout the world, have
here built my palace and established my foundation-stones and set up my
monuments.  This throne have I, the goddess-queen of the world and of
the heavens, erected.  He who seeketh to enter my forbidden kingdom, to
tear it out or overthrow it, so shall he and his family be torn out and
be overthrown, and from his place shall he be uprooted_.  _And I have
set up this throne in the strength of the Sun-god Shamas, lord of light,
and driver away of evil, to whom I have offered sacrifices and
burnt-offerings abundant.  These words I speak_."

Thrice I deciphered this strange record from beginning to end, to
reassure myself that my eyes did not deceive me, until at length I
became convinced that I had elucidated its meaning correctly; that I was
actually on the threshold of the Land of the No Return; that could I
only escape from my subterranean prison, I might actually discover the
hidden, unknown and mysterious Kingdom of Ea, founded by the great
queen, who, ages ago, built the most wonderful city of cities.

I stretched forth my hands above my head, and with a loud voice implored
the aid, protection and guidance of the One.  But my words only came
back to me from the dark, damp recesses of the cavern, deep, distinct
and dismal.  There was no exit.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

THE LAND OF THE NO RETURN.

With strained eyes and failing heart, I gazed around the gloomy,
sepulchral cavern.  High above, a faint grey light glimmered far beyond
my reach, while before me was only an impenetrable darkness, wherein I
feared to venture, lest I should fall into some abyss.  The curious
wall-picture looked weird in the faint rays, and the long row of
warriors, bearing the figures of their strange gods, presented a
fantastic, but dismal, appearance.  Once again I stood gazing at the
strange sculpture, fascinated by the device of the asps, the strange
symbol that had linked Azala's destiny with mine, and the meaning of
which it was my sole object to discover.

Beyond, in the undiscovered Land of the No Return, an explanation might
await me, if only I could reach that mysterious region; but, as again I
gazed about me, I could not rid myself of a horrible presage that the
rushing, poisonous waters had drawn me to my doom.  I had taken in every
detail of that scene sculptured in the black rock with such minuteness
that, if called upon, I could have made a drawing of it with accuracy,
for therein lay the first clue to the mystery.  This remarkable record
of Semiramis, besides putting an end to the doubts which for ages had
existed regarding her deposition as Queen of Babylon, also announced the
establishment of a new colony, of which the world, up to that moment,
had gained no knowledge.  Historians, antiquarians, professors, imams
and wise men of Al-Islam had for centuries been puzzled by the strange
legends, but had never penetrated the veil of mystery.  It had remained
for me to unearth a record of the highest interest, which for ages had
lain hidden within its natural tomb.  Deciphering those chipped lines of
curious arrowheads, I felt myself on the threshold of a world unknown,
and trembled lest I should encounter any uncanny or undreamed-of object
in that wonderful chamber below the earth.

As I stepped across the sulphur-stained rocks, in order to examine the
opposite wall of the cavern, my foot caught some object, and stooping, I
picked it up.  It was a short, straight sword of very ancient pattern,
still in its scabbard, with a wonderfully wrought crosshilt of gold
thickly encrusted with dirt.  I endeavoured to draw the weapon, but
failed, for the blade was firmly rusted in its sheath, therefore,
finding it useless and only an encumbrance, I was compelled to cast it
aside.

From where I stood I gazed upon the curious monument of a momentous but
forgotten period, and the sight of the strange symbol brought vividly to
my mind my faithful promise to Azala, and my dead mother's injunction to
prosecute the search after truth.  I remembered that upon the result of
my mission Azala's happiness, perhaps even her life, depended;
therefore, with sudden resolve, I saw that to escape by the way I had
entered was impossible; to penetrate the rayless darkness beyond was the
only chance remaining to me.

At first I shuddered at the suggestion, not because I entertained any
foolish superstition, but the place was altogether so weird and
extraordinary that I deemed it more than probable I should witness some
terrible sight, or encounter some strange being unknown to our world.
Unarmed, clothed only in a wet and ragged gandoura, but with my little
string of charms I had worn since childhood still around my neck, I
stood breathless in hesitation.

For Azala's sake I had plunged into the Unknown, and I decided that to
secure our mutual happiness I must face the consequences, which meant
the exploration of that dark, sepulchral pit.  Already Tiamo was on his
way to her to impart news which I knew would cause her despair.  Dire
consequences might follow.  Therefore I knew it was imperative that I
should, in order that her grief might not be unduly prolonged, lose no
time in seeking the truth and returning to her.  Thus, at last, after
considerable trepidation and hesitation, I strove to overcome my fears,
and decided to proceed with my investigations, and search in the
darkness for some exit.

Many were the perils I had faced fearlessly during my adventurous career
as one of the Ansar of the Khalifa, and through the tedious journey in
search of the Land of the No Return, but never in the darkest hours had
I experienced such abject, indescribable fear as now froze my heart and
held me inanimate and powerless.  I clenched my hand, and, turning my
eager ear towards the invisible portion of the great natural chamber,
listened.  But I could detect no sound beyond the roaring of the
torrent; then, with a sudden determination to penetrate and explore the
place, I strode forward into the very bowels of the earth, entering a
darkness that could almost be felt, as impenetrable, indeed, as that to
which our holy Koran tells us the tormented dwellers in Al-Hotama are
doomed.

On, with both hands outstretched, I groped, now tripping in the fissures
cut deeply in the rock by the tiny rivulets which seemed to traverse the
floor of the cavern in every direction, now floundering through a
quagmire of slush which emitted an unpleasant, sulphurous odour, often
cutting my feet upon the sharp, jagged rocks, and frequently grazing my
knees and elbows.  But I was too excited to notice pain.  Of the size or
extent of the place I had no idea, but, having ventured therein, I was
compelled to proceed, and continued my explorations, penetrating deeper
and deeper into the tunnel-like cave.  At first I had proceeded very
slowly and with great caution, but soon, anxious to ascertain whether
exit were possible, my feet hurried, and I stumbled quickly onward,
eager to discover the extent and nature of the honeycombed labyrinth,
fearing lest, after all, it might be merely a _cul-de-sac_.

I was actually in the very heart of the giant base of the Rock of the
Great Sin, the wonderful black, towering crag which had only existed in
the morning mirage of the desert and in the legends of the story-tellers
throughout the Soudan.  Over ground that foot of man had not trodden for
ages I stumbled, seeking the unknown alone, unarmed, and in darkness
appalling and complete.  Reflection brought with it a sense of impending
danger, an evil presage that, strive how I would, I could not get rid of
its depressing influence.  Yet the calm face of Azala, with her dark,
serious, trusting eyes rose before me, and the thought continued to
recur to me that for her sake I had striven, and, so far, been
successful.  Once again the knowledge of her passionate love held me to
my purpose; once again I pressed forward blindly to seek the knowledge
that for all time had been withheld from man.

On I went through the everlasting gloom, clambering over the rough,
uneven rocks, then sinking knee-deep in the slimy deposits left by the
rivulets.  In the impenetrable darkness of the noisome place, strange
noises startled me as blind, unseen reptiles escaped from my path,
plunging into the water with a splash, and great lizards scuttled to
their holes beneath the stones.

Between giant boulders, which had apparently fallen from the roof, I
squeezed myself, climbing over high barriers of stone and creeping on
all-fours through crevices that were all but impassable, I had proceeded
for more than one hour.  I shouted, but the distant echoes above and
around showed that the extent of the gloomy place was bewildering, and
so complete was the darkness that the terrible dread oppressing me
became intensified.  Nevertheless, one important fact gave me heart,
causing me to persevere, namely, the atmosphere was not poisonous,
showing that somewhere in that wonderful grotto air was admitted.  Where
there was air there must be light, I argued, and where light, then means
of exit.  Therefore I proceeded, with eyes strained in the blackness
before me, hoping each moment to discern some welcome glimmer of the
blessed light of day.  But, alas! although my wandering footsteps took
me deeper and deeper, no welcome ray was I enabled to detect.  Had I but
a torch, my progress would have been more rapid, for I could have
avoided sinking into those sloughs of icy-cold slush, and could have
stepped across the water-courses instead of stumbling clumsily into
them.  Half the horrors surrounding me would have been dispelled if my
path had been lighted; but when I had stood before the graven picture I
had sought carefully, but in vain, for wood that I might ignite by
rubbing, and so construct a flambeau.  Compelled to plunge into the
impenetrable gloom, without light or means to defend myself, I was truly
in unenviable predicament.

With dogged pertinacity of purpose, engendered, perhaps, by the
knowledge that to escape from that subterranean chamber was imperative
if I did not seek starvation and death, I kept on until my legs grew
weary and almost gave way beneath me.  My feet were so pained by the
sharp stones that I at last tore strips from my gandoura and tied them
up, obtaining considerable relief thereby.  Then, starting forward
again, faint and hungry, I plodded still onward towards the dreaded
unknown.  Some knowledge of the enormous extent of the place may be
gathered from the fact that for fully three hours I had proceeded, when
suddenly an incident occurred which caused me to pull up quickly and
stand motionless, not daring to move.

Beads of perspiration broke upon my forehead as I realised an imminent
peril.  In walking I had accidentally sent some pebbles flying before
me, and my quick ears had discerned that they had struck and bounded
down into some abyss in the immediate vicinity.  Instantly I halted, and
it proved a stroke of good fortune that I did so, for on going upon my
knees and carefully stretching forth my hands, I was horrified to
discover myself on the very edge of a yawning chasm, the depth or extent
of which it was impossible to determine.

Here, then, was an impassable barrier to my further progress!  For three
long hours I had struggled to penetrate the horrible place, but now, in
despair, I told myself that all had been in vain.

My eager fingers felt the jagged edge of the abyss before me.  Then,
lying full length upon the damp, slimy rock, with head over the great
pit, I shouted in order to ascertain its depth.  My voice, though
echoing above, sounded hollow and became lost in the depths below.
Groping about, I discovered a stone the size of my fist, and hurling it
over, listened, with bated breath.  The minutes passed, but no sound
rose.  Again I threw down another piece of rock, but, as before, I could
detect no noise of it striking the bottom.  The chasm was unfathomable.

Again, taking some small pebbles worn smooth by the action of the water,
I flung them a considerable distance into the darkness.  Apparently they
struck the rocks on the opposite side of the terrible pit, for I could
hear them bounding down from crag to crag until the noise became so
faint that they were lost entirely.  Once more I shouted, but my voice
echoed not in that vast, immeasurable abyss that had evidently been
caused by the same great upheaval which had, ages before, closed the
entrance to the cavern, and formed the dreaded Lake of the Accursed.
Might not the exit have been sealed in the same manner as the entrance?
The suggestion crossed my mind and held me appalled.

Finding myself unable to proceed further, I crept, still upon my hands
and knees, along near the edge of the chasm for a considerable distance,
until at last I found, to my delight, that it extended no further, and
by the exercise of constant caution I crawled onward, length by length,
until I discovered, by casting pebbles about, that I had passed it.
Then gladly, with a feeling of apprehension lifted from my heart, I rose
again, and with renewed energy continued my way.

After this incident I took every precaution, consequently my progress
was slow and painful.  The thought of how narrowly I had escaped a
horrible death caused me to shudder, nevertheless my eyes were eager to
discover some welcome gleam of light and hope.  During yet another hour
I struggled forward over ground that rose gradually, then descended
again so steeply, until I began to fear that another chasm lay before.
My fears, however, in this direction proved groundless.  Yet, as I
proceeded, the little stream seemed to increase in volume, and there was
a damp, noxious smell about the noisome place which gave rise to a
belief that, after all, there was no exit, and that the cavern, like the
forbidden land, was a place whence, if once entered, there was no
return.  Just as that conviction was forced strongly upon me, I also
discovered another more startling fact, which rendered my despair
complete, and told me plainly that in that dwelling of the Great
Devourer I should find my grave.

My progress had been arrested; my hands had come into contact with a
wall of rock which stretched before me on either side.  I shouted, and
the unseen rock gave back my voice, proving that I had gained the
extreme end of the cavern.

Determined to thoroughly investigate this abrupt termination of the
place before seeking an exit in another direction, I crept forward,
feeling the rough, rocky wall with eager, trembling hands.  Having
proceeded for some distance, my heart suddenly bounded with excitement
as I discovered another outlet beyond, and eagerly stumbled forward,
still in impenetrable gloom.  All the strange legends and tales of the
storytellers I had heard related regarding this weird place surged
through my mind, and, as I pressed forward, I admit that I was in
constant fear and trepidation lest I should meet, face to face, the
legendary tenant of this limitless subterranean labyrinth, the terrible
being referred to on the tablet of Semiramis as the Great Devourer, or
Guardian of the Gate of the Land of the No Return.

But the entrance to the forbidden land, if thus it proved to be, was
difficult enough, and guarded by horrors and pitfalls sufficient without
the necessity of a janitor such as that described so luridly by tellers
of strange romances in the desert-camps.  Stumbling on up a steep
incline I was at length compelled to halt to regain breath.  Weakened by
the desperate fight I had had for life amid the roaring torrent which
had sucked me down, fatigued by the struggle to penetrate the deep
recesses of the cavern, I rested for a few moments, my head reeling and
my legs trembling as if unable to support my body.  Suddenly a loud,
shrill cry caused me to start, and next second a gust of air was swept
into my face by the flapping of enormous wings.  For an instant I felt
the presence of some uncanny object near me, but in a moment it had
gone, and when I recovered from my sudden alarm, I knew that it was some
great bird which probably had its nest in some deep and secret crevice.
Its shrill, plaintive cry echoed among the vast recesses, but grew
fainter as it flew on before me.  My sudden terror was quickly succeeded
by feelings of satisfaction, for the presence of the bird was sufficient
proof that there was an exit in the vicinity.

With heart quickened by excitement I once again moved forward, gained
the summit of the incline, clambered quickly over some gigantic masses
of fallen rock, and at last, when I had mounted to the top of what at
first seemed an impassable barrier, my eyes were gladdened by a sight
which caused me to cry aloud with joy.

Far below me, so distant as to appear like a mere speck of grey, the
light of day was shining.

Its approach was by a rough and exceedingly steep descent, but I hurried
on with foolish disregard of the perils which beset my path, on account
of the slippery deposits on the stones.  Once or twice I nearly came to
grief.  In places the descent was so abrupt that I had to turn and crawl
down, steadying myself with my hands and knees; but I heeded nothing in
my frantic eagerness to escape and gain the dreaded Land of the Myriad
Mysteries.

As I neared the opening, I discovered it was not large, and half choked
by masses of rock that had either fallen or been placed there to bar the
entrance, while about them were tangled masses of profuse vegetation,
which no doubt hid the existence of the cavern to any who should chance
to pass it outside.  In the high roof near the exit, hundreds of birds
of brilliant plumage had their nests, and were flying in and out,
singing and uttering shrill cries, while in the light and air, moss,
plants and giant ferns grew in wild profusion.  Great green snakes, too,
lay curled beneath the stones, and I was compelled to be wary, lest I
should be bitten.  Even on arrival here my escape was barred by a huge
mass of stone three times higher than myself, and so wide that it
entirely filled up the exit.  Nevertheless, I managed, after
considerable difficulty, to scale the rocky obstacle, and pausing on its
summit for a moment, I ascertained that a dense forest lay beyond.  Then
I descended through the tangled bushes and creepers to the ground
outside, and once more stood free in the fresh air, with a brilliant,
cloudless sky above.

I had actually set foot in the forbidden Land of the No Return!

But it was already the hour of the _maghrib_, and the fast dying day
showed that the time I had spent in the wonderful dwelling of the Great
Devourer, was longer than I had imagined.  Remembering that at that hour
Azala had opened her lattice and breathed to me her silent message of
love, I sank upon my knees, and turning in the direction of prayer, went
through my sunset devotions with an earnest fervency which I fear was
unusual, thanking Allah in a loud and thrice-repeated Fatiha.  Rising,
and lifting my hands to heaven, I uttered the words that pilgrims repeat
before the Black Stone in the Holy Ca'aba: "There is no God but Allah
alone, Whose Covenant is Truth, and Whose Servant is Victorious.  There
is no God but Allah without Sharer; His is the Kingdom, to him be
Praise, and He over all Things is potent."

Then, having kissed my fingers, I made a meal from bananas I plucked
from a neighbouring tree, and having slacked my thirst at a tiny stream,
the water of which was as cool as that of the well Zem Zem, I skirted
the forest for a considerable distance, but finding my further progress
barred by a wide river, that, emerging from the wood, ran in serpentine
wanderings around the base of the high, inaccessible mountains, I was
compelled to plunge into the forest.  Upon the tablets of Semiramis, it
was stated that the unknown city of Ea had been built at a spot fifteen
marches towards the sunrise, therefore in that direction I proceeded.

At first, the forest was rendered dark and gloomy by the entangled
bushes, but the trees soon grew thinner, yet more luxurious.  Many of
them were in blossom; many bore strange fruits that I had never before
beheld; while the ground was carpeted with moss and an abundance of
bright-hued flowers.  Everywhere was an air of peaceful repose.  Birds
were chattering before roosting in the branches above, the rays of the
sinking sun gilded the leaves and fell in golden shafts across my path,
a bubbling brook ran with rippling music over the pebbles, and the air
was heavily laden with the subtle scent of a myriad perfumes.
Presently, when I had penetrated the belt of forest and emerged into the
open grassland, I stood in amazement, gazing upon one of the fairest and
most picturesque landscapes that my wondering eyes had ever beheld.

The country I had entered was the dreaded kingdom of the Myriad
Mysteries; yet, judging from its fertility and natural beauties, it
appeared to me more like the paradise our Koran promises for our
enjoyment than a land of dread.  Indeed, as I stood there in the cool
sunset hour, amid the fruitful trees, sweet flowers and smiling plains,
bounded far away by ranges of purple mountains, I doubt whether it would
have surprised me to have met in that veritable garden of delights the
black-eyed houris which the Book of Everlasting Will describes as
dwelling in pavilions, among trees of mauz and lote-trees free from
thorns.  Such, indeed, I thought, must be the dwelling-place prepared
for the Companions of the Right Hand, for are they not promised couches
adorned with gold and precious stones, under an extended shade, near a
flowing water, and amidst fruits of abundance which shall not fail nor
shall be forbidden to be gathered?

Slowly turning, I gazed back upon the Rock of Sin, the Moon-god, the
name of which in the centuries that had passed had been so strangely
corrupted by Arabs and pagans alike, and noticed that although from
where I stood its summit looked similar in form to its aspect from the
other side of the Lake of the Accursed, yet it was not so lofty here,
and evidently this hitherto undiscovered region was considerably higher
than the countries surrounding it, although even here the mountains
forming its boundary were of great altitude, many of their summits being
tipped with snow.  Dark, frowning and mysterious, the rock rose high
among the many peaks of the unknown range, while behind the giant crests
to the left the western sky was literally ablaze, and the sun, having
already disappeared, caused them to loom darkly in the shadows.

Out upon the plain I passed, keeping still to eastward, but soon the
light blue veil of the mountains before me became tinted with violet and
indigo, and finally settled into leaden death.  Then night crept on, and
the stars shone bright as diamonds in a sultan's aigrette.  During
several silent hours I could discover no sign of man, but at length,
when I had crossed the plain, with the moon lighting my footsteps like a
lamp, I approached, at the foot of a hill, a wonderful colonnade of
colossal stone columns, some of which had broken off half way up and
fallen, while across the quaintly-sculptured capitals of others there
still remained great square blocks that had once supported a roof.  Here
and there in the vicinity were other columns, singly, and in twos and
threes, while the intervening ground was covered with _debris_, over
which crept a growth of tangled vegetation, as if striving to hide the
ravages of time.

The great ruin, apparently of an ancient palace or temple, stood in
desolate grandeur, ghostly in the white moonlight, while behind rose
verdant hills, steep and difficult of ascent.  Approaching close to the
columns, through a mass of fallen masonry and wildly-luxuriant verdure,
I examined them, and was struck by the enormous size of the blocks of
stone from which they had been fashioned, and the curious and grotesque
manner in which they had been sculptured with figures.  The art was of
the same character on these monoliths as upon the tablet of Semiramis,
the beautiful and brilliant queen who was worshipped as a goddess.
There were many representations of the Assyrian deity, and in places
lines of cuneiform writing, but the suns and rains of ages had almost
obliterated them, and had also caused much damage to the sculptured
figures.

In the silence of the brilliant night I stood beneath those amazing
relics of a forgotten civilisation and pictured the departed
magnificence of the wonderful structure.  There remained portions of an
enormous gateway, with giant winged human figures carved out of huge
blocks of stone; and on examining one of these I found a portion of an
inscription, in long, thin lines of arrowheads, easily decipherable in
the full light of the moon.  After a little difficulty I succeeded in
reading it as follows:--

"_In the beginning of my everlasting reign there was revealed to me a
dream.  Merodach, the Great Lord, and Sin, the Illuminator of Heaven and
Earth, stood round about me.  Merodach spake to me, `O Semiramis, Queen
of Babylon, with the horses of thy chariot come, the bricks of the House
of Light make, and the Moon, the Great Lord within it caused to be
raised his dwelling.'  Reverently I spake to the lord of the gods,
Merodach, `This house, of which thou speakest, I will build, and the
temple shall be the dwelling of the Moon-god in Ea_'."

What a magnificent pile it must have been in those long-forgotten days
when the legions of Semiramis marched, in glittering array, through the
long colonnade to worship the Moon-god, Sin, beneath the statues of
illustrious Babylonians! or when their luxurious ruler, enthroned a
queen in the hearts of her people, and dowered with charms that inspired
to heroism, flashed through those great corridors in her gilded chariot,
surrounded by her crowd of martial courtiers and fair slaves! or when,
with bare arms and golden helmet on her head, with all the pomp of war,
she sallied forth on her fleet steed, caparisoned in crimson and gold,
to review and harangue her warriors on the plain.

Allah had destroyed it because it was ungodly.

No trace of the presence of living man had I discovered, and I began to
wonder whether, after all, this Land of the No Return was uninhabited;
for was it not likely that in the ages that had passed since its
discovery by Babylon's queen, the colony, like the once-powerful race
beside the Euphrates, had dwindled away and become entirely extinct!
There were no signs of these ruins having been visited, no trace of any
recent encampment, or the dead ashes of the fires of recent travellers.
Upon the stretch of bare, stony ground, before the half-ruined gateway
which would have served as a good camping-ground, I searched diligently,
but discovered nothing that proved the existence of inhabitants;
therefore, wearied and footsore, I at length threw myself down at the
base of one of the giant monoliths, and with part of my gandoura over my
face to shield it from the evil influence of the moonbeams, sank into
heavy, dreamless slumber.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

A VISITANT FROM THE MISTS.

Day had dawned fully three hours ere I arose.  The great ruins, revealed
by the brilliant morning sun, were much more extensive than I had at
first believed.  For fully half a mile mighty columns rose, here and
there, like gigantic, moveless giants; many had fallen, and their walls
of enormous blocks and their prostrate pillars looked up piteously to
the day.  Time alone had worn down their rigid strength, and swept the
capstones from the towers.  Time, too, had clad some of them in a
disintegrating mantle of green.

There was not one of the hundred columns and monoliths in which did not
lurk some tale, or many tales, of loyalty, or treason, or despair.
There was not one of the five great gates I could distinguish whose
portal had not swung open wide for processions of triumphal pageantry,
of exalted grief, of pagan pomp, or military expedition.  Thick as the
leaves of the climbing plants, festooning crevice, niche and broken
parapet, must be the legends, traditions and true tales that enwrapped
those walls if man still inhabited that land.  Upon the stones, chipped
with surprising neatness and regularity, were many uneffaced
inscriptions; the pompous eulogies therein contained being the only
epitaphs the long-dead founders of the Kingdom of Ea possessed.  This
prodigious pile, useless centuries ago, torn by earthquakes and half
levelled by time, was indeed a fitting monument to the great Semiramis,
the self-indulgent Queen, the conqueror of all lands from the Indus to
the Mediterranean, and builder of Babylon, the most extensive and
wonderful capital in the world.

At last, turning my back upon the desolate scene, I went forward and
commenced to ascend the steep hillside.  It was a stiff ascent, but, on
gaining the summit, I looked down upon a panorama of beauty impossible
to adequately describe.  Streams, forests and verdant valleys stretched
out below, bounded far away by a range of fantastic mountains rising in
finger points in all directions.  Proceeding in search of the
mysterious, unknown city, which, according to the inscription, lay in
the direction of prayer, I descended the steep hill, passed through vast
entanglements of jungle in the valleys, suddenly coming across a
delightful stream watering a narrow valley with precipitous walls of
rock on either side, and densely filled with all kinds of tropical
vegetation.  I ate some bananas, revelled in the luxury of a bath, and
then continued my journey towards the sunrise by plunging into a forest
of quol-quol trees, some of which reached to the height of sixty feet,
stretching out their weird arms in every direction.  The quol-quol is an
uncanny-looking tree, exuding a poisonous, milky gum, which is
exceedingly dangerous.  The Dervishes, in making their roads around
Khartoum and Omdurman, had much difficulty with this tree, for the milk
from it, if it squirts into the eyes when the tree is cut, produces
blindness.  Beneath the trees were flowering, rich- gladioli,
long, hanging orchids, sugar plants, and many thorny trees of a species
I had never before seen.

Lonely, and half convinced that I had entered a land uninhabited and
forgotten, I threaded the mazes of this veritable poison forest, at
length emerging into a clump of gigantic baobabs, and thence into a
slightly undulating district, sparsely clothed with thorns and
euphorbia, and teeming with game.  At last I found myself crossing a
beautiful, park-like track where herds of buffalo grazed undisturbed,
and at sundown came to a rich, fertile country, dotted with clumps of
pine-trees and large patches of forest, abounding in pretty glades and
glens of mimosa brush full of beautiful blue birds and monkeys.

That night I sought sleep under a huge sycamore, and next day continued
my tramp towards the distant range of mountains, over the crests of
which showed the first rosy tint of dawn.  Compelled sometimes to wade
streams, and often climbing and descending precipitous rocks, passing
through narrow, romantic gorges, and coming now and then upon beautiful
and unexpected cascades, I toiled onward through that day, and although
I passed some ruins, apparently of a house, half hidden by wild
vegetation, yet I discovered no trace of the existence of living man.
Never before had I experienced such a sense of utter loneliness.  I had
the bright sun and cloudless sky above.  I was free to wander hither and
thither, and around me grew fruits that were the necessaries of life;
but I was alive in a region which, as far as I could observe, had
remained untrodden for many centuries.  Again I spent the night beneath
a tree, my head pillowed on a fallen branch; and again I set forth to
reach my goal, as recorded on the rock-tablet of Semiramis.  Forward,
ever in the direction of the Holy Ca'aba across grass plains, through
rocky ravines and shady woods bright with flowers, and as
sweetly-scented as the harem of a sultan, I trudged onward, in my hand a
long, stout staff which I had broken from a tree, in my heart a feeling
that I alone was monarch of this smiling, unknown Land of the No Return
that I had discovered.

Yet I remembered that, after all, I had not yet elucidated the mystery
of which I was in search--the reason of the Mark of the Asps; and
although I had discovered it in the hand of the Assyrian goddess, yet
such discovery only increased its mystery.  So I kept on my toilsome
path, stage by stage, still pious, still hopeful, still believing that
the secret of the linked reptiles would eventually be explained.

Never swerving from the direction of the sunrise, and each day at the
_maghrib_ making a mark upon my staff with the sharp stone I carried, I
continued in search of the city of Semiramis.  Up the almost
inaccessible face of one of the great mountains of the range I had seen
afar I toiled many hours, until, stepping from sunshine into mist and
drizzle, my feet were upon the snow that covered their summits, and the
intense cold chilled me to the bone.  Higher yet was I compelled to
climb, until, as if by magic, I passed through the belt of mist into
brilliant sunshine again.  The effect was one of the most curious I had
ever witnessed.  Below was a sea of crumpled clouds, extending as far as
the eye could reach, out of which peered high mountain peaks like
islands in a sea of fleecy wool.  During two whole days I clambered,
half-starved and chilled, across this vast, towering range.  The air was
health-giving and invigorating.  In the early morning everything was
clear and bright; as the day advanced the clouds would gather from the
plains and gradually roll up the mountain side, enveloping the lowlands
and valleys in a dense mist; occasionally, towards sundown, this mist
would roll over the edge and envelop a little of the high plateau in its
clammy folds, but it quickly dispersed as the sun went down, and the
morning would again break bright, with hoar frost sparkling everywhere.

At the foot of the mountains the ground was swampy and enveloped
perpetually in a white mist, so dense that, for a further period of two
days, I wandered over the marshes, not knowing the direction in which I
was travelling, but trusting to the keen natural instinct with which men
of my race are endowed.  So dense was this mist hanging over the
trackless, pestilential bog that I could distinguish nothing a leopard's
leap distant, and my gandoura was as soaked with moisture as if I had
waded a river.  Judge my surprise, however, when suddenly I found that
the vapours had veiled from my eager eyes another more inaccessible and
still higher belt of mountain than the first.

Darkness was already creeping on when I made this discovery, therefore I
resolved to rest and sleep before attempting to climb the rugged heights
before me.  It was necessary, in order to discover the direction of the
mysterious city, that I should climb above the belt of impenetrable mist
and take bearings in the clear atmosphere.  Fortunately I had found a
banana-tree a few hours previously and carried some of its fruit with
me, therefore I ate my fill, and afterwards threw myself down to snatch
a few hours' slumber.

How long I lay I know not, but I was startled by feeling a soft, clammy
object steal slowly across my breast.  It was as icy cold as the hand of
a corpse.  Opening my eyes quickly, I was dazzled by a brilliant light
shining into them, but in an instant the bright flash disappeared and an
unearthly and demoniac yell sounded about me.  In the impenetrable
darkness, caused by night and the dense mist combined, I could
distinguish nothing, but, starting up, held my breath in alarm,
listening to the echoing yells receding in the distance.  They sounded
like three loud shouts in the same strain, followed by a long, plaintive
wail.

At first I endeavoured to reassure myself that my breast had not been
touched by the clammy snout of some wandering animal which had been
startled by my sudden movement, but try how I would I could not convince
myself that those yells proceeded from any but a human being.  Again, as
I felt my gandoura, I discovered that it had been unloosened with care,
evidently for the purpose of closely examining the mark I bore upon my
breast!  The bright light, too, was an undeniable fact which pointed
conclusively to the presence of human inhabitants of this mist-enveloped
ravine.

Sleep came no more to my eyes, for through the long, dreary night I kept
a watchful vigil.  Strange noises, as if of some one moving cautiously
in my vicinity, sounded about me, but in which direction I could never
detect with certainty, for both shadows and sounds became distorted by
the thick vapours by which I was surrounded.  Several times I heard the
same mysterious, mournful cry, now close to me, and again sounding afar,
as if in answer to the plaintive call.  Scarcely daring to move, I
patiently awaited the light of day, which came at last, spreading
gradually at first, but soon causing the darkness around me to fall, and
the white, choking vapours to become more dense and bewildering.  There
was the same strange, sulphurous odour that I had experienced when
swimming the Lake of the Accursed, and I began to fear that the
poisonous gases exuded from the swamps would cause asphyxiation.  As
soon, therefore, as the light grew strong enough to enable me to see
where I placed my feet, I started forward to face the huge mountain.  I
had not taken three paces before my eyes, keeping careful watch upon the
ground, detected something which caused me to involuntarily utter a cry
of surprise.

At my feet was lying a short, straight sword, in a scabbard of
beautifully-chased gold, with a magnificently jewelled cross hilt.  It
was attached to a leather girdle, the buckle of which was thickly set
with fine emeralds, and the bright condition of the scabbard, and the
keen, unrusted appearance of the blued-steel blade told me that it had
not remained there many hours.  Then it occurred to me that the weapon
was similar in design to the ancient one I had found in the Cavern of
the Devourer, and that it must have been dropped by my mysterious
visitant.  It was plain that, after all, I was not the only human being
in that mysterious Land of the No Return; equally certain, also, that my
intrusion had been discovered.

Was this the Land of the Myriad Mysteries, that region dreaded by my
clansmen of the deserts from the Atlas to the Niger?  Was this weird,
misty gorge, devoid of herbage, and exuding a death-dealing breath, the
actual entrance of the territory of all-consuming terror?

I paused, examining the weapon curiously, wondering who might be its
owner.  Fearing, however, to remain there longer, I buckled the girdle
about my waist, and aided by my staff, commenced the steep and toilsome
ascent.

An hour's hard climbing took me above the heavy vapours into the
brilliant light of day, and I then discovered that the mountain I was
negotiating was of greater altitude than any of the peaks of my native
Atlas.  At first the <DW72>s were grass-covered, and mimosa bushes grew
plentifully, but as I went higher there were only patches of stunted
herbage, and higher still no herbage grew.  As hour by hour I toiled
upward, in places so steep that I had to use both hands and knees, I
gradually neared the region of eternal snow.  Soon after noon I halted,
seating myself upon a rock to rest.  Gloomy thoughts oppressed me.
Below was nothing but a sea of vapour; above a sky brilliant, without a
cloud.

Being compelled to pass through that curious gorge of grey, eternal
mist, I had lost my bearings entirely, and knew not in what direction I
was now journeying.  For the past two days I had been travelling through
a shadowy and inhospitable region, wherein I had seen not a beast of the
field nor fowl of the air.  The action of the mysterious visitant
puzzled me.  If it were a man, as I supposed, why should the mark upon
my breast have such attraction for him?  In his hurried flight he had
lost his sword, and apparently feared to return to seek it.  The enigma
puzzled me, occupying my thoughts during the whole of that fatiguing and
perilous climb.

Having rested for nearly an hour, my eye suddenly caught the notches
upon my staff.  I picked it up and carefully counted them.

They were already fourteen.  On this, the fifteenth day, I ought, if
credence were to be placed in the rock tablet of Semiramis, to reach the
mystic city of Ea.

Eager to gain the summit and gaze upon the land beyond, I rose and once
more plodded onward with dogged pertinacity.  Upwards I strode, until
the perspiration rolled in great beads from my brow, and my matted,
unkempt hair became wet from the same cause.  As I gained a kind of
small plateau, covered deeply by untrodden snow, an icy blast chilled me
to the marrow, causing me to wrap my rags closer about me; but heeding
not fatigue, I sped rapidly over the small plain and commenced the final
ascent to the lowest crest over which I could pass.  This occupied me
fully two hours, for the ascent was the most difficult I had yet
encountered; but presently I found myself upon a stretch of
comparatively level ground, with snow lying thickly everywhere, and the
surface frozen so hard that my feet left no imprints.  Beyond this plain
was only the sky, therefore I knew that I had at last reached the
highest point.

In order to regain breath I was compelled to halt for a few seconds, but
those moments were full of intense eagerness.  What lay beyond I feared
to ascertain.  Whether I had travelled in the right direction I was
unaware; but if I had, then it was time that I should reach the goal for
which I had so long and so arduously striven.

The iron of despair was entering my soul, but next second, shaking if
off, I dashed forward at full speed to the edge of the lofty plateau,
and gazed with wondering, wide-open eyes into the land beyond.

The panorama below held me speechless in wonderment.  Dumbfounded, I
stood open-mouthed, rigid, rooted to the spot.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

THE TORTURE-WHEEL.

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 <DW72> 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 <DW64> 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.

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.

EA.

As across the plain my captors hurried me, I was amazed at the strength
of the colossal walls of the mysterious city.  Approaching one of the
great brazen gates, flanked on either side by gigantic, sculptured
figures of human-headed monsters, I saw that the walls were fully two
hundred feet in height, their base being constructed of huge blocks of a
polished stone full of shells, and their upper portions of sun-dried
brick, cased with great slabs of granite cemented with bitumen.  They
exceeded in thickness any I had previously seen; the ramparts, used as a
promenade and drive, being fully eighty feet in breadth, and surmounted
by hundreds of high watch-towers, each bearing a huge sculpture of an
eagle-headed monster, apparently the national emblem.

Even from beneath the shadow of these enormous, unbreakable walls the
crowd standing thereon, watching our advance, looked small as a swarm of
bees, and as we neared the open gate an excited, strangely-attired mob
came forth to meet us, leaping, yelling and pressing round my captors,
as if eager to obtain sight of me.  All were of pale complexion.  The
men, tall and muscular, were dressed in flowing linen robes reaching to
the feet, over which were garments of wool and short white, or crimson,
cloaks with embroidered edges, while those who who were not soldiers
each wore a cylindrical seal suspended from the neck, and in their hands
bore staves, the head of each being carved with an apple, a rose, a
lily, or an eagle.  The women, mostly handsome but all dark-haired, were
invariably attired in white, their bare, finely-moulded arms loaded with
ornaments, and their waists girt by broad double girdles of leather or
gold set with gems.  Rich and poor alike had apparently turned out to
view me.  The men, many of them gilt-helmeted warriors, drew their
swords and flourished them, yelling imprecations in their unknown
tongue, while the women, some of whom were evidently the wives and
daughters of wealthy citizens, hurled execrations upon me, and took up
stones as if to fling at me.

Mine was indeed a hostile reception.  The people of this race I had so
strangely discovered seemed notable for their extraordinary tallness and
grace, their handsome, clear-cut features, and their artistic mode of
dress.  The wealth of the city must, I thought, be immense, for the
women of the lowest class were plentifully adorned with gold ornaments
and jewels, and the raven locks of the men of the upper classes were
curled and perfumed, as if aping a fashionable effeminacy.

Arrived at the gate, I was struck by its stupendous proportions.  The
great human-headed lions standing on either side of the entrance were
fully a hundred feet in height, while the road itself between the two
sculptured colossi consisted of a single slab of black stone, whereon
was an inscription in the cuneiform character, the signs of which had
been filled in with copper kept bright by the hurrying sandals of the
inhabitants.

As I passed through and entered the city, teeming with a civilisation
forgotten by the world outside, I was enabled to judge better the great
thickness of the impregnable fortifications which had, ages ago, been
raised by blows of the lash.  Of such gigantic proportions were they
that I marvelled how they had ever been constructed.  The moment we
entered the city fifty trumpets blared forth in all directions, soldiers
in helmets of gold and bronze, alarmed by the warning note, seized their
arms and dashed to their posts, while behind us the great gate quickly
closed, and guards scrambled to the walls and watch-towers in such
numbers that they appeared like swarms of ants.

Held secure by a dozen sinewy hands of armed warriors, and surrounded by
a yelling populace, I was hurried forward along great thoroughfares of
enormous houses, any of which would, in my own world, be termed a
palace.  All were great, square, solid structures of stone, constructed
in three tiers, with broad terraces adorned with fine sculpture, and
mostly painted in bright blues, reds and greens.  One feature, however,
struck me as curious; there were neither windows nor lattices.  There
were a few apertures, these being mostly closed by silken hangings or
squares of talc.  The great paved thoroughfares, through which handsome
chariots, drawn by three horses abreast, passed and re-passed, were
entirely different from any I had previously seen.

A clamour had been raised.  The people understood; consternation ensued;
then an immense rage possessed them.  Each residence was surrounded by a
high wall, enclosing shady gardens full of great, ancient trees and
cool, open-air baths, while from the terrace of nearly every house
women, white-robed and anxious, gazed down upon me with evident
curiosity, while their slaves beside them fanned or shielded them from
the sun.

The magnificence of the city was unequalled.  There was an air of
strength in every stone, and wealth in every residence.  Armed warriors
were everywhere; and as we proceeded, the crowd increased and the
excitement rose to fever heat.  Patricians left their palaces, tradesmen
their shops, women abandoned their children.  The report of my discovery
and capture had apparently passed rapidly from mouth to mouth, and those
responsible for the defence of the great city had alarmed the guard, and
closed its hundred gates, fearing lest spies should enter or leave.

As we passed through one handsome street after another, the multitude
following, straining their necks to catch a glimpse of me, acted in a
manner that aroused my curiosity.  The girls and women, after gazing
into my face, turned westward to where, high upon the hilltop, the huge,
handsome tower, painted in many colours, loomed against the bright sky,
and raising their right hands towards it, they placed their left upon
their heads, crying aloud some strange, cabalistic words.  Their actions
puzzled me, but subsequently I ascertained that the tower towards which
they turned was the temple of Astarte, and that they invoked upon me the
curse of the goddess, to whom they were by law each compelled to make
sacrifice once in their lives.  The men also lifted their hands to the
temple of Rimmon, the Air-god and Destroyer, the tower of which rose on
the opposite side of the great city, and from their thousand brazen
throats cried maledictions upon me, and called forth the most terrible
vengeance of their gods.

Many rushed towards me with uplifted staves, and even the soldiers
themselves shook their naked blades at me threateningly, but any such
hostile demonstration was promptly suppressed by my escort pressing
closely around me, guarding me from the irate mob, yet, at the same
time, looking upon me with suspicious dread.

With closed gates the city was agog, the guards watchful, the excited
populace on their housetops and terraces, wringing their hands in sheer
desperation, straining their eyes to catch sight of my ragged, unkempt
form; while the surging, turbulent crowd about me went mad with rage.
What treatment I was about to receive at the hands of my captors I
dreaded to contemplate, but remembering the ominous words engraven on
the tablet of Semiramis I felt that the penalty for being found in the
precincts of that forbidden region was death; for was I not in the Land
of the No Return?  Yet, ignorant of this strange tongue, I could neither
appeal for clemency nor make explanation; therefore, forced to keep the
seal of silence upon my lips, I took in every detail of the
extraordinary scene, the magnificence and architectural wonders of the
city, and the dress and habits of this newly-discovered race.

At a distance of about half a league from the gate whereat we had
entered we passed through a second brazen portal of equal dimensions to
the first, guarded, as before, by a colossal winged monster in black
stone on either side.  The single slab placed between the two figures
was, in the same manner as that at the outer gate, inscribed with many
lines of half-obliterated arrowheads, but above, suspended from a great
chain stretched between the stone monsters, was a large figure of the
human-headed lion in burnished copper.  Here again the walls, fully a
hundred feet in height, were of enormous thickness, and as we entered
the great paved court the ponderous gates were closed in face of the
howling, execrating mob.

Warriors of Ea in their bright helmets and shining breastplates, bearing
glittering spears, swarmed everywhere, and as I was hurried across the
open court they pressed around, as eager to view me as if I were, of
some unknown species.  A magnificent war-chariot, the sides of which
were of beaten gold, with quivers full of arrows hanging in readiness in
the front, was standing.  The four splendid white horses harnessed to it
champed their bits and pawed the ground ready to start, and the driver,
with shield and spear in hand, held the reins, prepared to step in and
drive on through the opposite gate at any instant.

The man craned his neck as I passed, but my face was more eagerly
scanned by a richly-dressed woman in gold-embroidered robes who stood
beside him.  The look of abject terror in her eyes caused me to give her
a second glance, and next instant I recollected her features.

It was the woman who had been placed upon the torture-wheel, and whose
bonds I had severed.  Who was she?  What was she?  I wondered.  Our eyes
met, and she started.  The colour left her face when she saw I had
recognised her.  Then turning from me in the direction of the temple of
Astarte, she raised her long, white arm, and with her hair falling to
her waist, gave utterance to that unknown invocation that fell from each
woman's lips.

A moment later I lost sight of her, being conducted up a gradual incline
and through many gates, strongly guarded by soldiers, whose arms flashed
and gleamed in the brilliant sunlight.  The blare of brazen horns and
the clash of cymbals echoed everywhere among the great windowless
buildings ranged around the courtyard, until suddenly we came to yet
another gate, which was closed.  Thrice a trumpeter blew long, deep
blasts, and when at length it opened there was revealed, standing alone,
an aged priest, whose snow-white beard swept to his waist.  Attired in
white robes of gold-embroidered silk, with a strange headdress of gold,
fashioned to represent the sun, he uttered some unintelligible words in
a deep voice, slowly raising his arms as if in supplication to heaven.

As he did so a dead silence fell upon my captors, who, impressed by his
presence, halted and bent their heads, mumbling strangely.  For a few
minutes the old priest remained calm and statuesque, then, with a few
final words, he walked slowly aside and was lost to view, while we
continued our way across a court where the exteriors of the buildings
were beautifully sculptured, and where there were many shady trees and
sweet-smelling flowers.  These people were a nation of Infidels, who
knew nothing of Allah, or his Prophet, and who bowed before images of
wood and stone.  They had faith in the sun, moon and stars, and
consulted them.  When good or evil befell them, they ascribed it to
their celestial gods being favourable or unfavourable.  The worship of
these gods was directed by the priests, who were guided in their turn by
soothsayers and magicians.

Half-way across this open space, however, my captors pulled up before a
wide door, guarded by two recumbent figures of winged monsters similar
to those at the outer gates, and entering a long, dark, stone corridor,
the walls of which were formed of strange bas-reliefs, they led me at
last down a flight of steps to a spacious, dimly-lit apartment with
walls, roof and floor of stone.

When they had left me, and their receding footsteps and strangely-hushed
voices had died away, I started to examine the cell.  It was a large
place, air being admitted by a door of strong iron bars that led into a
kind of paved and covered patio.  Towards the door I strode, and with my
face against the bars was peering out into the gloomy place beyond, when
suddenly a deep roar, that made the very walls shake, startled me,
causing me to draw back.

I did so only just in time, for at the same moment a great, shaggy body
hurled itself against the bars, bending them, causing them to rattle,
and for an instant shutting out the faint glimmer of grey light.  Then,
as it fell back, gnashing its teeth, lashing its tail and roaring with
rage at having lost its prey, I saw, to my horror, that it was a great
lion, a veritable king of the forest.

With its snout against the bars it stood, rolling its eyes, lashing its
tail from side to side and glaring at me, while I shrank back trembling,
for I now knew the intention of my captors was to cast me to the lions
to be torn limb from limb.

What I had at first imagined to be a courtyard or patio was, in reality,
part of the lion-pit, above which were ranged many tiers of seats for
spectators who came on holidays to witness the helpless victims being
devoured by the beasts.  The cell in which I was confined was where
captives were kept in readiness for the entertainments, for on
examination I found that the iron door could be raised from above, the
beasts being thus admitted to my cell without the gaoler running the
risk of entering to admit the animals.

Many inscriptions were rudely scratched upon the walls; but although I
endeavoured to decipher some of them, the only signs I could, in that
dim light, distinguish were, "_Li-ru-ru-su lu-bal-lu_."  These
oft-repeated Assyrian words, scratched and engraven by many hands,
meant, "May the gods curse her, may they devour her!"

Slowly the hours crept on, but the fierce animal, crouching at the door
of my cell, held himself in readiness to pounce upon me if I should
emerge.  He never took his fiery eyes from me.  My every movement he
watched, silent and cat-like, scarcely moving for an hour together.  I
knew that sooner or later I should be torn asunder by those cruel teeth
the beast displayed as he yawned widely in contemplation of appeasing
his hunger, and upon me there fell a settled despair.  Alone and
helpless I paced the stones, worn smooth and bright by the nervous tramp
of thousands of previous victims, longing for the end.  Death was
preferable to that terrible, breathless suspense.

Presently, when I had been there fully three hours, I heard the sounds
of reed instruments, clashing cymbals and rolling drums outside,
followed by the hum of human voices, at first low and distant, but, as
another hour wore on, increasing in volume.  Shouts and light laughter
reached me, and, by the excited manner the dozen lions paced and repaced
before my cell, I felt instinctively that the great amphitheatre was now
filled with eager spectators.

Each moment seemed an hour.  Awaiting my doom, I stood with my back
against the heavy-bolted door by which I had entered, with bated breath,
striving to meet my end with fortitude.  Hoping against hope, my
strained eyes were watching the iron bars that separated me from the
hungry beasts, dreading each moment that they would be lifted.

Suddenly, as I stood thinking of Azala, wondering how she had fared, and
whether Tiamo had yet reached Kano with news of my death, one of the
shaggy beasts sprang past my bars, and next second a dull roar of
applause and the loud clapping of hands broke upon my ear.

A dead silence was again followed by the wild plaudits of the multitude.

Again and again this was repeated; then there seemed a long wait.
Apparently I was considered a valuable prize, and it was probable that
my turn was next.

At that moment one of the lions slunk past my cell to his lair, his tail
trailing on the ground and bearing between his teeth some object.

There crept over me a strange faintness such as I had never before
experienced.  Yet I strove against it, supporting myself against the
wall, and knowing that my fate could not be much longer delayed.

Those moments were full of breathless horror.  From where I stood I
could hear the animals crunching bones between their teeth.  They were
preparing themselves for another victim.  My blood froze in my veins.

The fatal moment at last came.  A loud, grating noise sounded in the
roof of the cell, and slowly the iron bars were lifted bodily, removing
the barrier between myself and death.

I stood paralysed by fear.  Another moment and I should cease to live!
Yet in that brief instant a flood of memories surged though my turbulent
brain, and the thought of my terrible doom was rendered the more acute
because I had actually succeeded in gaining the Land of the No Return
when all others had failed.

But before me was only a death most terrible, and I had no means by
which to defend myself.

One of the beasts, slinking slowly across the pavement some distance
away, espied me.  Turning, he sniffed quickly, crouched, and with an
exultant bound sprang towards me.

In that instant, however, by what means I know not, the iron gate fell
with a metallic clang into its place, and the animal, thus frustrated,
crashed against the bars and tumbled back with a terrible roar of rage.

It was a hairbreadth escape.  For a moment I was saved.

Seconds, full of breathless suspense, passed.  Horror-stricken, my eyes
were fixed upon those iron bars, fearing lest they should rise again,
but it seemed that by design, and not by accident, the gate had fallen.
Time after time the shouts of the assembled multitude rent the hot air
as the prowling beasts pounced upon the captives.  Still the iron bars
of my cell rose not again, and at last, when the animals had slunk into
their lairs to sleep, and the spectators had departed, I cast myself
into a corner of my cell to rest and think.

Darkness crept on apace; the quiet was broken only by the low, uneasy
roar of the lions, and at length a single streak of bright moonlight
fell across the paved court outside.  In order to occupy my thoughts, I
tried to decipher some of the engraven inscriptions by feeling them with
my finger-tips.  This, however, was not successful, because the
unfortunate wretches confined there had possessed no proper tools with
which to chip the stone.  At length, however, footsteps resounded
outside, the bolts of the heavy door grated in their sockets, and as I
started up, four soldiers, two of whom bore lighted flambeaux, entered,
ordering me, by signs, to accompany them.

Eager to escape from the lion-pit!  Waited not for a second invitation,
but hurried with them away up the steps, along the echoing corridor and
out into the moonlit court.  All four grinned sardonically at the
eagerness with which I left the dreaded cell, but directing my footsteps
across two magnificent courts, we came to a great open space, in the
centre of which rose the enormous temple-tower of Astarte, before the
entrance of which a fire-altar burned.  The high tower, which I had seen
from afar, was, I found, erected in seven square stages, each smaller
than the other and  differently, rising to such an enormous
height that its summit seemed almost beyond human gaze.  The base was of
stupendous dimensions, and as we skirted it two clean-shaven eunuchs, in
flowing robes of bright crimson, guarded its alabaster portals, while
others stood beside the fire-altar, silent and motionless.  Over the
great entrance to this temple of the Seven Lights, approached by a broad
flight of marble steps, was an enormous representation of the circle, in
which was the winged figure of a man in the act of discharging an arrow,
but having the tail of a bird.  This symbol, denoting time without
bounds, or eternity, the image with its wings and tail of a dove showing
the association of Astarte, was the sacred emblem of Baal, and I
therefore knew that this magnificent and wonderful temple was devoted to
the supreme deity Belus, the altar of which stood ever-ready for the
sacrifice.  Women, in soft, clinging robes of white and gold, flitted in
and out like shadows, while others wandered in pairs under the great
trees, chatting, laughing and enjoying the cool, bright night.

Presently we came to yet another huge gateway, consisting of two
colossal female figures carved from the solid rock, rising to a terrific
height, and bearing upon their heads the enormous block of stone forming
the top of the imposing entrance.  The stupendous proportions of the
gate amazed me, but facing us, as we passed through, was a wonderful
structure, more extensive and more imposing than I had ever seen, rising
high above us and approached by a flight of a thousand stone steps of
great width.  Upon each step stood two spearmen, one on either side, so
that the approach to the magnificent entrance to the royal palace was
guarded day and night by no fewer than two thousand armed men, standing
there, veritable giants, mute, silent, and ever watchful.

The scene was weird and imposing.  As we stood at the foot of the steps
we gazed up between the files of warriors armed with shining steel.
Above, on either side of the giant portal, great fires leaped from
enormous braziers, the red flames illuminating, with a lurid brilliancy,
the wonderful, massive sculptured facade, and shedding a fitful glow
upon the lines of statuesque warriors.

Having passed through the gateway, we started to ascend the steps, but
ere we set foot on the first, our passage was barred by two thousand
glittering spears meeting one another with a ringing clash, and
presenting an impassable barrier of steel.  Our progress thus arrested,
we halted, and at the same time one of my conductors shouted some
strange words, producing from the leathern pouch suspended at his side a
small hollow cylinder of grey baked clay, which he held above his head.
In a moment two stalwart men, evidently officers, wearing breastplates
of beaten gold, advanced and eagerly scrutinised the cylinder.  Having
carefully read some words thereon inscribed, they examined the
impression of the seal.  Both men having satisfied themselves that our
credential was genuine, regarded me with mixed curiosity and awe, then
shouted an order which caused the long lines of guards to withdraw their
spears with a clash at the same moment, almost as if they were one man.

The great steps were high and steep, and the ascent long and tedious.
Once or twice we halted to regain breath, then panting on again, climbed
higher and yet higher towards the most gigantic and wonderful palace in
the world.  Half-way up I turned, and saw the immense city of Ea, full
of bright lights and gaiety, lying deep below, while beyond was a
background of towering, snow-capped mountains, looking almost fairylike
under the brilliant moon.

So extraordinary was the scene, and of such colossal proportions was the
palace, that I felt inclined to doubt my own eyes; yet it was no dream.
I was actually in Ea, approaching a structure, the mere,
fantastically-sculptured facade of which was of such height and
magnitude that, even though my eyes were dazzled, I marvelled at the
many slaves who had doubtless been engaged in its construction.

At last, gaping and bewildered, I stood upon the great paved area before
the gigantic entrance, on either side of which were colossal winged
bulls sculptured from white alabaster.  Ere we were allowed to proceed
we were compelled to again exhibit the strange clay cylinder, and then
were permitted to pass between the enormous bulls, finding ourselves in
a vast hall lit by flaming braziers.  Upon the alabaster walls were the
sculptured records of the empire.  Battles, sieges, triumphs, the
exploits of the chase, the ceremonies of religion were there portrayed,
delicately sculptured and painted in bright colours.  Beneath each
picture was engraved, in characters filled up with bright copper,
inscriptions describing the scene represented.  Above these sculptures
were painted other events--monarchs, attended by eunuchs and warriors,
receiving their prisoners, entering into alliances with other monarchs,
or performing some sacred duty.  The emblematic tree, similar to the one
I had discovered upon the tablet of Semiramis, winged bulls and
monstrous, eagle-headed animals were conspicuous among the ornaments of
the  borders enclosing these strange wall-pictures.  At the
upper end of the hall was a colossal statue of a queen, evidently
Semiramis herself, in adoration before the supreme deity, her robes
being adorned by lines of arrowheads, groups of figures, animals and
flowers, all painted in brilliant hues, a group of white-robed women
praying before her.  Several doorways, formed by gigantic winged horses
and lions, or human-headed monsters, led into other apartments, in each
of which were more sculptures, while the alabaster slabs upon which we
trod each bore an inscription recording the titles, genealogy and
achievements of some monarch of past ages.

It was indeed an entrance of amazing magnificence, with ceiling of
massive beams of dull gold, but mere stupendous still were the many vast
apartments through which I was ushered.  Elegant women of the court,
unveiled, reclining on couches, and attended by slaves who slowly fanned
them, gazed at us languidly as we passed, and from some of the great
chambers there came sounds of stringed instruments and cymbals where
women were revelling and dancing.  At each door were stationed four
warriors, wearing breastplates of gold, and standing motionless, with
drawn blades, while above the entrances the brazen sign of the deity was
invariably suspended by a chain.

The palace was bewildering in magnificence, amazing in extent.

At last, turning suddenly to the right, we entered a small chamber
crowded by courtiers, soldiers and slaves, who, however, spoke only in
hushed tones.  Here our appearance caused the utmost consternation, and
the men drew back, as if fearing that my touch might contaminate them.
Two courtiers, however, emerged from the crowd, and, having held a
conversation with my guides in an undertone, they produced under-robes
of linen, a rich outer garment of green silk, and sandals such as they
themselves wore.  By signs they commanded me to assume them, and when I
had discarded my old, dirty and tattered gandoura, and attired myself in
their strange dress, I paused, wondering what strange adventure would
next befall me.

Great curtains of yellow silk, upon which hideous monsters had been
embroidered, hid the opposite entrance, which was guarded by a body of
twelve armed men, whom I knew to be eunuchs by their clean-shaven faces
and curious, golden head-dresses.

Suddenly four trumpeters--two stationed on either side--raised their
enormous horns of gold, and with one accord blew three ear-piercing
blasts, at sound of which all present bowed low in the direction of the
curtains, an example which my guides motioned me to follow.

As we did so the great silken hangings slowly parted, revealing a scene
so unexpected and dazzling that I stood agape in stupefaction.  It was
marvellous, incredible, astounding; its brilliancy caused my bewildered
eyes to blind; its striking splendour filled me with amazement.  I stood
lost in wonder; held in fascination.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

ISTAR.

The great apartment was very lofty.  Innumerable openings pierced its
vaulted ceiling, through which the bright stars were visible.  Upon the
walls of alabaster, half hidden by rich hangings of purple silk, were
portrayed winged priests or presiding deities standing before the sacred
trees, armed men and eunuchs following their queen, warriors laden with
spoil, leading prisoners, or bearing presents and offerings to their
gods.  The pavement, highly polished, was encrusted with gold,
mother-of-pearl and glass; the ceiling was of ivory, and in the knots of
the gilded beams were set great turquoises and shining amethysts.

At every step in this wonderful temple and palace combined, an
increasing immensity had surrounded me, and now, as the veil was
withdrawn, revealing this most gorgeous and luxurious apartment, I knew
not how to act.  An incertitude intimidated me.

With body still bent, like those of the crowd of courtiers and eunuchs
among whom I stood, I nevertheless raised my eyes.  Beyond the pearl and
golden pavement before me rose twelve semi-circular steps of silver,
leading up to a great throne of glittering crystal, which, in the bright
white light shining upon it from four apertures in the ceiling, gleamed
with an iridescent fire.  Upon this couch, the supports of which were
four winged bulls, fashioned from solid blocks of flawless crystal, the
back consisting of an enormous crystal representation of the winged
figure in the circle, the supreme deity, and adorned with the heads and
feet of the lion and the ram, a lion's skin was spread.  Reclining upon
it in graceful abandon, the rings of her wavy hair tumbled about her in
such abundance that she appeared actually to lie on a mass of golden
sheen, was a woman of exquisite beauty.  Attired in a loose, white robe,
sparkling with diamonds from neck to foot, her waist girt by a wide
girdle of wonderful emeralds, her bare neck, arms and ankles loaded with
magnificent jewels, the effect under the bright rays was absolutely
dazzling.  The crystal throne shed all colours of the spectrum, but its
bejewelled occupant at every movement seemed to flash and gleam with a
thousand fires.

She was of amazing beauty, with white, delicately-moulded limbs, tiny
hands and feet, eyes half-closed, and as her dimpled chin rested upon
her bejewelled arm her clinging robe indistinctly defined the graceful
outlines of her form, and her breasts rose and fell slowly as she
breathed.

Two gorgeously-attired priests, on either side of the great crystal
throne, stood with crossed hands, silent as statues.  In strange, high
head-dresses, surmounted by silver stars, and attired in robes of
silver, they gazed down upon us without moving a muscle.  Near the
throne, three gigantic <DW64> slaves in leopard-skins, cooled the
reclining beauty with great fans of flamingoes' wings, while, grouped
around, ready at any moment to execute their mistress's slightest wish,
stood a hundred waiting-women, eunuchs and slaves.  The vapours of
exquisite perfumes floated everywhere.

As we halted, with bent heads, before the wonderful throne, its occupant
slowly stretched her white arm beyond her head, and, opening her eyes,
her gaze fell upon us.  Two female attendants immediately advanced and
encased her tiny, bare feet in slippers of serpent skin.

When they had returned to their places she slowly raised herself upon
her elbow, and, with her chin upon her palm, raised her right hand,
pointing upward.  Instantly there appeared, high upon the wall above the
crystal throne, where the signs of the deity were sculptured, in letters
of fire the height of a man, an inscription in the cuneiform character.
As it appeared, priests, eunuchs, slaves and attendants surrounding her
sank upon their knees, and, in awed silence, pressed their brows to the
pavement.

Lifting my bewildered eyes to the fiery lines, I gazed beyond the
wondrous medley of inshot colours and precious stones, and read,--

"_I am Istar, Supreme on Earth and in Heaven, Ruler of the Present and
the Hereafter, who holdeth the lives of all men in the hollow of my
hand.  Every man is my slave: every woman shall sacrifice unto me in the
House of Lustre.  Those who break my commandments Anu and Rimmon, the
gods great, shall destroy and devour.  Thus I speak_."

Thrice the Queen of Ea raised her slim hand, and thrice the lines of
enormous arrowheads glowed red and fiery like living coals, each time
disappearing and leaving no trace upon the wall.  The silence was
complete, broken only by the crackling of the herbs as they burned in
the great, golden perfuming-pans, but, as the letters of fire died away
for the last time, the beautiful woman, with tranquil eyes, slowly
placed her foot upon the bare backs of the two women who were lying upon
their faces, forming a footstool before the throne, and, with languorous
grace, rose and stood upon their prostrate bodies.  Then, outstretching
her arms, she stood gazing upon us, as if giving us her blessing, and
next second my companions, raising themselves, shouted with one voice,
"_Istar sa-la-dhu yusapri.  I la-tu nahdu nemicu banat sini makhri naku
ci nasu-sa-eni_!"

These words, in the ancient language of Babylon, I was able to
understand.  Outside the palace a corrupted tongue was spoken, but here,
before the Queen, worshipped as goddess, only the original tongue was
heard.  The words uttered by my companions were,--

"Lo!  Istar, the Ruler, is revealed!  Thou art the glorious Lady of
Wisdom, beauteous daughter of the Moon-god, Sin.  Before thee our wives
and our daughters make sacrifice, and to thee we, thy suppliant slaves,
raise our eyes.  Thou art our deity!"

As their echoing voices died away, the Queen, fanned by her sphinx-like
attendants, slowly re-seated herself upon the crystal throne.  A languid
expression settled upon her features, and, with her foot upon the neck
of one of the women before her, she lounged, one hand thrown carelessly
over the crystal, human-headed monster that formed the arm of the
gorgeous seat of royalty, and the other toying with the emeralds in her
girdle.

From the crowd surrounding me, there stepped forward upon the pavement
of pearl and gold, a tall, white-bearded man in a breastplate of green
serpent skin, denoting that he was a high-priest, on either side of him
standing a trumpeter.  Thrice their loud blasts awakened the echoes of
the chambers around, then Istar, casting an inquiring glance towards the
man, commanded him to speak.

He hesitated, his trembling hand resting upon the bejewelled hilt of his
sword, and the little gold bells, sewn at the hem of his robe, tinkling
musically.

"Speak!  O Rab-bani, son of Nabu-ahe-iddina.  Why demandest thou an
audience in this my dwelling-place?  Why goest thou not unto the temple
to make sacrifice before the golden image?"

"Let not anger consume thee, O Queen of All the Gods," cried Rab-bani,
lifting his hand in supplication, and falling upon his knees.  "We have
ventured into this Everlasting House, passed the Gate of Glory, and
entered into the House of the Raising of the Head, because there is one
evil-doer among us, with whom thou alone in thy majesty and power canst
deal."

A smile crossed the face of the living goddess, and at the same moment a
tame lioness, walking past the silent priests of Istar, halted before
its royal mistress, who, with her soft hand, patted its sleek back, as a
woman caresses a spaniel.

"I am in no mood to decide what punishment shall be meted out to
evil-doers.  I leave that to my judges," she answered, with a quick
gesture of impatience.

"Lend us thine ear, O Queen, whose name we dare not utter beyond these
walls, whose tongue is unknown, save to thy priests, eunuchs and
courtiers, and to whom every woman maketh sacrifice.  Cast us not forth
from thy presence, for assuredly thy slaves are faithful and bear the
information which, though it be of amazing character, yet, nevertheless,
the truth must be told, and that quickly."

"Then utter it, and be gone," Istar said, glancing at him sharply.

"Know then, O Queen of Earth and Heaven, O Peerless among Women, the
dreaded day hath dawned!  The Great Destroyer is in our midst!"

Istar, pale and startled, sprang to her feet, clutching her jewel-laden
breasts frantically, as if to stay the beating of her heart.

"The Devourer!" she gasped, white to the lips.  "Speak!  I command thee!
Speak quickly, son of Nabu-ahe-iddina, or thou shalt be cast for ever
into the realm of Niffer, lord of the Ghost Land."

"I speak, O Mighty One," he answered.  "Would that my tongue had been
torn from its roots, and my lips sealed by the seal of the Death-god,
ere it should have been my duty to make this my announcement.  The
Devourer from the outer world hath been discovered wandering upon the
mountains.  How he gained this land, which is without entrance and
without exit, no man knoweth.  The wise men believe that he came hither
like a fowl of the air."

Istar, trembling, clutched the glittering arm of her crystal throne for
support, while a dark, sinister expression settled upon her flawless
countenance.  The crowd about me, awestricken and hushed in expectation,
awaited her words breathlessly.

"Lo!" cried the high priest of the Temple of the Seven Lights, suddenly
stepping back and dragging me roughly forward, "Lo!  O Beauteous Queen
of all the Gods, he is here, in thine holy presence!"

I lifted my face.  Our eager eyes met.

Her tiny hands were so tightly clenched that the nails were driven into
her palms, her breasts heaved and fell quickly, her brows knit in a
fierce anger, but in her eyes was a look of unutterable dread.

For a moment she covered her face with her hands, as if to shut me out
of her gaze, but next instant she raised her narrow eyebrows, her
blanched lips parted, and she turned upon the high-priest in a sudden
outburst of fury.  Extending her bare arm towards him she cursed him.

"Knowest thou not the writing upon my foundation-stones, offspring of
Anu, defiler of the holy Ziggurratu?" she screamed in rage.

The aged high-priest uttered a cry, as if he had been struck a blow.
But he answered not.

"Knowest thou the words graven upon the great image?  Speak, accursed
one.  Speak!"

"I do, O Queen," he faltered.

"Then, malediction upon thee.  Vengeance and hate, sorrow and torture of
the flesh.  May the Air-god rend thee; may Shamas, the lord of Light,
hide his face from thee for ever; and may Niffer, lord of the Ghost
Land, take thee for his slave!  May Ninkigat, the lady of the great Land
of Terrors, strangle thee, and may the other--whom I dare not name--fill
thy vitals with molten metal and consume thee!"

"Mercy!" cried the wretched man, falling upon his knees, and grovelling
upon the polished pavement.  "Mercy, O Istar, Queen of Ea, and ruler of
all creatures!  Have mercy upon thy servant!"

"Nay, unto me thou hast shown no mercy, accursed spawn of a scorpion;
thou shalt receive none," she answered.  Then, lifting her hand towards
the file of soldiers that lined the walls, she commanded,--

"Abla, Nabu-nur-ili, Akabi-ilu, forward quickly, ye guards of our
majesty.  Take this son of Nergal forth to the top of the steps and cast
him down with force like a dog, so that his bones be broken and his body
mutilated.  Then, with his blood, let the words graven upon the image be
re-written on the lintel of the Temple of the Seven Lights, so that all
may remember.  Away with him.  Let his body be cast into the lion-pit,"
she added, with a majestic sweep of her white arm.  "I have spoken."

"Have compassion, O Istar!  At least, let me live!" cried the aged
priest; but ere he could utter the last sentence the soldiers had
dragged him forth, with the dreaded Queen's imprecation resounding in
his ears in multiplied echoes.

In the full fury of her ungovernable rage this beautiful goddess of the
Mysterious Land, at first so graceful and languorous, looked
magnificent.  With her unbound hair falling about her shoulders and
reaching below her girdle, she raised her arms in mad rage, pouring
forth a string of curses so terrible that those surrounding her visibly
shuddered.

"And thou!" she cried, suddenly turning and gazing intently upon me with
eyes sharp as arrows.  "So thou art the stranger!"

The people around me were full of passionate anger and abject terror.
Behind, before me, everywhere, I saw only glaring eyes, strained wide
open as if to devour me, defiant faces, eager hands fingering
sword-hilts, and heard the gnashing of teeth between threatening lips.

"So thou hast dared to accompany that viper Rabbani, and enter my
presence!" she cried, in a second outburst of indignation.  Her strange
terror had been succeeded by rage and defiance terrible to behold.  The
veins in her brow stood out like blue cords as she spoke, and her soft,
perfumed cheeks were suffused by anger.

"I was brought before thee by thy people, O Queen," I answered,
endeavouring to appease her.  "I knew not thine high-priest, ere I
entered thine House of Lustre."

"I have spoken; and he shall die," she snapped, apparently thinking I
was making an appeal on the aged man's behalf.  "Ascend to me, so that I
may see thee more closely."

Thus commanded, I crossed the inlaid pavement and ascended the broad,
silver steps leading to the great throne of crystal, before which she
now stood upon her prostrate women, erect and queenly.  Gaining the
pavement of gold whereon the throne was set, I was drawing nearer, when
two great eunuchs sprang forward, motioning me not to approach her
further.

"Arrest thy steps," they cried, frantically.  "The person of Istar, our
ruler, is sacred.  None but dwellers within this, her temple, may look
upon her."

"Retire," she cried to the eunuchs.  "I commanded him to approach me."

The men slunk back to their places in chagrin, and as they did so I
advanced yet another couple of paces, and dropped upon one knee before
her.  Her beauty was amazing.  The sweet perfumes that exuded from her
ample draperies filled my nostrils.

"Whence comest thou?" she asked me in calm, serious voice, gazing upon
me with her huge, wonderful eyes.

"From the world that lieth beyond the impregnable limits of thy kingdom,
O Queen," I answered.

"Who art thou, that thou shouldst speak our sacred tongue?" she inquired
quickly, in surprise.

"I am but a wanderer," I replied.  "The language of ancient Assyria hath
been recovered by our wise men from the monuments of Nimroud and of
Babylon."  Her surprise found echo in the murmurings of the eager,
excited crowd; but a moment later she asked,--

"How camest thou hither?"

"By an entrance which I followed.  It led me through the Valley of
Mists, until I came hither unto this thy city."

"An entrance!" she cried, in alarm.  "Then thou earnest not as a bird of
the air!"

I replied in the negative, and was about to explain the extraordinary
manner by which I had gained access to the mysterious Land of the No
Return, when she turned upon me with clenched hands, in a paroxysm of
rage so sudden that I was startled.

"Then thou art actually a pagan from the unknown land beyond," she
cried, trembling with anger.  "Be thou accursed! accursed! accursed!
May the celestial triad cut thee off, and may Rimmon tear and devour
thee!"

A murmur of approbation went round those assembled, and at the mention
of the dreaded god all bowed, while the priests in their horned caps
raised their arms and lifted their deep voices in adulation.

Speechless, I stood before her while she poured out upon me the vials of
her uncurbed wrath.  I trembled, fearing lest she should condemn me to a
similar doom to which the aged high-priest had been hurried for what
appeared to be a petty offence.  In her anger she stamped her tiny foot
upon the neck of one of the prostrate women, causing her to writhe.  But
the half-nude pair acting as her footstool uttered no cry.  They were
worshipping the goddess and sacrificing themselves to her.

"Thou accursed son of the Unknown!" she cried, addressing me.  "Thou
hast dared to enter this my forbidden land, therefore thou art my
captive, my slave, my servant!"  She had folded her arms with an air so
terrible that I was immediately as one rooted to the golden pavement.

"Kill him, O Istar!" the people cried.  "Suffer not his baneful presence
to contaminate us!  Suffer not his unclean hand to touch the hem of thy
sacred robe!  Kill him!  Let us witness the lions tearing him!"

At the raising of her white, bejewelled hand there was complete silence.
She looked at me, crushing me with her haughty beauty.

"He came hither," she said, addressing her courtiers and slaves, "in
order to feast his eyes upon what is forbidden, to discover that which
for a hundred generations hath been hidden from the pagans of the other
world.  He therefore shall, ere his soul is given unto Rimmon, witness
that which he desireth.  He is my captive.  My name shall gnaw him like
remorse.  I will be to him more execrable than the pest, and he shall
feel every moment, until the day he is cast into the lion-pit, the
chastisement of a goddess."

Ghastly, and with hands clenched, I quivered like a stringed instrument
when the over-tense strings are about to snap.  Words choked me, and I
bowed my head before her.

"My slave thou art," she cried, turning suddenly upon me.  "Thou shalt
ever grovel in the dust before me; thou shalt take the place of those
women who have prostrated themselves before me, and are from this time
forth absolved.  In future thou shalt be as my footstool.  Neither by
night nor day shalt thou leave my presence.  In my waking hours my heel
shall be upon thy neck; in my hours of slumber thou shalt still be
wakeful.  Whithersoever I go there also shalt thou go, placing thyself
as rest for my feet, and thus be ever in my sight.  If thou attemptest
to fly, I will draw the bears from the mountains, and the lions shall
hunt thee, even unto the ends of the earth."

Stepping from the women, upon whose quivering bodies she had been
standing, she commanded them to rise, and at signal from her the eunuchs
tore from my shoulders the robe in which I had been attired.  Then,
although struggling vainly in their iron grip, I was cast, face
downwards, upon the pavement before the throne, and a moment later the
mysterious Queen of Ea stood with her feet upon my back.  Her weight
crushed my breast, causing my breathing to become difficult; but,
applauded by her subjects, she remained in that position addressing
them, cursing me for daring to enter her kingdom, and assuring them that
ere long they should be entertained by my death beneath the claws of the
lions.

"I heed not the graven lines upon the foundation-stone," she exclaimed,
in conclusion.  "Three hundred thousand soldiers are ready day and night
to do my bidding, and if men fail me, I will call down the wrath of the
gods most terrible.  I will overthrow this my city and burn its temples.
Not a single tower, nor tree, nor wall shall remain, and the galleys
shall float on streams of blood.  I fear not this slave beneath my heel.
I would kill him now, with this my poniard; but ere he dies he shall
feel the chastisement of Istar.  I am thy ruler, and his punishment is
in my hands."

"Wisely hast thou spoken, O Goddess, whom we worship with one accord,
and to whom we sacrifice those of thy sex.  Thou art indeed our just
ruler, at whose word mountains tremble and rivers stand still.  Thine
armed men shall ever be faithful unto thee, and beneath thine heel we
leave the wanderer from the Unknown."

"Then go; let the veil fall," she answered.  "In my temple, before the
graven lines upon my foundation-stone, let full thanksgiving be offered
at moonset for our discovery of this wanderer, who is safe in our hands,
and thus prevented from escaping back unto his own execrable, accursed
race."

"We obey thee, O mighty Istar!" rose from the throats of the assembled
multitude as, with one accord, they moved back towards the ante-chamber,
still keeping their faces towards the beautiful woman they worshipped.
Confusion spread for a few minutes, but at last all retired, save those
grouped around the throne, and the great yellow curtain fell, leaving
the brilliant Queen in ease and semi-privacy.

Wearied, she threw herself upon her great crystal lounge, lying
gracefully back, with the toes of one bare foot just touching me, while
her women crowded about and attended her at her elaborate toilet.

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.

FORETOKENS.

Istar's white-robed women brushed out her hair, which fell about her
like a cascade of rippling gold, bathed her face in a golden bowl filled
with perfume, and gently washed her white hands.  Then, when her toilet
was complete, they retired at a sign, leaving me alone with her.

When all was silent she lifted her tiny foot from my neck and commanded
me to rise.

"Tell me, whence comest thou?" she inquired, in a hard rasping voice,
when I stood before her.

Our eyes met.  Hers were of that unusual tint--almost violet.  They held
me in fascination.

"I came from the desert land two moon's march beyond thine," I answered,
noticing, at the same moment, that her shapely hands trembled.  "I
entered thy dominion by the gate known to us as the Rock of the Great
Sin, the secret way that no man hath before penetrated."

"Thou hast discovered it!" she gasped excitedly, half rising from her
crystal seat of royalty, gleaming with its thousand iridescent fires.
"Tell me, in which direction doth it lie?"

"Far north, beyond the Mountains of the Mist, beyond the ruins of the
wondrous temple thine ancestor raised to Sin, the Moon-god."

"But tell me the exact position of the rock of the great god Sin," she
demanded, eagerly.  "It is a spot which existeth in the sayings of the
priests, but it hath been lost to all men in the mazes of legendary
lore."

"Its exact position I cannot accurately describe," I answered.  "Since
passing through it and deciphering the rock-tablet of Semiramis, I have
travelled many days in forest and over plain and mountain."

"Couldst thou not guide me thither?" she asked, eagerly.

"I fear I could not, O Queen," I answered.

"Thou art, indeed, the Destroyer; the man who is my bitterest enemy,"
she observed, in a deeply reflective tone.

"How?"  I inquired.  "Surely I have done thee no wrong!"

"Since the day of Semiramis, the founder of Babylon and of Ea, it hath
been told to each generation by our sages that a dark-faced stranger
from the north shall one day enter our impregnable kingdom and approach
its ruler," she said, hoarsely.  "His entry shall be the curse that Anu,
god of Destruction, hath placed upon our land, and this our city, with
walls unbreakable, shall be overthrown and crumble into dust.  When
Semiramis founded this our land of Ea, she made not sufficient sacrifice
unto Anu, therefore the dread god overthrew her colossal Temple of the
Sun, and laid a curse upon the city, saying that he would one day direct
hereto the steps of a man from the world beyond, and that this man
should be the Destroyer.  Thou art the one sent by Anu."

She had fixed her brilliant eyes upon me, holding me transfixed.  There
was in her face a strange look of combined terror and hatred.

"Well," I said, after a pause, "believest thou that I am the prophesied
doer of evil?"

"Assuredly thou art," she answered.  "All is evil in thine accursed
world beyond."

"And thou, the goddess Istar, believest that I am capable of working
evil against this thy giant city!"  I observed, smiling.  "Thou fearest
that I am possessed of the evil-eye."

"Thy coming fulfilleth the prophecies of our priests through ages," she
answered, in a low, harsh tone.  "Thou art mine enemy.  I, my people and
my land are doomed."

"This, then, was the reason that I was cast into the lion-pit," I
observed.

She nodded in acquiescence, adding, "It was proposed that thou shouldst
be devoured by the wild beasts as recompense for thine intrepidity; but
I rescued thee because--because, I wished to hear thy story from thine
own lips."

"Already have I told thee all," I answered.  "This thy land is known to
the world beyond only by vague legends and the unwritten romances of
story-tellers.  When I return, I will tell my fellows of the wonders I
have witnessed within thy brilliant kingdom."

"No," she answered, rising with true regal dignity, yet trembling with
anger.  "Thou shalt never go back, for to thee, as to all men, this is
the Land of the No Return.  To kill thee will only hasten disaster upon
myself, therefore, thou shalt remain my slave, and lest thou shouldst
attempt to escape, thou shalt never leave my side, either by day or by
night.  I hold thee in servitude irrevocably.  When the Day of
Destruction, foretold by the prophets, cometh, then shall thine heart be
torn out whilst thou art still alive, and given to Ninep, my tame
lioness, to devour at a mouthful."

I bowed, smiling bitterly; but no retort escaped my lips.  Her strange,
weird manner held me spellbound.

"At least it shall be known," she cried, angrily, "that I hold in
bondage, as my personal slave, the man who hath entered our land to
bring evil upon us.  Attempt not to escape, or assuredly will I slay
thee with mine own hand," and she drew from her girdle of emeralds a
short, keen knife, with hilt fashioned like a winged bull, which she
kept therein concealed.

"Thou appearest to consider me as harbinger of ill," I answered, with
knit brows.  "I have no design upon thee or thine.  Love of adventure
and a secret quest have led me hither."

"A secret quest!" she cried.  "What was it?"

"I had heard stories of wonders within thy land, and sought its
whereabouts," I said, ambiguously.

"Then, thou didst discover the secret entrance; the mystery that hath
remained hidden through an hundred ages?"

"I did, O Istar," I replied.  "Long I toiled in the darkness beneath the
foundations of the rock of thy Moon-god, and emerged into thy wondrous
country, with its city more amazing than any mine eyes have ever
beheld."

"Art thou dazzled?" she asked, smiling for the first time.

"Indeed I am, O Queen," I replied.  "The magnificence of thy city, the
splendour of this thy palace, and the beauty of thy face entranceth me.
Of a verity thine is a world apart, and thou art goddess and queen in
one."

She fixed her clear, wonderful eyes upon me, and her breast, covered
with jewels, slowly heaved and fell.  In her gaze I noticed, for the
first time, a curious expression, and her manner was undisguisedly
coquettish.

"Then, why dost thou desire to leave our land of Ea?  Why not remain
here in happiness and contentment?" she asked, raising her pencilled
brows, and toying with the long, gold pendant hanging from her ear.

"Because," I answered, frankly, "because I am pledged to a woman who
loveth me."

"Who loveth thee!" she cried, fiercely.  "Who is the woman?"

"Azala, daughter of the Sultan 'Othman, of Sokoto," I answered.

She was silent for a long time.  Her white, well-formed hands twitched
nervously.

"Azala," she repeated slowly, in a hollow voice.  "And thou desirest to
return because thou lovest her?"

I nodded.

"The penalty for thine intrepidity is death," she continued, gravely.
"For the present I spare thee, but thou shalt die when it pleaseth me.
I am Istar, the ruler who holdeth her enemies in the hollow of her
hand."

"I am not thine enemy," I protested.

"Thou art!" she cried, with flashing eyes.  "Thou, son of Anu, art the
Destroyer whose coming hath been foretold."

"I am prepared to serve thee, and to prove to thee that I have entered
thy land without evil intent," I said.

"Be it so," she answered, drawing herself up suddenly.  "Thou shalt
serve me as slave, and attend me everywhere; but while I have breath
thou shalt never return unto thy master Anu, the god of Destruction, who
dwelleth in the land afar."

Her agitation was intense.  In her excitement she stood beside her great
crystal throne, grasping with both hands one of the human-headed
monstrosities which served as arms, while her pale face had assumed a
haggard look, and around her eyes were large, dark rings.  This woman
who, as Queen of the ancient realm, was also worshipped by every man and
woman as Istar, the Goddess of Love, possessed an extraordinary
personality.  In features, in manner, in her luxurious mode of life, she
was remarkable; while, as I had already had illustration, she was cruel,
quick tempered and relentless, overlooking no fault, and holding her
unique position as some supernatural ruler of earth.  The legend current
throughout Ea, prophesying the appearance of a visitant and the downfall
of the city, was extremely unfavourable to me, I knew; nevertheless, I
recollected my pledge to Azala, my long and adventurous journey thither,
and now that I was actually at last in Ea I was more than ever
determined to fathom the mystery that my well-beloved had alleged would
be revealed unto me.  The strange life about me held me entranced with
wonder.  Everything was upon a scale so colossal and extravagantly
luxurious that I gazed about lost in wonder.  The dwelling-place of the
beautiful woman who held me captive, a palace and temple combined, was,
indeed, a magnificent pile of amazing proportions and was well named the
House of the Raising of the Head, for it was full of marvels at every
turn.  Istar's firm determination that I should not leave her side was
certainly disconcerting; nevertheless the Koran telleth us that by
patience much can be accomplished; therefore, I decided to stifle the
voice of protest, endure my lot, and bow to the woman who had held me
humiliated as slave in sight of her brilliant court.

Again, with eyes flashing, she heaped fierce curses upon me, declaring
that my life should be made a burden; that ere a moon had passed I
should long for death; and that my face should never again be brightened
by the eyes of the woman I loved.  In the midst of a string of epithets
bestowed upon me with a terrible volubility, two heralds, in golden
breastplates and white-plumed helmets, entered the chamber, and raising
their great brazen horns blew three loud blasts, whereat Istar, the
words of reproach dying on her lips, sank among the cushions of her
throne, while, almost at the same instant, the great silken curtains
again parted, revealing the assembled multitude of soldiers, courtiers,
eunuchs and priests, who had apparently remained awaiting their Queen's
pleasure.  Erect, I stood beside the gleaming throne gazing upon the
brilliant court of this curious monarch, while Ninep, the tame lioness,
walked slowly past, sniffing inquiringly at her mistress, then stood
licking her soft, bejewelled hand, the hand that she declared would
strike me dead if I attempted to return to the world outside.
Impetuosity was one of her many peculiarities.  One moment so fierce was
she that she would herself assassinate any who hesitated to obey her
wish; the next she would smile good-humouredly, as though she knew not a
moment of anger, and malice found no resting-place within her heart.

Suddenly she raised her hand, and a silence, deep and complete, fell
upon the gorgeous, perfumed multitude.  Ninep yawned, stretched herself
at her mistress's feet, and placing her head upon her paws, blinked
lazily at those below the steps of polished silver.

"Know," she said a moment later, in a clear, not unmusical voice, "this
son of Anu beside me is indeed the Destroyer whom our fathers have
expected for ages, and whom the prophets have told us will bring evil
upon Ea."

"Let him be given as food to the lions!" they shouted.  "Kill him, O
Istar, that he may not betray us into the hands of those who seek our
destruction!  Anu hath set his seal upon Ea, and our city must be
overthrown, but let the spy be killed so that he may not furnish report
unto those who sent him hither."

"He shall die," Istar replied, briefly.

A roar of approbation instantly broke forth; but next instant, again
raising her hand to command quiet, the queen-goddess continued,--

"He shall die when, as my slave, he hath served me."

"Let him die now, O Istar!" they shouted.  "Gladden our hearts by
letting us see the lions tear him limb from limb.  He is the Destroyer,
the visitant against whom the sages have warned us.  Through him will
the vengeance of Anu, the dread god, descend upon us.  Let him die!"

"No," she answered, both hands resting upon the crystal arms of her
glittering throne.  "I have spoken.  He is my personal slave, bound to
my side by night and by day."

"Dost thou not fear to have a son of Anu as thy body-servant?" asked an
aged priest, with flowing white beard and high head-dress of shining
gold, surmounted by a star, the emblem of Istar.  "He may wreak
vengeance upon thee."

"I am Istar, and know not fear," she answered, haughtily.  "Men bow to
me, and women make sacrifice in my temple.  For those who incur my
displeasure, Merodach, the protector of mankind, will not mediate."

Then the queen-goddess nodded towards a man of tall stature, attired in
a robe of dead black.  Again the trumpets sounded thrice, as signal for
her captains to come forward and present their reports.  They came, one
by one, advancing to the foot of the steps, bowing upon one knee, and
obtaining the sanction of their sovereign upon various matters.

At last, when about twenty had been received and dismissed, a man older
than the rest, and wearing a breastplate in which rubies were set in the
form of a great star within a circle, advanced, knelt before the
bewitching Queen, and mumbled some words that I could not catch.

Istar inclined her head slightly in approbation.  Then, bidding the
white-headed warrior to rise, said aloud,--

"Know, Larsa, this stranger that is within our gates hath discovered the
Rock of the Moon-god, and entered into our presence thereby.  The curse
of Anu, the Progenitor, who changeth not the decree coming forth from
his mouth, hath fallen.  Go with thine hosts far beyond the Mountains of
the Mist even unto the confines of Ea, and there search long and
diligently, so that thou mayest discover and defend the secret way.  Let
not the feet of those of evil defile our land, for assuredly the sign is
set upon us, and destruction threateneth.  Thy valiant hosts must avert
it."

"Thy will shall be done, O divine patroness," the old man answered,
bowing low till his beard almost swept the pavement.  "I will haste to
do thy bidding."

"May Merodach encompass thee with his shield that none can penetrate,"
she exclaimed, as, turning, he went forth to lead his soldiers in search
of the strange, natural gate by which I had entered.

For an hour the queen-goddess continued to receive those who craved
audience, giving advice, hearing petitions, and dispensing justice.
Then her brows knit, she grew tired, and at her command the great
apartment was cleared of all except the twelve slaves whose duty it was
to cool her with their huge fans of flamingoes' wings.

"Thou hast not told me thy name," she exclaimed, suddenly turning upon
me.

"Thy servant is called Zafar," I answered.

"So be it," she said, glancing at me quickly, with sinister look.  She
paused a moment, then, rising languidly from her seat, slowly descended
the steps, followed by all her retinue, including myself.

"Depart not from my sight," she commanded, turning towards me.  "Where I
go, there shalt thou go also."

Through the great hall she led the way into a smaller apartment, hung
with gorgeous stuffs, where, in an alcove beyond, was a great couch
supported by four lions in silver, with curtains of purple worked with
silver.  In the centre of the chamber was an upright conical stone,
black, with many lines of arrowheads engraved thereon.  It was, I
afterwards learned, the symbol of Baal, the ruler and vivifier of
nature.

Her women, priestesses of Istar, attired in loose robes of pure white,
with their unbound hair secured by a golden fillet, unloosed her heavy
girdle of emeralds which confined her waist, removed her little slippers
of snake skin, and again bathed her face with some delicate perfume.
Then they tenderly laid her to rest upon the couch, and while four
men-at-arms, with drawn swords, took up their positions as guards, two
at head and two at foot, they threw themselves down upon the lion-skins
spread about.  Before the alcove, wherein reclined the queen, a veil of
silver sheen descended, for already her wondrous eyes had closed, and,
tired out, she had fallen into a light slumber.

I, her slave, sat upon the floor, hugging my knees, deep in thought, and
waiting, with the silent guards, until the dawn.  Truly my position was
a remarkable one.  I had found that which all men before had failed to
discover.  I was actually living in a world unknown.

CHAPTER FORTY.

THE FESTIVAL OF TAMMUZ.

But one desire possessed me--to return to Azala.

In the many days which followed the first night of my captivity I
witnessed innumerable marvels.  The pageantry in the palace, known to
all as E Sagilla, "The House of the Raising of the Head," was of amazing
brilliance; and in the great city, sixty English miles in circumference,
and built with extreme regularity, with broad, straight streets crossing
one another at right angles, the sights which met my gaze filled me with
astonishment.  Though the dwellers in that long-forgotten kingdom
possessed many inventions similar to those I had witnessed in London,
yet their religion, manners and customs were the same as those which
existed four thousand years ago, when the all-powerful Semiramis caused
her record to be engraved in the foundations of the rock she consecrated
to her supposed father, the Moon-god, Sin, "the lord of the waxing and
the waning."  The buildings were on colossal scale, with towers reaching
to a far greater height than any I had seen in European cities, and the
display of gold, silver and gems, mostly brought there ages ago by the
notable woman who founded Babylon and conquered Ethiopia, held me in
constant wonderment.  In the great courts of the temple-palace I watched
the sacrifice of rams upon the triangular fire-altars, attended by
long-bearded priests of Gibil, the Fire-god, in robes whereon were
embroidered fir cones, apt emblems of fire; and everywhere I noticed
symbols of the celestial deities, while power was typified
indiscriminately on every hand by colossal figures of winged,
human-headed, and sometimes eagle-headed, lions and bulls.

Through one whole moon I had been slave of Istar, and scarcely left her
side for a single instant by night or day, hourly witnessing sights that
were amazing, and occupying my leisure in deciphering the profuse
cuneiform inscriptions graven on almost every wall or door-lintel by
hands that ages ago had crumbled to dust.  From them I learned much
regarding the history of that wondrous kingdom; how, before the death of
Semiramis, she was worshipped as Istar, Goddess of Love.  In some
inscriptions I found her referred to as "Queen of the Crescent-moon,"
"Queen of the Stars," and "Queen of Heaven"; in others as "Queen of War
and Battle," "Archeress of the Gods," and "Queen of all the Gods;" but
it was distinctly stated in several of the colossal wall-pictures that,
before she died, she decreed that her daughter should be ruler of Ea,
and that all should worship her as Istar.  Each Queen should remain
unmarried until the age of forty, and should be worshipped as Goddess of
Love, and each King should be known as Hea, and should place his
daughter upon the throne in preference to his son.  Through four
thousand years this wonderful kingdom had existed in all its
magnificence, in defiance to Anu, the god of Destruction, and during
that period the dignity of queen-goddess had been handed down from
generation to generation, its bearer dwelling within that great temple
raised by the autocratic Empress who founded Babylon.  Those giant
walls, with their sculptured feasts and victories, had remained intact,
black and polished like iron, colossal monuments of Assyria's greatness,
and as in the silence of night, when I watched while Istar slept, I
gazed upon them and reflected, wondering whether Allah would ever allow
me to escape to tell the world of my amazing discovery of this
mysterious, unknown realm.

Many were the feasts held within that colossal palace, but chief among
them was the Festival of Tammuz, "The only-begotten son of Dav-Kina, the
lady of the earth."  This, held about one moon after my captivity, was
upon a scale of unsurpassed magnificence, the feasting, drinking and
merry-making continuing throughout seven days and nights.  The court of
the garden of the palace wherein Istar feasted the people of Ea was
fitted up with white, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of
fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble; the couches
of the female guests were of gold and silver upon the pavement of red,
blue, white and black marble.  Men sat in high chairs of ivory, and
drank wine from golden vessels, slaves served them with various fruits
and viands, and each hour the guests were entertained with music and
dancing.  Of musical instruments there were but two kinds--a drum, and a
sort of triangular lyre with ten strings, held in the left hand, and
struck with a plectrum held in the right.  Exalted upon her dais, in the
centre of the beautiful garden, sat Istar, with queenly hauteur gazing
down upon the animated scene.  Every house throughout the city was
illuminated, for the Festival of Tammuz was celebrated by all, and many
were the magnificent banquets given by high officers and notabilities.
Twice Istar drove through the streets in her gilded chariot, drawn by
eight milk-white stallions, I, her slave, sitting at her side.  She did
this, no doubt, to publicly demonstrate to the populace the fact that
she held me captive, for as we passed along the straight, broad
thoroughfares she was greeted by the wild plaudits of the multitude,
while upon my head curses most terrible were showered.

When on the last night of the great festival the music had been
silenced, the guests had left their couches, the dancing-girls had
retired, and we were alone together in the silent, moonlit garden, she
sighed deeply, glanced at me for an instant, and rose.  Her heavy
anklets of gold clinked as she descended the silver steps of her throne,
and, as mutely I followed, I saw that high above us still shone the
single shaft of intense white light from the summit of the towering
Temple of the Seven Lights.  It was, I had learned from one of the
priests, known as The Eye of Istar, a light that had shone forth, night
and day without ceasing, ever since Semiramis herself made the first
sacrifice in that high temple tower of seven  stories,
consecrated to the Goddess of Love.  On the summit of that tower every
woman was bound by the law of Babylon's founder to make sacrifice to
Istar, and it was the duty of the white-robed vestal virgins to keep the
light burning incessantly, to remind the people that Istar watched over
them and was their ruler.  Ofttimes I had been seized with curiosity to
ascend that tower where all women, rich and poor alike, were compelled
to prostrate themselves at least once in their lives, and it was with
satisfaction that I now saw my royal mistress slowly approach the
entrance to the temple-tower.  As we crossed the great court the huge
crowd that had assembled bowed in silence.  At the portals twelve
fair-haired girls, in robes of pure white, greeted her with great
ceremony; then, headed by a wizened old priest, with snowy beard and
horned cap of gold, surmounted by a star, we commenced to climb the wide
flight of winding marble stairs.  The ascent was long and toilsome.  At
each stage we halted, and a prayer was recited to the god to whom it was
dedicated, until at length we reached the great domed pavilion that
formed its summit.

From above, the unquenchable light shone down upon the gigantic city,
while the roof of pale blue, decorated with golden stars, was supported
by twisted columns of gilded marble.  Ibises, the sacred birds of love,
flitted in and out at will, and in the centre, raised upon a silver
pedestal from the pearl and ebony mosaic pavement, stood an undraped
statue of Istar herself.  Its sight entranced me, for in her right hand
she was represented as holding two asps entwined, the same symbol as
that branded upon my breast!

Around the image of the Goddess of Love, a crowd of young women and
girls from the city were kneeling.  Some had their lips pressed to its
feet; others were lounging upon skins gazing away out upon the
brightly-lit city.  The scene was indeed a striking one.  The bright
moon shed her light full upon the statue, causing it to stand out in
bold relief, while the golden braziers, here and there, burned perfumes
which filled the air with a delicious, intoxicating fragrance.  When we
entered all was silence, but the instant it became known that Istar
herself was present, with one accord the worshippers rose, struggling
with one another to kiss the hem of her gold-embroidered robe.

Once each year, at the conclusion of the Festival of Tammuz, Istar
herself ascended to pass the night within the temple, and pose in the
flesh as the Goddess of Love.  Hence, on that night, great crowds
assembled to see her enter the tower, and the unmarried women of Ea, who
had not before made sacrifice, congregated at the summit.  The scene was
strangely impressive.  Surrounded by her white-robed priestesses, she
stood before the image in the ekal, or main nave, and raised her bare
white arms to heaven.

When all her votaries had kissed her robe, and ranged themselves around
her, a dead silence fell.  Suddenly, in clear, musical tones, her hands
still raised above her head, whereon was fixed the golden star, she
commenced to chant the beautiful hymn to the Moon-god, Sin,--

"Merciful one, begotten of the universe, who foundeth his illustrious
seat among living creatures.  Long-suffering father, full of
forgiveness, whose hand upholdeth the lives of mankind.  Lord, thy
divinity is as the wide heavens, and filleth the unknown seas with its
fear.  On the surface of the peopled world he biddeth the sanctuary be
placed--he proclaimeth their name.  The father, the begotten of gods and
men, who causeth the shrine to be founded, who established the offering,
who proclaimeth dominion, who giveth the sceptre, who shall fix destiny
unto a far distant day, look down upon this our House of Lustre, and let
it never be cast down."

Then the women, casting aside their outer garments of silk and purple,
knelt and prayed long, invoking the indwelling spirit of life, called
"Zi," following it by a supplication to Mul-lil "lord of the night-sky,"
and concluding with an appeal to Istar herself, crying,--

"In heaven, who is supreme?  Thou alone art supreme!  On earth, who is
supreme?  Thou alone art supreme!"

It was a curious and weird form of adoration and worship.  The Goddess
of Love stood erect and statuesque, without moving a muscle, as each
worshipper, advancing, paid her homage.  Some kissed her fingertips,
others her bare feet, each making declaration that they were
henceforward her slaves.  Meanwhile, the priestesses, all young women of
extreme beauty, chanted softly strange hymns to the great Baal,
head-father and creator of the universe, and with the moonlight
streaming full upon her, Istar looked, indeed, one of entrancing beauty,
yet cold as an icicle.  Above her head the statue, its stone arm
outstretched, held the strange symbol that Azala and I bore upon our
breasts, and as I stood watching I saw with what intense devotion the
women worshipped her.  Unseemly rites were undoubtedly connected with
the worship of Istar, the Babylonian Venus, in the time-effaced city of
Sardanapalus, but here there were no degrading symbols; indeed, the
surroundings in this elevated temple showed considerable purity of taste
and feeling, and the sacrifices were in the form of gold, jewels, food
and wine.

At length, after many prayers and supplications to each of the gods of
the celestial triad, Istar turned, and, accompanied by her priestesses,
slowly moved away, her votaries still remaining prostrate upon their
faces.

Behind the ekal in which she had been standing was a veil of golden
thread, which, being drawn aside, disclosed the sacred seat or couch
called the papakha, the holy of holies of the Goddess of Love.

When we had passed beyond the veil, it fell behind us, and the
priestesses, having attended Istar at her elaborate toilet, she reclined
with languor upon the purple velvet cushions of her soft couch.
Meanwhile, the votaries were leaving, and, when the veil was again
raised, the ekal was deserted.  But only for a moment.  An aged man, in
long, black gown, came forth from the darkness, and, standing on the
spot where the goddess had stood, raised both hands towards her.  His
appearance was evidently part of the annual custom, for it was apparent
that the priestesses and slaves, cooling their mistress with their great
fans, had expected him.

Scarcely, however, had he opened his mouth, when Istar, springing from
her couch, stood glaring at him with threatening gesture.  Her hands
trembled as words escaped her, "Ah!  I had forgotten!  Forgotten!" she
wailed.  Unsteadily she swayed forward for a moment, then sank back
again upon her couch with blanched countenance.

"Lo!" cried the aged prophet, in a croaking voice, "through three-score
years have I uttered warning!--the same warning, that since the day of
the founder of Ea, hath been spoken at the conclusion of each Festival
of Tammuz, son of the Lady of the Earth."

"Yea, I know!  I know!" gasped Istar.  "Loose not thy tongue's strings.
Each year thou hast repeated thy prophecy; spare me its recital
to-night!"

"Semiramis, our great queen, commanded that it should be uttered,
therefore seek not to stay my words," he answered reproachfully, in a
grave voice.  "Thus saith Anu, god of Destruction, `Semiramis, when she
built Ea, made no sacrifice, because she feared me not.  Behold, I will
direct unto Ea a stranger, who shall enter within its gates, and the day
of whose coming none shall know.  He shall be as a sign unto you that I
will bring upon Ea a king of kings from the north, with horses and with
chariots, and with horsemen, and with companies, and with much people.
He--'"

"No!" cried Istar, covering her haggard face with her hands, while the
tame lioness stood watching, her tail sweeping the ground.  "I know thou
art the skeleton of the Feast of Tammuz, but spare me thy disconcerting
words."

The prophet, however, continued, heedless of her earnest supplications.

"`He shall kill the daughters of Ea in the field; and he shall make a
fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the
buckler against thee.  And he shall set engines of war against thy
walls, and with his axes shall he break down these towers.  By reason of
the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover thee; the walls of
Ea shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels and of
the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a
city wherein is made a breach.  With the hoofs of his horses shall he
tread down all thy streets; he shall put thy people to the sword, and
thy strong garrisons shall be against them as a weak reed.  And they
shall kill thee and send thee to the city of Ninkigat, ruler of the
great land of evil, whose palace walls are clothed in dust, the
inhabitants thereof wearing robes of feathers like birds.  And they
shall make a spoil of thy riches and a prey of thy merchandise; and they
shall break down thy walls and destroy thine houses; and they shall root
up thy foundation-stones, and lay thy timber and thy dust in the midst
of the water.'"

Istar set her teeth.  For an instant she glanced at me, the stranger
foretold by the prophet; then her eyes were turned upon the man who had
prophesied her downfall.  I saw in their violet depths a steely glitter,
as with one hand she fondled her pet Ninep.  Almost as the last word
left the old man's lips she rose to her feet, and, with a word to the
lioness, she pointed to the aged man who had dared to incur her
displeasure.  Ninep crouched at the feet of her mistress for a single
instant, then, flying through the air, fixed her deadly fangs in the
sage's throat.

One loud scream of agony sounded as man and beast rolled over in deadly
embrace.  Next second I saw the polished pavement was defiled by blood.

Obedient to the call of her mistress, Ninep trotted back and licked her
hand, leaving the prophet mangled and dead.  Slaves quickly removed all
evidences of the tragedy, and while they did so Istar sank back, her
fair face buried among the cushions, a single sob escaping her.

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

THE TEMPLE OF LOVE.

That night, in gloomy mood, Istar reclined dreamily upon her soft
papakha, dismissing all her priestesses and slaves, so that I remained
alone with her.  With my back to one of the golden pillars supporting
the roof, I sat silent in thought, scarce daring to move, for fear of
the dozing lioness.  Istar had fallen into a troubled sleep, and lay
tossing upon her couch with tumbled tresses.

A sudden murmur from her caused me to glance in her direction, when I
saw her lying, still asleep, ghastly pale beneath the light of the moon.
Her robe was disarranged; her delicate chest, that slowly heaved and
fell, had become revealed.  As I looked, I discerned, to my amazement,
that it bore the device of the entwined asps, identically the same as
had been branded upon me; the same as appeared on the rock-tablet of
Semiramis!

Azala had spoken the truth.  So far had the Mystery of the Asps been
revealed.  The strange link that joined me with the daughter of the
Sultan 'Othman joined us both, in some unaccountable manner, to the
goddess-queen of this ancient land of marvels.  I rose, and, creeping
nearer, minutely examined the mystic mark upon her chest.  It was seared
as deeply, and presented a blemish as hideous, as my own.  Lying, as she
was, in graceful abandon, with one arm flung over her head, her chest
rose and fell each time she breathed, but suddenly she drew a long,
deep-drawn sigh, and her eyes opened.

I started back, but already she had detected me.  "Well?" she exclaimed,
regarding me with dreamy glance through her half-opened lashes, slowly
readjusting the white silken robe that had come apart at the neck.  "Why
hast thou approached me?"

"Thou hast slept uneasily," I answered, "and a hideous mark upon thy
breast became revealed."

Languidly she raised her head upon her arm, and with eyes still half
closed, like Ninep, her dozing lioness, she said,--

"Come hither, Zafar.  Come to my side."

Obediently I approached her couch.  Her breast rose, causing her
diamonds to sparkle.  During the past few days I had not failed to
notice in her manner an entire change.  She accorded me more liberty;
she no longer placed her spiteful heel upon my neck as sign of triumph,
and seldom she spoke to me with wilful gesture.  Once, the amazing
thought had flashed across my mind that she actually loved me, but at
such absurd notion I had laughed and placed it aside.

"What seest thou in the Mark of the Asps to amaze thee?" she asked, when
I had drawn nigh to her, and Ninep sniffed my legs inquisitively.

"It is as a strange mark," I answered.  "I was wondering what its
meaning might be."

"Ah!" she sighed.  "Its meaning none can tell, save that those who bear
it are the doomed."

"The doomed!"  I gasped.  "Why?"

"Upon his accursed Anu setteth his mark.  Hence it is that I bear it,"
she answered, gravely.  "Thou art mine enemy, Zafar," she added, after a
slight, painful pause.  "To-night have I sent away my women, so that I
may speak with thee, the stranger whose coming hath been prophesied for
ages.  By all men in Ea I am supposed to hate thee, yet--yet--"

Again she paused, looking at me intently with eyes in which burned the
unmistakable light of love.

"Yet thou canst not bring thyself to cast me into the lions' pit," I
observed, smiling bitterly.  "Better that thou shouldst give me my
liberty, and allow me to depart."

"Never," she cried, starting up.  "Thou shalt never leave me.  If I am
doomed to die, thou shalt die also."

"Why?"  I asked.  "I have wrought thee no ill."

"Thou hast struck the chord of affection within my heart, Zafar," she
said, passionately.

"Already have I told thee that Azala, daughter of the Sultan 'Othman, is
betrothed to me," I answered, not in the least surprised at this
passionate declaration.

"Heed her not," she cried.  "Already I know that Anu, though he sendeth
thee hither as sign of the overthrow of Ea, hath, nevertheless, placed
upon thee also the Mark of the Asps."

I started.  I had no idea that she had ascertained the secret hidden
beneath my robe of crimson silk.  Some slave must, at her bidding, have
examined my chest as I slept.

"And if so?"

"Then thou wilt assuredly meet with a violent end."  I smiled, and she
regarded me with knit brows.

"If thou art my friend," I said, "then thou wilt release me."

"No.  None departs from or enters the Land of the No Return," she
answered.  "Since the foundation of Ea one man only escaped into the
outer world.  It happened ages ago.  He never returned hither, for on
the day the calamity befel us Anu was wroth, a great earthquake
occurred, and the gate by which he made his exit became closed for
ever."

Already had I heard a similar legend during my long and eager search for
the Rock of Sin, the Moon-god, the "illuminator of the earth and lord of
laws."

"Who was the man who escaped?"  I inquired.

"Legend saith his name was Nebo," she answered.  "Knowest thou any of
that name?"

In the negative I replied, reflecting upon the strange story of the
escape of this man beyond the confines of Ea, and wondering what
adventures befel him.

Then she went on to relate how, on many occasions, there had appeared in
cloud pictures, or mirages, inverted pictures of the unapproachable
world beyond; and I, in turn, explained how the Rock of the Moon-god and
the Mountains of the Mist appeared frequently in the desert mirage in
far-off Kano.

"Hast thou ever seen Ea mirrored on the clouds?" she inquired.

"Never," I answered.  "Thy city is unknown, hence my speechless
amazement at its discovery."

"Why desirest thou to return to thy land of evil?" she asked, stretching
forth her hand and softly stroking Ninep's sleek back.

"Because of the woman I love."

She bit her lip to the blood, and glanced at me with an evil glint in
her bright eyes.

"Thou carest naught for me," she observed, reproachfully, regarding me
sharply with narrowing brows.

"I am but thy captive," I responded.  "As Queen of Ea thou mayest not
allow love to enter thine heart until thou growest old.  Why dost thou
taunt me?"

Mention of the rigid law of her great ancestress, Semiramis, caused her
to frown.

"So be it," she answered, hoarsely.  "If thou wilt not renounce thy love
for this woman who dwelleth in thine accursed land, then thou art still
my slave."

"I am content," I said.

"Thou hast chosen?" she inquired, slowly rising to her feet and standing
erect before me.

"I have chosen."

"Then to-morrow the lions shall rend thee in full gaze of the assembled
people of Ea, who shall make sport of thy supplications, and thy cries
shall be as music unto their ears," she burst forth, in a sudden fury of
passion.  "Anu shall rend thee, Nergal, lord of death, shall seize thee,
and thou shalt be accursed by the Fever-god, and cast into the dread
kingdom of Niffer.  Baal shall show thee no mercy; Adarmalik, lord of
the noon-day sun, shall hide his light from thee; Shamas shall blind
thee, and thou shalt exist for ever in the torments prepared by Ninkigat
in the burning land where all is dust.  Thou hast disdained the favours
that I would have bestowed upon thee, despised me, and flung back the
love that I would have given thee.  Therefore shalt thou die.  I, Istar,
ruler of Ea, have spoken."

Her beautiful face was distorted by fierce, uncontrolled passion,
vituperation fell from her lips with a rapidity which almost choked her,
her mass of dead gold hair had escaped from its fillet and fell in
profusion about her shoulders, while her white, filmy robe, open again
at the neck, disclosed the hideous, mysterious blemish scarred dark red
upon the white flesh--the mark that was branded upon the woman I loved
as well as the queen-goddess who had condemned me to death.

My dogged silence enraged her.  It seemed as though during the weeks of
my captivity she had unconsciously grown to regard me with affection,
and held me as slave of her caprice.  Yet my thoughts, ever of Azala,
were so full that I had never before actually realised the position in
which I now suddenly found myself.

"Thou utterest no word!" she cried.  "Thou art still defiant.  To-morrow
wilt thou crave mercy at my feet, but I will show thee none.  Thou hast
sneered at my power, set at naught my good-will, and refused to abandon
all thought of return to thy land of evil, and the woman who holdeth
thee entranced.  Thou shalt never look upon her face again!"

I turned away from the irate beauty, whose hands were clenched within
their palms until the nails drew blood, and without replying, slowly
crossed the polished pavement of the temple, passing over the spot
whereon the hapless prophet had fallen beneath Ninep's deadly claws, and
advancing to the sculptured parapet of alabaster, whereon I leaned in
thought, gazing down upon the gay, brightly-lit city, and the great
buildings and courts which comprised the wonderful House of the Raising
of the Head.  Ninep uttered a low growl.  The moon shone brightly,
lighting up the extensive view on every hand.  Below lay the
well-remembered flight of steps, brilliantly illuminated, with their
double row of guards in shining breastplates.  Beyond the palace walls
the lights of the streets showed in long, straight lines.  Above, the
shaft of intense white brilliance, the inextinguishable Eye of Istar,
still streamed forth upon the wondrous city of Ea, lighting up its
terraces, its obelisks and colossal temples like day, while, far away in
the distance, the snowy, serrated crests of the Mountains of the Mist
showed high, ghost-like, mysterious.

Beyond lay freedom and Azala.  Already had I witnessed that Istar, quick
tempered and passionate, was capable of any cruelty or treachery, even
towards her most trusted friends.  This woman, worshipped as Goddess of
Love, was, indeed, full of grace, beautiful in form, with a face almost
flawless; but the cruelties she practised almost daily were revolting.
To incur her anger meant death, either upon the torture-wheel or in the
lion pit, and ofttimes, while standing beside her, I had noticed the
exultant pleasure with which she condemned men and women to torture or
to the grave.  The people of Ea called her goddess; I thought her a
fiend.

As over the parapet I gazed aimlessly away across the gigantic capital
of this world-forgotten race, it became impressed upon me that, to save
my life, I must at once seek means of escape.  But how?  As Istar's
personal slave, it seemed impossible to elude her vigilance; even if I
escaped outside the city my way back to the Rock of the Moon-god was
uncertain.  I recollected also that within the gloomy cavern there
existed an utterly impassable barrier between myself and the world I had
left--that roaring inrush of water descending to feed the subterranean
river.  Times without number thoughts of freedom had possessed me, but
on each occasion I had been forced to abandon hope, resign myself to the
galling captivity in which I existed, and possess my soul in patience.

Now, however, I had become desperate.  The moon, while I stood watching
long and earnestly, became obscured by a dense black cloud shaped like a
falcon's wing, which left only a patch of green sky half round its disc.
On either side of the city the great plain stretched dark and wide.
The shapes of the mountains could not be discerned, but showed like a
heavy cloud bank against the horizon.  My strained eyes could discern a
speck of light afar off, which, as it was too low for a star, could only
mark the existence of some house on the distant mountain-side.  The
silence could be felt.

The day of feasting and mad gaiety had, it seemed, exhausted all the
voices of nature as well as those of men.

At length I turned towards the papakha.  Istar had sunk back upon her
purple couch, wearied by the continuous gaiety of the festival, and
forgetful of her wrath, had again fallen asleep, her head thrown back
upon a great, tasselled cushion of rose silk.  One of her slippers had
fallen off, disclosing her bare foot, with its heavy, bejewelled
anklets, while near her Ninep had stretched her long body, with her
snout between her paws.  Between us stood the life-sized statue upon its
pedestal, the image of Love, before which all women of Ea bowed and made
sacrifice.  Ghostly it looked in the pale half light with the symbol of
the entwined asps held within its right hand, and as I advanced towards
it I touched its base.  The stone had been worn smooth as glass by the
lips of priestesses and votaries who had worshipped at that shrine
through all the ages since Semiramis; the feet and legs were worn hollow
and out of symmetry by the osculations of the millions of women who had
ascended that tower to the gorgeous Temple of Istar to prostrate
themselves.  The image stretched forth its arm over me ominously, and
the perfumed smoke from the braziers, whirled up by a breath of the
night wind, wrapped around me a subtle, almost suffocating, fragrance.

Istar slept on with heaving breasts.  One chance alone remained to me--a
dash for liberty.

Advancing cautiously a few paces I craned my neck to satisfy myself that
her slumber was not feigned; then, with a last look upon her, I turned
and crept silently away into the shadow where the stairs descended.

I had just reached them, when a faint rustling behind me caused me to
glance quickly round.  In an instant I recognised the truth.  Istar had
followed me.  With a cry of rage she sprang upon me, her poniard
gleaming in her hand.  Long ago she had vowed to kill me if I attempted
to leave her side, and it was now her intention to carry out her threat.
One fierce blow she aimed at my heart, and in warding it off the blade
gashed my arm.  At the same moment, however, I wrested the weapon from
her hand, and held her tightly by the wrists.

To free herself she struggled violently, but I held her powerless, when
suddenly there was a low, ominous growl, and Ninep, in defence of her
mistress, pounced upon me, her great claws fixing themselves in my left
shoulder.  Instantly I recognised the ferocity of my second adversary,
and releasing Istar, I plunged the long, keen knife full into the eye of
the lioness.

Fortunately my aim proved true, for in a few seconds the great brute,
her brain penetrated, fell back helpless and dying.

Again Istar, with the fury of a virago, rushed upon me, declaring that I
should not escape.  My first impulse was to kill her.  Indeed, I confess
I raised my knife to plunge it into her breast, but next second gripped
her by the throat, and hurled her back upon the pavement where she lay
huddled in a heap, stunned, motionless, and unconscious.

With a final glance at her inanimate form, I secreted the knife within
my silken girdle, then dashed down the stairs--down, down, through the
six deserted temples, tier on tier, until I reached the silent
courtyard, which I hastily crossed and went to Istar's private
apartment, whence I took a small tablet of sun-dried clay whereon a
message had been impressed.  This I placed in my pouch, and, taking a
staff, set forth to gain my freedom.

In fear each moment lest Istar should regain consciousness, and raise
the alarm, I hurried on through the great apartments with their colossal
sculptures, where scribes and courtiers, officials and soldiers, were
slumbering after the week's festivities, and at length gained the head
of the brilliantly-lit flight of steps, the one way by which the royal
palace could be approached.

As soon as I drew near to the head of the broad stairs the lances of the
guards were interlaced from top to bottom.  My passage was barred until
I had explained to the two officers that I was bearer of an urgent
message from Istar, and exhibited to them the tablet bearing her seal.
Then only was I allowed to proceed.  At each of the seven gates between
the actual entrance to the palace and the brazen gate of the city, I
presented my credential and was afforded free passage.  In trepidation I
approached one of the great doors of polished brass that closed the
entrance to the city, and again drew forth the tablet.  The officer of
the watch scrutinised it long and carefully by the aid of his lantern,
then, finding everything satisfactory, gave orders that the gate should
be opened to pass out a messenger of Istar.

One of the ponderous doors creaked at last, and groaning, slowly fell
back just sufficiently to allow me to pass.

"May Merodach guard thee, messenger," shouted the officer as I went
forth.

"And thee also," I answered, as out upon the plain I sped quickly in the
direction of freedom.  Behind me the shaft of white light still streamed
from the summit of the Temple of the Seven Lights; before me were the
half-obscured Mountains of the Mist.

Once I glanced back upon the wonderful centre of a civilisation unknown
to the world, then resolutely I set my face towards the pole-star,
determined to put as great a distance as possible between myself and
those who would undoubtedly pursue me ere the first saffron streak of
dawn showed the direction of Mecca.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO.

CROOKED PATHS.

Full of increasing anxiety were the days following my escape from Ea.
At dawn, while high in the shadowy Mountains of the Mist, I heard the
alarm beaten in the distant city below, and could just distinguish,
through the cloud of vapour, troops of horsemen leaving the brazen gates
to scour the country in search of me.  Istar had, no doubt, recovered,
and, perhaps, had declared that I had made an attempt upon her life.  A
determined effort would, I knew, be made to secure me; therefore, having
found the path I recognised as having before traversed, I pushed onward,
day by day, until I reached the ruins of the great temple which had held
me in wonderment when first I had entered that mysterious realm; then,
striking due north, through forest and fertile, park-like country, I
came to a river which I remembered was not far distant from the small,
half-concealed hole whence I had emerged.  Proceeding along its sedgy
bank at early morning, I came round a sharp bend, espying, to my
amazement, a cluster of tents before me, and held back only just in time
to escape detection.  Already my pursuers were ahead of me!
Nevertheless, taking a circuitous route, and sleeping in a tree that
night, my eyes, after long and diligent search, were gladdened by the
sight of the spot I sought.

As I stood before it, I reflected that, although I had defeated the evil
design of Istar, I was still in a position equally as perilous as
before, because of the raging, foaming torrent, which, descending from
the Lake of the Accursed through its funnel-like aperture, formed a
natural and insurmountable barrier to my freedom.  Ea was indeed the
Land of the No Return.

I had eaten my frugal morning meal, and was about to leisurely enter the
long, natural chamber beneath the rock, and there decide upon some plan
of action, when suddenly the bright gleam of arms through the greenery
attracted my attention, and a moment later I found myself confronted by
two of Istar's soldiers, who had evidently been watching me.

They called upon me to surrender, at the same time shouting to their
comrades; but, without an instant's hesitation, I evaded their grasp and
scrambling up into the hole, plunged into the dark fissure and sped
quickly along over rocks and stones, heedless of where I went.  Hurrying
footsteps sounded behind me, the voices of my eager pursuers echoing
loudly through the place, causing the flock of bats and birds nesting
there to fly out into the sunlight in a dense, screaming crowd, while I,
dashing onward, fled like a rat before a ferret.

The chase in the pitch darkness was long, wearying and desperate.  It
was a race for life.  By their voices I could distinguish that the
soldiers were gradually gaining upon me; yet, struggling on, now and
then falling and cutting my knees as I scrambled over the sharp rocks,
being always compelled to keep my hands stretched forth lest I should
stun myself against the rough sides of the natural passage.  Still, I
was determined to hold out until the last, although not a single ray of
hope glimmered through the dispiriting gloom.  Istar had told me that,
as bearer of the Mark of the Asps, I was doomed.  Although I struggled
forward I had been compelled to abandon all hope of returning again to
Azala.

Close behind me were my pursuers, yelling like fiends.  The place sent
back weird, unearthly echoes from its uneven, vaulted roof, yet, in the
utter darkness, they could not see me, but only pressed forward, eager
to run me to earth and ascertain the extent of the strange, unknown
grotto.

Suddenly I held my breath, feeling myself treading for an instant upon
air, and uttering a loud shriek when I realised the truth.  I had
forgotten the great chasm into which I had so nearly fallen when last I
had passed there, and had now plunged headlong into it!  Down, down, I
felt myself falling, until the fearful velocity with which I descended
rendered me giddy.  Those moments in mid-air seemed an hour, until,
after dropping a long distance, I felt a sudden blow on the back that
drove the breath from my body and held me paralysed.  I knew then that I
was lost.

When, a few minutes later, I again became conscious, I heard excited
voices far above uttering words of caution.  My shriek had evidently
been noticed by my pursuers, who, surmising that some evil had befallen
me, halted, and feeling their way carefully forward, had discovered the
wide chasm which I had believed unfathomable.  I was lying in soft dust
which, preventing any of my bones being broken, had also deadened the
sound when, long ago, I had cast stones into the pit to ascertain its
depth.  Slowly I struggled to my feet, and finding myself uninjured,
began groping about in the darkness to ascertain the accurate dimensions
of the abyss.  Half choked by the fine dust, I stumbled about, with
outstretched hands, but could discover neither sides nor roof, when
suddenly a soldier's robe, which had been saturated in some oil from a
lantern and was flaming, tumbled down upon the spot where I had fallen.
My pursuers had done this to ascertain the depth of the chasm.

The welcome light revealed to me that, instead of being in an abyss, I
had been precipitated into a lower and larger cavern, the roof of which
was hung with huge stalactites, glittering with prismatic fire, and of
dimensions so enormous that the fitful glare did not reveal its opposite
extremity.

Fortunately, in my efforts to discover the extent of the weird place, I
had advanced some little distance from the bottom of the pit, therefore
my pursuers saw me not.

"He hath vanished!"  I heard one man cry.  "Of a verity he is the
Destroyer, the son of Anu, whom to attempt to capture is as futile as
the endeavour to make water run up hill."

"He sprang into the gulf, and disappeared like a spirit," cried another,
as he peered over into the yawning chasm.  "It was his intention that we
should follow and be dashed to pieces on the rocks.  His cry alone saved
us."

"Come," I heard another voice exclaim, "let us leave this noisome abode
of Anu, or his hand may wither and destroy us as it destroyed the Temple
of Sin."

Soon the light died down to glowing tinder, and the voices, growing
fainter, were quickly lost in distant echoes.

I knew I was entombed.  To search for any exit seemed hopeless.
Nevertheless, with a supplication to Allah to lighten his servant's
burdens, I tore a strip from my robe, unravelled it, and by blowing upon
the glowing tinder, obtained a light for my torch.  Then, having
improvised several more torches in case of necessity, I started forward.
On every side was a cavernous blackness, so large was the natural
chamber into which I had fallen.  Still I strove on, determined at least
to ascertain its true dimensions.

Presently I raised a loud shout, and listened.  In a thousand distant
echoes my voice came back, showing that the cavern was of wondrous
extent.  The ground was not uneven, though here and there were large
masses of rock, thrown up, as if by the same earthquake as had formed
the Lake of the Accursed, and, hurrying forward, I gazed about me to
discover something in the impenetrable blackness on every hand.

One fact alone gave me courage.  The air was good, showing that
somewhere was an outlet to the world above.

Thus, with frantic effort, I struggled on, lighting a second torch, and
keeping straight ahead, until at last, to my dismay, I was confronted by
the damp wall of rock that formed the end of the cavern.  Turning at
right angles, I walked beside this wall to ascertain the width of the
chamber, when, having proceeded about thirty paces, I discovered a
fissure, or tunnel-like passage of considerable width, which led away
into the deep gloom beyond.

Determined, at least, to explore its length, I plunged into it, holding
my torch high above my head.  At first it descended slowly, then rose
with gradual ascent, sometimes narrowing, at others widening, until I
again came to a blank wall of rock.

I had been deceived.  It was a mere fantastic _cul-de-sac_.

A moment's pause, then, turning with sinking heart, I retraced my steps
a considerable distance until, just before I emerged into the great
cavern again, I became aware of a second grotto leading out of the
natural tunnel wherein I stood.  This I had not before noticed,
therefore, with eager steps, started forward to explore it.  Here again
the ground rose, but the cavern was spacious, and leading out of it was
another grotto rising gradually and leading to a third, slightly
narrower, through which I toiled for fully half-an-hour, burning the
whole of my outer robe as torches, until by accident my light became
entirely extinguished.  Unable to rekindle it, I was plunged in darkness
that could be felt.  Striving on undaunted, however, my eager hands came
at last in contact with a wall of rock before me; but, scarce had I made
this dismaying discovery, ere I found that the subterranean burrow took
a sudden turn at right angles, and again ascended sharply.

To my surprise the rocky roof above me became just distinguishable.  A
grey light showed ghostly and indistinct.  Then, a moment later, as I
mounted the steep ascent, I saw, straight before me, the blessed light
of day, and uttered a loud cry of relief and joy.

In eagerness I sped forward, rushing out of the cave, the mouth of which
was half choked by brushwood and brambles, to find that I had actually
passed beneath the Lake of the Accursed, and was beyond the confines of
the Land of the No Return.

Only by a miracle had I escaped death.  Of a verity Allah maketh
abundant provision for such of his servants as he pleaseth, therefore I
knelt to return thanks for my deliverance.

My exit had been made at the edge of the forest, within actual sight of
the towering Rock of the Moon-god, and having riveted its exact position
upon my memory, I plucked some bananas and ate them, afterwards setting
my face to the north on my long journey back to Kano.

Following the directions given me by my lost friend Yakul, I searched
for the track which he had told me ran through the great forest to
Ipoto, and after some little difficulty discovered it; then, traversing
it for many days amid the forest gloom, I at length reached the town he
had named.  To detail my journey northward is unnecessary.  Ever
pressing forward, and without meeting with much adventure, I swam the
Ihourou river, and joining a party of traders, crossed the rocky country
of the Mbelia, passing beneath the snowcapped summit of the mountain
called Nai, eventually arriving at Niam-Niam.  Here I was fortunate
enough to fall in with a caravan bound for Katsena, within the Empire of
the Sultan 'Othman; and three moons after my escape from Ea I
experienced the delight of seeing the minarets and cupolas of Kano rise
dark against the blood-red sunset.

News I gained in Katsena, however, had caused me most intense anxiety.
Although, as far as I could learn, no conspiracy against the Sultan had
been attempted, yet I heard from Arab traders in the market-place that
Azala, my beloved, was to be given as bride to the Khalifa, in order to
further cement the friendship between Sokoto and the Eastern Soudan.  It
had been arranged months ago, before the Khalifa's return to Omdurman,
and the date of Azala's departure for the east was already past.
Therefore, in fear lest the woman I loved should have already left,
under escort, to become bride of the brutal autocrat, I spurred forward
over the desert to Kano.

My first breathless question of the guards at the gate was of Azala.
She had not left, they answered, but preparations were complete, and she
would go forth, with a large armed escort, at noon on the morrow.  Then
I made sudden resolve, and entered the great Fada to boldly seek
audience of the Sultan 'Othman, the ruler who had forbidden me to
re-enter his Empire on pain of death.

While passing beneath the high, sun-blanched wall of the harem, on my
way to the Hall of Audience, I came face to face with the dwarf Tiamo,
who, on beholding me whom he thought dead, stood petrified.  When I had
reassured him, he briefly explained how he had returned to Azala with
news of my tragic end; how, overwhelmed by bitter grief, she had become
careless of everything, even of her betrothal to the Khalifa.  Hastily I
scribbled a message of reassurance in Arabic to my well-beloved, and the
impish little man hobbled away with it secreted in his gaudy sash, while
I continued my way to crave speech with the autocrat.  After many
formalities, I was allowed to approach the divan, where he sat in his
green silk robe, calmly smoking; but as I advanced his keen eyes
recognised my face, and his brow darkened grimly.

"Well?" he exclaimed in anger, as I bowed the knee before him.  "What
seekest thou?  Have I not already expelled thee from this my kingdom?"

"Yea, O Sultan," I answered.  "But I would have a word with thee in
private.  I desire to impart unto thee a secret."

"Of what?" he inquired, with a quick look of suspicion.

"I have witnessed that which the eyes of men have never before beheld,"
I answered, "I have discovered the Land of the No Return!"

The Sultan started up at my words, and the greatest sensation was
created among his assembled court.  For a moment Azala's father regarded
me keenly; then, uttering a word, waved his hand, signifying his desire
to speak with me in private.  Instantly the crowd of courtiers, slaves,
eunuchs and soldiers retired, and a few minutes later we were alone.

"Well?" he exclaimed, pulling at his bejewelled pipe thoughtfully.
"Explain unto me thy discovery."

Seated on the mat before the royal divan, I told him the whole story;
how Azala had rescued me; how I had reached his daughter a second time,
and my strange quest at her instigation.

When I mentioned the latter his brows knit severely, and displeasure was
betrayed upon his dark face.  Then I related the conversation between
the two conspirators who were plotting to bring about the overthrow of
Sokoto, explained how I had discovered the Rock of the Great Sin, and
described the magnificence and enormous wealth of the kingdom of Ea.  I
told him of my adventures within the mysterious realm, of my captivity
in the hands of Istar, and of the strange wall-picture of Semiramis.

During an hour we conversed together; then, at last, I referred to
Azala's forthcoming journey to Omdurman, and hazarded an opinion that
she should not be united to one who was an enemy of his Empire.  Upon my
words he pondered deeply, slowly stroked his full, dark beard, but made
no response.  Then, not without trepidation, I offered a suggestion.  It
was that, in return for Azala's hand, I would lead his hosts by the
secret way into Ea, and conquer that wealthy country, which could then
be annexed to Sokoto.

He reflected, apparently doubting my ability to lead an expedition of
such magnitude; but after I had explained my previous experiences as a
Dervish soldier, he at last accepted the terms of my offer, and very
soon we had arranged the details.  He would give me, he promised, twenty
thousand men, armed with European rifles, together with all the cannon
which had been captured in a recent campaign against the French, and the
four Maxim guns and ammunition sent to him as a present a few months
before by the Royal Niger Company.  One condition I laid down was, that
I might hold converse with Azala ere I set forth upon the hazardous
undertaking.  To this he raised no voice of dissent, therefore, later
that evening, I spent a joyous hour with my well-beloved in the room I
knew so well.

To describe our meeting is unnecessary.  Suffice it to say that, when
she set eyes upon me, she burst into a torrent of tears.  Long ago had
she mourned for me as one who had lost his life in attempting to fulfil
her wish, and could scarce believe her eyes when Tiamo had given her the
scrap of paper with my message.  I explained my discoveries, my
ambitions, and the generous promise of the Sultan.  Then, after a
protracted interview, I bade her farewell until such time as I could
claim her, and departed with her fond kiss warm upon my lips.

That she watched the preparations hourly from her lattice I knew, but at
sunrise, three days later, all being ready, I set forth at the head of
the Sultan's army.  Tiamo again came with me as body-servant, our
journey over the deserts being of a far different character to when we
had fled like thieves from Kano.  With our green standards flying, and
our bright arms and accoutrements glittering in the sun, ours was a
brilliant cavalcade, every man intensely eager to view the mystic,
unknown land of which story-tellers had told through countless ages.

By forced marches we reached, within six weeks, the Rock of the
Moon-god, our army augmented by thousands of black followers from
Niam-Niam, and, on making careful reconnoissance, I soon discovered the
natural, tunnel-like passage whence I had emerged on escaping from Ea.
Taking with me a strong pioneer party, we thoroughly explored the huge
caverns below, fixed lights in various parts, placed ladders against the
wall of rock over which I had tumbled, and above, at the edge of the
chasm, suspended strong ropes and pulleys for raising cannon, horses,
and heavy material.  This work occupied us four days, but when at length
everything was complete, we found the entrance to the gallery too small
to admit horses and guns.  We therefore blew away the rock with some
dynamite, procured long ago from the Niger traders, and without many
mishaps passed through, and at last gained the fertile Land of the No
Return.

The eagerness of the soldiers of Sokoto and our pagan followers, who had
joined us out of curiosity, to penetrate this strange, legendary land,
knew no bounds, and the excitement on the first night we encamped upon
the grass-plain rose to fever heat.

I had sent forward trusty scouts, attired in the garments of citizens of
Ea, copied from my own, lest we should fall into an ambush, and already
had watchers secreted on the Mountains of the Mist, in full view of the
city we were preparing to surprise.

Well I knew the colossal strength of Ea, "the place with walls
unbreakable," and when addressing the army after we had recited the
sunset prayer that evening, I disguised not the fact that the struggle
must be desperate.

All were, however, undaunted.  Each man announced his readiness to go
forward, bent on conquest.

CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

DOOM.

Our assault upon Ea was sudden and unexpected.  Under cover of night we
cautiously advanced on our last march, and having placed our guns in
position, halted in readiness.  From the high summit of the Temple of
the Seven Lights the unquenchable Eye of Istar still streamed, white and
brilliant.  The giant city was ablaze with lights, as if for another
festival, and at first sight of this colossal centre of a forgotten
civilisation the soldiers, awestricken, feared that our expedition
against such a gigantic fortress was foredoomed to failure.

Before commencing the attack, however, I urged them to valiant deeds,
repeating those words from our Koran which have given heart to Moslem
armies ever since the days of the Prophet--"If there be a hundred of you
that persevere with constancy, they shall overcome two hundred; and if
there be a thousand of you they shall overcome two thousand, by the
permission of Allah; for Allah is with those who persevere.  It hath not
been granted unto any prophet that he should possess captives until he
had made a great slaughter of the infidels in the earth.  Allah is
mighty and wise."

After many bows and genuflections, my companions rose, and, mounting,
spurred forth, in readiness to their posts.  In silence half-an-hour
went by, when, by prearranged signal, six of the French guns loaded with
explosive shell suddenly crashed forth, at the same instant, sending
their deadly missiles right into the centre of the city, almost as far
as Istar's palace.  We listened.  The sound of the explosions echoed
weirdly among the misty heights above.

With such infinite care had we approached that this signal was the first
notification received by the people of Ea of the presence of enemies.
The instant the cannons had roared forth, our great storming parties
spurred across the plain to certain of the city gates, armed with
engines for battering them in, and charges of dynamite for blowing them
into air.  So well guarded, however, were those gigantic walls that, ere
our squadrons could reach the gates, they were assailed by withering
showers of arrows and spears.  Indeed, a moment after we had sent our
first shells into the city, the high, frowning battlements seemed alive
with defenders.  Volleys of stones from ancient catapults were showered
on every hand, while bowmen, from the slits in the flanking towers,
discharged upon us a deadly arrow storm.

Our black contingent, with their long bows and poisoned arrows, quickly
turned their attention upon the archers of Ea.  Expert marksmen these
pagans were, and at this moment proved themselves of the utmost value.
Each soldier who showed himself upon the high walls was picked off with
an aim unerring by our archers, behind whom were the well-drilled
soldiers of the Sultan making careful shots with their rifles, and away
upon the high ground at the rear the cannons kept up their thunder, each
shell bursting and spreading terrible devastation within the city.  The
constant explosion of shells and firearms appalled the defenders beyond
measure, for this was their first knowledge of the art of modern
warfare, and, as I afterwards learned, it was believed that because
gunpowder was used by us that Anu himself, the dread god of Destruction,
was directing us, and against him they were powerless.  Nevertheless,
the pugilistic spirit was still fierce within the hearts of those
descendants of the valiant hosts of Semiramis, and they fought
desperately for the defence of their capital and their goddess-queen.
In the lurid glare, shed by the fires caused by our shells, we could
discern huge, cranelike machines mounted on the walls, discharging at us
arrows and volleys of stones, while other ancient mechanical
contrivances emptied upon our scaling parties great caldrons of boiling
pitch or water.

Throughout that well-remembered night we kept up a continuous and
galling hail of lead upon the city, but with little effect save that,
time after time, we swept away hundreds of soldiers from the walls and
caused conflagrations in every quarter, the majority of our force
remaining safely beyond the narrow zone of the defender's fire.  As dawn
crept on, times without number our scaling parties attempted to fix
their ladders of rope and cane, but on each occasion were hurled back,
leaving many of their number dead or dying.  The sun rose.  Arrows and
javelins fell thick and fast, while, from plain and hill, we poured a
continuous and deadly shower of death-dealing missiles over those
ponderous, time-worn walls.  The hundred enormous brazen gates resisted
every attempt of those of our men who dashed forward to batter them in.
Their thickness and strength were colossal.  Whole parties of the young
and dauntless, who rushed across the plain up to the very walls,
dark-faced and determined, were sometimes swept into eternity even to
the last man, by the frightful showers of jagged arrows and sharp flint
stones discharged from catapults.

Noon came.  The breathless hours passed but slowly.  Hundreds of our
soldiers and pagan followers were stretched dead, yet, with the
exception of causing a few alarming conflagrations within the city, we
seemed to achieve but little progress towards victory.  Our ability to
project our missiles to far greater distance than the defenders was of
greatest advantage, and our losses in these earlier hours of the siege
were never serious.

Towards sundown, after a long and toilsome day, we decided to make a
sudden and vigorous assault, with our advance covered by artillery in
our rear.  The military tactics of the soldiers of Sokoto were perhaps
primitive as compared with European standards; nevertheless, our men, at
the roll of the war drums, dashed forward in force to make a strenuous
and frantic endeavour to enter the ancient, mysterious capital.  Yet we
met again an opposition so terrific that some of our squadrons fell back
appalled, while others were literally riddled by arrows from the
battlements.  Long and valiantly we fought to batter down the gates or
scale the walls, but without avail.  Stones, bullets, spears and boiling
liquids fell in showers upon us from every point.  Many fell dead or
mortally wounded upon the sand, and it appeared as though the remainder
would be wiped out, until, with one accord, they beat a hasty retreat,
followed by the cheers and yells of the defenders.

This reverse almost disheartened us.

Each moment the conflict increased in vigour.  Although the soldiers of
Ea possessed no firearms, the defence they made was of a character
desperate and remarkable.  From every point our guns blazed away with
monotonous regularity, and our rifles flashed everywhere, yet we seemed
not to effect the slightest impression upon that city of colossal
strength.  Every turret, every battlement, shed showers of arrows and
sharp stones which inflicted terribly painful wounds, while, in reply,
our pagan allies let loose their flights of poisoned darts with unerring
and deliberate aim.

Once an arrow struck me in the forearm, but, fortunately, inflicted only
a slight wound; yet almost at the same moment Tiamo, who was standing
beside me, unfortunately received another dart, which caught him full in
the throat and stuck quivering there.  Instantly I recognised the
terrible nature of the wound, and knew it must prove fatal, as, alas! it
did ere our savage assault terminated.  Now that we had advanced within
the range of the defender's fire, our loss of life was becoming serious.
By the tragic end of the dwarf I had lost a sincere and genuine friend,
and Azala a devoted slave.  I had, however, but short space to keep
beside him, as my presence was urgently required elsewhere.  Therefore,
with a few words of comfort, I was compelled to leave him and ascend to
where the guns were thundering.

The afterglow was burning in the sky, when, looking forward, I
discerned, standing upon the wall, Istar herself, white-robed, with
streaming, unbound hair.  Her arms were upraised as if in the act of
encouraging her men, and directing the defence.

I chanced to be standing beside one of those deadly, rapid-firing guns
captured from the French, and, as I looked, our gunners sighted their
weapon.

"See!" cried one.  "That woman there!  A little lower.  Now!"

Instantly the gun crashed forth.  Next second there was a flash of fire
upon the battlement where Istar had stood, and when the dust and smoke
cleared a few moments later a breach in the wall showed that the shell
had blown to atoms everything within its reach.

It seemed absolutely certain that the woman who had held me captive must
have been killed instantaneously.  If she had escaped, it was little
short of marvellous.

Daylight faded, evening crept on, still our bombardment continued with
unceasing vigour.  None of us had appeased our hunger since long before
dawn, and few had been able to snatch a draught from their waterskins.
Darkness fell, and the stars appeared through the choking smoke clouds,
clear cut as gems, when suddenly, to the astonishment of all, the long
shaft of white light, kept burning night and day at the summit of the
Temple of Love, increased in brilliancy, streaming over the city and
plain.  Our enemies now used it as a search-light, such as I had seen on
the battleships in the bay of Algiers, and thus were they enabled to
narrowly watch our movements.

Nevertheless, we were able after considerable effort to outwit them,
for, the fire from the walls having slackened as darkness prevailed, we
sent a large body again forward, our reinforcements standing formed up
in a huge square in readiness.  The squadron sent as pioneers were all
picked men, who, like myself, had seen battle in many parts of Africa,
and were determined to bring matters to a crisis.  Quickly and
noiselessly they sped forth, and were lost in the darkness.  While our
main body harassed the defenders and kept them fully engaged, these men
worked their way silently towards the great gate through which my
captors had led me when I had been taken prisoner.  Fully half-an-hour
elapsed without a sign.  Standing, with eyes strained in the direction
they had taken, I began to fear they had met with disaster.  Indeed, I
had already given orders to two scouts to ride forward and bring back
report, when suddenly there was a bright, blinding flash.  The very
earth was shaken by a terrific, deafening explosion, followed instantly
by a second report which awakened the echoes of the mountains far and
wide.

Almost the next moment a great tongue of flame shot up behind the city
wall, revealing the reassuring fact that the gate, with its huge
flanking towers manned by hundreds of the defenders, had been entirely
demolished, and that a great fire had been started.  Loud, exultant
shouts rose from every throat when this truth became realised.  Our
war-drums rolled loudly, our heavy guns were silenced, and instantly,
ten thousand well-armed and valiant men dashed forward to spring through
the breach and enter the gigantic city.  I headed them, but at the ruins
of the gate we found that half the number of the brave ones who had so
effectively used the dynamite had been slaughtered, and that a huge,
compact body of troops had massed within, determined to resist our
advance.  Hence we were compelled to fight hand-to-hand, while engines
of war, like the ancient mangonels and ballistae, worked over our heads,
laying us low by dozens.  A hundred stratagems we had already practised,
but to no avail, therefore, we determined upon taking the city by sheer
force.  In numbers, we were vastly inferior to the defenders, but sight
of our firearms held them terrified.

The _melee_ among the heaped ruins of that ponderous gate was frightful.
Bigotry, revenge, love of loot, and all the voices that unite to hurry
men to evil, pressed us forward at this crisis time.  Veterans, who had
fought in all the desperate battles with the French towards the Niger
bank, and away beyond Lake Tsad, were not to be disheartened.  They were
desperate and furious.

Still the defenders held out.  Their ranks presented the appearance of a
wall of lowered spears.

While we strove on, fearing that this last bold venture might fail, a
loud rattling like musketry sounded in front of us.  Instantly I knew
the truth.  One of our Maxim guns had at last been brought into play.

The effect of that most deadly of modern weapons was appalling.  Thrice
it spat out its leaden hail, sweeping along the lines of spearmen from
end to end.  Then, with loud, fierce yells of triumph, we poured into
the city over the heaps of bullet-riddled bodies, fighting amid a chaos
of writhing limbs, gashed faces and bleeding, trampled humanity.

Thus, we at last passed the high masses of Babylonian masonry, which had
once seemed so dark, sheer and impregnable, and dashed forward into the
mystic capital of Ea, engaging the defenders hand-to-hand in every hole
and corner, while our comrades, having witnessed our success, sped on
after us great bodies of reinforcements, against whom it was impossible
for either citizens or soldiers to struggle.  The darkness of night was
dispelled by the red glare of the fires, as the incendiary's brand was
applied to wooden structures, while the curses of the vanquished mingled
with wails of the dying and shouts of the victors.

The carnage was frightful.

After an hour's desperate street fighting, during which time my garments
were torn from off my back in shreds, the defenders began to cry for
quarter, but, although we granted it, our black allies, drunk with the
frenzy of battle, refused to show mercy, and hundreds of those who had
defended their homes so bravely were impaled by spears, or laid low by
poisoned darts.  Many were the ghastly scenes I witnessed, as, amid that
terrible massacre of the vanquished, we pressed on in force towards the
dazzling House of the Raising of the Head.  Again we met with a
determined opposition, which cost us considerable loss ere we could
break it down and ascend the long flight of steps to the palace itself.
On gaining the top, I rushed forward, at the head of the storming party,
into the great pavilion, with its sculptured walls, and was amazed to
find it deserted.

Alone, I dashed away across court after court, until I reached the
entrance of the great hall, wherein stood the crystal throne.  Without
ceremony I tore aside the heavy curtain and entered.

Istar, who had, by some almost miraculous circumstance, escaped
destruction on the city-wall, was lounging upon her seat of royalty, her
beautiful face pale as death, her teeth firm set, and in her eyes a look
of unutterable dread.  All her brilliant court had deserted her and
fled, leaving her alone to face her enemies.

As I entered, her gaze met mine, and she rose to her feet with slow
hauteur.  I advanced to seize her, but, raising her shapely, trembling
hand, she screamed, "Stand back, thou son of Anu!  Stand back!"

"Thou art now my captive!"  I shouted, halting an instant before
ascending the steps of polished silver.

She clenched her teeth, held her breath, and trembled.  With a quick
movement, she raised her left hand and placed it against her velvet
cheek.  Next instant, I saw a tiny streak of blood trickle down upon the
strings of jewels which adorned her neck.

Then, horrified, I noticed that in her hand there writhed a small black
asp of the most venomous species.  She had placed its flat head against
her cheek and deliberately allowed it to bite her.

"What hast thou done?"  I cried, aghast.

"I, Istar, will never be taken captive!" she answered, with imperious
gesture.  "Thou hast brought thine accursed hosts within my kingdom,
broken down my walls, burnt the Temple of Baal, and entered this my
palace to sack it and break down the foundation-stones of my fathers.
Therefore thou shalt, at least, have no satisfaction in securing me."

She swayed slightly, and from her grasp the small reptile wriggled and
fell upon the polished pavement, hissing viciously.

I knew she was doomed, and made a movement to ascend the steps.

"Ah! don't touch me!" she shrieked wildly, her wealth of unbound hair
falling in profusion about her shoulders.  "Canst thou not see that the
asp's poison is fatal?" she gasped hoarsely, her face, with its ugly
streak of blood, a ghastly hue.  "Anu hath seized my kingdom.  Merodach
hath forsaken me.  See!" she cried with difficulty, reeling and
clutching for support at the arm of her glittering throne.  "See!  I
leave thee!  The word of the prophet--is fulfilled!"

Her thin, blanched lips moved, but no further sound escaped them.  Her
face was drawn and haggard, her limbs were convulsed by icy shiverings,
and her bejewelled fingers, hitching themselves in her filmy garments,
tore them in a paroxysm of pain as the deadly venom throbbed through her
blue veins.

She glared at me with a ferocity that showed how desperate she was.

But only for a moment.  Her nerveless hand refused to support her, and,
staggering forward unevenly, she suddenly threw up her shapely arms,
with a wild, shrill shriek, and fell heavily forward upon the pavement
before the ancient throne of Babylon's queen.

I dashed up to where she had fallen, and, bending, raised her fair head
and placed my hand upon her white scarred breast.

Her heart had ceased its beating.  Istar, the direct descendant of
Semiramis, the beautiful woman worshipped as goddess and queen, was
dead.

I rose and stood gazing upon her lifeless, prostrate form.  Horror held
me dumb.  Yet I was conqueror of the most ancient and remarkable city in
the world.

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.

THE TALISMAN.

With lightning speed the news of Istar's death spread from mouth to
mouth throughout Ea, and all opposition to our occupation quickly
ceased.  Priests, eunuchs, populace and soldiery regarded our entry, and
the death of their goddess-queen, as the fulfilment of the dreaded curse
of Anu, and openly declared that to fight against the decree of the
great Destroyer, supreme on earth, was utterly futile.  Hence the Moslem
hosts, acknowledging me as leader, poured into every part of the
once-impregnable city, and proceeded to seek suitable quarters in the
best residences and in the House of the Raising of the Head, the wonders
of which held them entranced.

During the first few hours the soldiers of the Sultan, with that inborn
love of loot which has characterised every Arab man-at-arms since the
days of the Prophet, sacked the houses of the wealthy, and would have
wrecked the palace of Istar had I not taken precautions, threatening
that any discovered pilfering would be cast into the lion-pit without
ado.  By dint of most strenuous exertion I thus managed to preserve the
palace intact, but our <DW64> allies, on entering the city, intoxicated
by success, had at once become entirely beyond control, and I fear that
many citizens and their property fared badly at their pagan hands.

As soon as I had arranged for an efficient guard in every hall
throughout the great palace, and had taken precautions to confine the
soldiers of Ea in one quarter of the city, lest they should return to
resume the defensive, I ascended to the Temple of Love, and there, in
presence of three of my chief officers, extinguished that great light
called the Eye of Istar, as sign of my complete conquest of Queen and
people.

The seething populace of Ea, when they saw that the light which had
burned uninterruptedly for ages no longer shone, regarded its failure as
sign that Shamas and Merodach had for ever forsaken them, and that city
and people had, by Istar's death, been given over to the designs of Anu,
the dreaded, and his evil hosts.  They remained inert, cowed, trembling.
The luxurious Temple of Love, with its worn statue of the goddess,
presented the same appearance as it had done on that memorable night
after the Feast of Tammuz, when the Queen slept while I had watched in
silence.  Her couch, with its purple cushions, was tumbled, as if she
had recently lain there, and the fresh offerings of food and wine at the
foot of the statue showed that votaries had recently ascended to
prostrate themselves in conformity with the rigid law of Semiramis.

Leaning over the balustrade, I stood gazing down in wonder at the
magnificence of the city I had conquered, and watching the breaking of
the dawn.  Paper being brought at my command, I sat down and wrote a
report to the Sultan, urging him to come and witness his mysterious,
newly-acquired possession, and at the same time claiming Azala's hand.
To my well-beloved also I wrote a message of affection, and these I
dispatched in charge of six trusty messengers, who had acted as scouts,
with orders to speed on the wings of haste back to Kano.

As I again looked down upon the terraces and courts an imam from the
Fada at Kano came forward, and placing himself at my side, raised his
arms and uttered, in a firm, loud voice, our call to prayer.

Thus, for the first time in the history of Ea, was the Temple of the
Seven Lights used as mosque, and the name of Allah uttered from its high
minaret.  Thrice he shouted, with all his might, those well-known words
which cause the Faithful to bend the knee towards the Holy City wherever
they may be, and the soldiers lounging about the courts below, hearing
it, prostrated themselves and recited their thanks to the One Merciful
with heartfelt fervency.  Verily Allah is endued with indulgence towards
mankind; but the greater part of them are not thankful.

At first, as representative of the Sultan, there was much to occupy me;
but the people, finding our rule unoppressive, quickly became
well-disposed towards us, and soon, the defenders being disarmed, my
task was rendered easy.  Then day followed day--bright, sunny, indolent,
never-to-be-forgotten days of waiting in patience for the coming of the
Sultan.

The high-priests of the Temple of the Seven Lights undertook the
obsequies of their dead Queen, which they carried out with great pomp
and ceremony, the body being carried by twelve vestal virgins to the
summit of the tower and there cremated, the ashes being afterwards cast
to the winds amid the singing of hymns to the Moon-god and much weeping
and wailing.  Still, the fact that upon my breast was a mark exactly
identical with the one she had borne puzzled me, and during the long
period of waiting for the arrival of the Sultan 'Othman I used every
endeavour to discover some elucidation of the mystery.  Soon I grew
impatient, and ofttimes wandered alone through the magnificent courts,
plunged deep in oppressive thoughts.  The non-arrival of the Sultan
caused me serious apprehension that, during our absence, the Khalifa had
attacked Kano.  If so, I feared for the safety of Azala.  To distract my
attention from the one subject which occupied me both by night and by
day I applied myself diligently to the study of the gigantic
wall-sculptures and inscriptions, and succeeded in deciphering some
exceedingly interesting records of the luxury in which lived Semiramis
and her successors.

The treasures we discovered within the palace were enormous.  Jewels of
great price, which had belonged to the founder of Babylon herself,
golden ornaments of every kind, many of that antique design shown in the
wall-pictures, dishes and drinking-vessels of gold, golden armour,
bejewelled breastplates, and swords with hilts set with magnificent gems
were stored in great profusion in the spacious vaults below the palace,
while the ornaments worn by priests, priestesses and high functionaries
in the daily exercise of their religious duties, were all of amazing
worth.  Besides these treasures of gems and gold, we discovered a vault
filled to overflowing with the records of the dead monarchs of Ea,
cylinders and square cakes of sun-dried clay, with cuneiform
inscriptions impressed upon them by the hands of scribes who had lived
three thousand years ago.  In later centuries it appeared that a kind of
papyrus had been used by the inhabitants of this world-forgotten
kingdom, nevertheless, all the earlier records had been impressed upon
clay or chipped on stones in like manner to those discovered beneath the
mounds where once stood the giant cities of Nineveh and Babylon.
Through many weeks I occupied myself with them, the result of my
investigations having been recently given to the world in the form of
two substantial volumes published in Paris.

One day, while engaged in translating a record of the historic victory
of Semiramis over the Ethiopians, neatly impressed upon a hollow
cylinder of white clay, the commander of the guard entered hastily with
the glad tidings that the cavalcade of the Sultan was actually within
sight, and half-an-hour later I received the great 'Othman and his
daughter in the glittering throne-room where first I had encountered the
Queen whose beauty had been amazing.

The Sultan's reception was wildly enthusiastic.  War-drums rolled, the
conquering green banners of Al-Islam waved in the brilliant sunshine,
and the soldiers of Sokoto, who had fought so valiantly, were cheered
again and again by the great escort of their autocratic ruler.  Even the
vanquished citizens of Ea lost their sullenness, and having found our
rule beneficent and devoid of the harsh oppression they had anticipated,
united in applauding the conqueror.

Amid ringing cheers he entered the magnificent hall wherein the
luxurious Istar had held sway, and, greeting him at the steps of the
throne, I motioned to him to ascend to the royal seat of prismatic
crystal.  This he did, and in obedience to his desire, Azala and myself
followed, standing by him at either hand.

Then, when quiet had, with difficulty, been restored, he addressed those
present in congratulatory terms, thanking Allah for the success of our
arms, and turning to myself, publicly declared me worthy the hand of his
daughter Azala.

This announcement was followed by thunders of applause.  Outside,
firearms were discharged, cannons roared, and news of our betrothal
spread away into every corner of the city.

When again the Sultan could obtain a hearing, he added that, having
discovered this mysterious kingdom hitherto unknown, it was but just
that its rule should be given into my hands.  Henceforward, he said, I
was Governor of Ea, and as soon as arrangements could be made for
fitting marriage festivity I should be wedded to Azala.  Advancing to
the woman I loved, we clasped hands joyously, and her eyes met mine with
an expression full of tender passion.  Then, turning to the Sultan, I
acknowledged his gracious bounty, and declared that now I had Azala at
my side I would spend the remainder of my life in his service as
Governor of this new, far-removed portion of his Empire.

Azala, too, in musical voice, trembling slightly with emotion, declared
that I had successfully fought a fight that few would have attempted,
and others united to heap praise upon me of so laudatory a character
that I confess to entertaining a desire for its cessation.

After a protracted audience, the Sultan made sign that he wished to be
alone, and when all had withdrawn, except my betrothed and myself, he
turned to me, saying--

"Of a verity, Zafar, thou hast fought a valiant fight.  Strange it is
that thou returnest to that which is thine own."

"How?"  I inquired, puzzled at his words.

"Thou bearest the Mark of the Asps," he answered.

"The same symbol was borne by Istar," I said.  "I discovered it while
she slept."

"Upon my breast also is the mark," Azala observed.

"The mysterious emblem hath, of course, puzzled thee," the Sultan said,
smiling as he addressed me.  "Azala hath ofttimes asked its meaning, but
I have rendered no explanation until now.  Because thou art betrothed
unto my daughter, it is but fitting that I should make explanation.
Thou hast witnessed the symbol upon the foundation-stone of Semiramis,
and I have to-day learned that Istar, as represented in image at the
summit of the Seven Lights, beareth in her hand the asps entwined.  The
Mark of the Asps is the Babylonian sign of royal sonship, the symbol
with which the first-born of every ruler since Semiramis hath been
branded."

"But how came I to bear the mark?"  I inquired, eagerly.

"Thou hast heard the oft-repeated story of the man who, long ages ago,
before the great earthquake, succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the
guards at the Rock of the Great Sin, and escaped into our world."

"Yea.  I have often pondered deeply over that legendary tale," I
replied.

"It was no legend," he asserted.  "One man did actually escape from Ea.
He was son of the reigning queen, and bore upon his breast a mark
identical with thine.  Far and wide he travelled over the Great Desert,
and obeying the injunction of his ancestor, seared with a white-hot iron
the mystic symbol upon his eldest son.  Thus through many generations
was the Mark of the Asps placed upon the breast of the eldest child of
either sex, until a legend became rife that ill would befall the family
if that mark were not impressed.  For ages the practice, descended from
father to child, until it came to thy father, who branded thee."

"My father!"  I cried.  "Surely he was not a lineal descendant of the
Queens of Ea!"

"He was.  Thy father and myself were brothers, but early in life we
parted in Constantine, I to the south, where I met with many adventures,
becoming commander-in-chief of the army of Sokoto, and subsequently
being placed upon the royal divan as Sultan.  Some years after parting
with thy father I heard that he was dead, and, unaware that he had a
son, I, desiring to perpetuate the family legend, impressed upon the
breast of Azala the mark that thou hast witnessed."

"Then it is now easy to account for thine amazement at finding the mark
upon the breast of myself, thy captive in Kano," I observed, smiling.

"I had never dreamed of thine existence, and as it was alleged that evil
would accrue if the mark of royalty were placed on any but the person
entitled to it, I banished thee, in fear, from my kingdom," he replied.
"After I had sent thee out of Sokoto I became seized with regret, and
used every endeavour to rediscover thee, but without avail.  Meanwhile,
it seemeth that thou wert beloved of thy cousin Azala, and wert striving
to elucidate the mystery.  Thine efforts have at last been crowned by
success, and assuredly the expressions of good-will I have uttered
towards thee are genuine."

"I accept them," I answered, amazed at this unexpected revelation.
"Thou art brother of my father, and I thy nephew."

"It is but just that thou shouldst rule over Ea," Azala said, laughing
joyously, after she had explained that the marvels she had revealed in
Kano in order to impress me were produced, as I had suspected, by
mechanical means.  "The mark was branded upon me under the
misapprehension that thou didst not exist.  But in thee, the Unknown, I
have found a husband; and Ea, thine estate by right, a conqueror and
ruler."

"Hast thou still an amulet thy father gavest unto thee before his
death?" the Sultan asked, presently.

"I have," I answered, placing my hand beneath my silken robe, and
drawing therefrom the small bag of soft kid-skin I had worn for years
suspended, with other talismans, about my neck.

"Open it, and let us gaze upon it."

I obeyed, and drew from the well-worn charm-case a small, cylindrical
seal of chalcedony.  It was of ancient design, like those discovered by
Layard, the Englishman, in the mounds at Nimroud, about the length of
the little finger, semi-transparent and blue almost as the morning sky,
drilled from end to end with a hole, to allow its suspension from the
neck.

"Yea," said the Sultan, taking it from my hand, and examining it with
greatest care.  "Thou hast truly preserved intact the relic which hath
been in our family through countless generations.  Now will I reveal
unto thee its strange secret."

"What secret doth it contain?"  I asked, glancing at it eagerly.

"Upon it are words," he answered, "but so minute is the inscription that
only by placing it in the sun's rays, and watching the shadows, can the
inequalities of its surface be detected.  Come hither."

He rose, and we followed him across the great, empty hall to where the
sunlight streamed full through an aperture in the high, gilded roof.
Then, placing the cylinder upon a small, golden stool, inlaid with
amethysts, that Istar had used as a table, he told me to examine it and
say what words were thereon inscribed.  At first I could detect nothing,
but presently, by placing it at a certain angle, I could detect that its
surface was entirely covered by an inscription in cuneiform character,
so minute that none would dream of its existence.  Only by allowing the
sun's rays to fall at a certain angle across the blue stone could the
tiny rows of arrowheads be deciphered, but after a long examination,
with the Sultan and Azala eagerly gazing over my shoulder, I was at
length enabled to gain the knowledge it imparted.

The first portion of the ancient inscription was a brief supplication,
in the picturesque language of Assyria, to Istar, Goddess of Love,
followed by a statement that the stone itself was the talisman of
Semiramis, founder of Babylon, who had decreed that her son should bear
the royal mark upon his breast in such a form as should be indelible,
and that the firstborn of the royal line should be branded in the same
manner by an iron heated until it glowed white.  There was a tiny sketch
of the symbol, together with full directions as to the manner in which
the flesh must be seared, and the whole concluded with an exhortation to
Merodach to preserve the bearer of the talisman, and a fervent prayer to
Baal, head-father and creator of the universe.  At the end was the
signature of some scribe, and appended the seal of Semiramis herself.

This strange historic talisman had, I recollected, been carried by my
father in all his travels, and on his deathbed he had bequeathed it to
me, with strict injunctions never to part with it, as it secured its
wearer immunity from disease or violent death.  Around my neck I had
carried it through all the fights against the English in the Soudan, and
during all the long and toilsome journeys which I have related.  Now it
had explained to me a secret so strange that, without its unimpeachable
evidence, I could never have credited the truth.

Again and again I re-read the curious inscription, graven by a hand that
must have crumbled into dust more than four thousand years ago; then,
witnessing Azala's great interest in it, I tenderly placed my hand
around her jewel-begirt waist and kissed her.

The Sultan smiled benignly, and telling me to mount the steps, and seat
myself upon the crystal throne that was my birthright, he gave orders
for the curtains to be drawn aside so that those assembled might witness
the high position to which I had been exalted.

The Sultan, again mounting the steps of polished silver, addressed the
brilliantly attired crowd, explaining briefly that I was the direct
descendant of the founder of that kingdom; that upon my breast I bore
the mystic Mark of the Asps; and that, in my hand, I held the long-lost
talisman of Semiramis, which ages ago had been carried away to the outer
world by the adventurous son of Istar who made his escape and never
returned.  It was, he declared, but meet that I should occupy the
crystal throne whereon had lounged the languid, luxurious queens through
so many centuries, a statement which won the loud and long-continued
plaudits of the multitude.

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.

CONCLUSION.

That night I wandered through the ancient, gigantic palace, hand-in-hand
with my well-beloved, pointing out its many marvels, explaining the
curious inscriptions upon its colossal foundation-stones, and, taking
her to the summit of the Temple of the Seven Lights, showed her the
giant city by night.  Happy were we in each other's love; yet happier
still when, seven days later, amid feasting and merry-making, that was
continued throughout a whole moon, we were made man and wife.  Our rule
has, I believe, found favour with the people.  We fear not invasion nor
rebellion, because our impregnable country is still the Land of the No
Return, at any moment when we choose to block the one single gate by
which it may be entered.

As Prince of Ea I have complete control of its ancient treasures, and at
Azala's instigation have sent many wall-sculptures, and other relics of
interest, to various national museums in the European capitals.  To
Paris I sent a colossal block of black stone, strangely sculptured,
representing the great feast held by Semiramis after she had built the
walls of Ea, which she declared unbreakable.  To Vienna we dispatched
the stone, triangular altar of the Fire-god, Gibil, which stood at the
entrance of the House of Lustre.  To Berlin went a conical stone,
bearing a beautiful hymn to Baal in well-preserved cuneiform character;
and to the British Museum, in London, an institution to which my father
had sent many relics he had collected, I presented a collection of
ancient gems, among them being the little chalcedony cylinder, in order
that all should be enabled to inspect the strange heirloom, the
possession of which led to the discovery of a long-forgotten
civilisation.

The visitor to England's national collection of antiquities may discover
it in the Assyrian Room, reposing upon its tiny cushion of purple
velvet, fashioned from the papakha of the Goddess of Love, the couch of
Istar, a mute relic of one of the greatest monarchs the world has ever
known.  Before it a neat black tablet, with gold lettering, gives a
translation of the injunction regarding the placing on the breast of the
first-born the device known as the Mark of the Asps, together with a
statement as to its date.  Many, perhaps, have seen it during the past
twelve months, but none know its real history, which I have here written
for the first time.  After reading this record they may possibly linger
before the case containing it a trifle longer, and reflect upon the
curious chain of incidents which caused the ragged, wandering Dervish,
who carried it forgotten in his charm-case, to become ruler of a land
the existence of which was hitherto unknown, and to secure as wife the
sweetest woman his eyes had ever beheld.

With Azala as my wife, mine is a life of happiness unalloyed.  Of a
verity ours is a rose-garden of peace.  The only murmur of discontent
ever heard within our kingdom is because the shaft of white brilliance
no longer shines to remind the vanquished of the cruel but beautiful
queen they idolised as Goddess of Love, and to give them promise of
freedom from the Moslem yoke.  But the light that had shone on
uninterruptedly through forty centuries has never burned since that
memorable night when I quenched it, and never will again.

Its extinguishment was emblematic of my complete conquest of the Land of
the No Return.  I have closed for all time the ever-vigilant Eye of
Istar.

The End.






End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eye of Istar, by William Le Queux

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