Title: Fugitive Anne, A Romance of the Unexplored Bush
Author: Rosa Praed
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Language: English
Date first posted: September 2006
Date most recently updated: September 2006

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Fugitive Anne, A Romance of the Unexplored Bush
Rosa Praed




Part I



Chapter I--The Closed Cabin



IT was between nine and ten in the morning on board the Eastern and
Australasian passenger boat Leichardt, which was steaming in a
southerly direction over a calm, tropical sea between the Great
Barrier Reef and the north-eastern shores of Australia. The boat was
expected to arrive at Cooktown during the night, having last stopped
at the newly-established station on Thursday Island.

This puts time back a little over twenty years.

The passengers' cabins on board the Leichardt opened for the most
part off the saloon. Here, several people were assembled, for
excitement had been aroused by the fact that the door of Mrs Bedo's
cabin was locked, and that she had not been seen since the previous
day.

Mrs Bedo was the only first-class lady passenger on the Leichardt.

Three men stood close to her cabin door. These were Captain Cass, the
captain of the Leichardt; the ship's doctor, and Mr Elias Bedo, the
lady's husband. Just behind these three, leaning on the back of a
chair which was fixed to the cabin table, stood another man evidently
interested in the matter, but as evidently, having no official claim
to such interest. This man was a big Dane, tall, muscular, and
determined-looking, with a short fair beard and moustache, high cheek-
bones, and extremely clear, brilliant, blue eyes. Eric Hansen was his
name, and he was also a first-class passenger. Further, he was a
scientist, bound on a mission of exploration in regard to Australian
fauna, on which he had been dispatched by a learned society in his own
country.

At the other side of the table, opposite the Dane, and apparently
interested too, in the affair of Mrs Bedo's locked door, stood an
Australian black boy in European dress--that is, in a steward's dress
of white linen, with a napkin in his hand; for it had happened that
Kombo, Mr and Mrs Bedo's aboriginal servant, had, with the permission
of his master and mistress, taken the place of a Chinese boy,
temporarily disabled by a malarial fever. These people were at the
upper end of the saloon, near which was Mrs Bedo's cabin. At the lower
end, the remaining passengers, with the purser and another steward,
had congregated. The passengers were few; a Javanese shipping agent, a
Catholic priest, a person connected with telegraphs, and two or three
bushmen on their way back from Singapore or Europe, as the case might
be. These were all waiting, with gaping mouths and open eyes, for the
tragedy which they imagined would be disclosed. For it was openly
suspected on board, that Mrs Bedo disliked and feared her husband.

Mr Bedo had been knocking violently at the cabin door, but no answer
was returned. He was a coarse, powerful person, with an ill-featured
face, a sinewy throat, and great, brawny hands. He had started in life
as a bullock--driver and was now a rich man, having struck gold in the
early days of Charters Towers Diggings--before, indeed, Charters
Towers had become officially established.

"Something must have happened," said the doctor. "Hadn't we better--
?" and he waited, looking at the Captain.

"There's nothing for it but to break open the door," said Captain
Cass.

"Try it, Mr Bedo."

Elias Bedo put his huge shoulders against the wooden panelling, and
as the Captain moved aside, the big Dane stepped forward, and laid his
shoulders--smaller, but even more powerful than Bedo's--also against
the white door. There was a crash; the door fell inward, and Bedo
entered, the Captain following.

The Dane had drawn back again, and the doctor, about to follow,
paused, seeing that Captain Cass pushed back the door, and drew the
curtain within, across the opening.

Every word, however, uttered within the cabin could be heard by those
immediately outside.

A coarse oath broke from Mr Bedo's lips.

"--She's gone."

"What do you mean?" said the Captain, in the sharp tone of alarm
which heralds calamity.

"Can't you see?" cried the husband, in a voice more infuriated than
despair-stricken. "I've always told you that those window-ports are
dangerous. It would be nothing for a thin man, let alone a girl, to
creep through that one. Damn her! I was a fool to let her have a cabin
to herself. She has gone overboard, and swum ashore."

"That's impossible," said the Captain, curtly.

"How is it impossible?" said the husband. "Anne Marley was a northern
girl, born and bred on the sea-coast. She knows every sort of water
dodge, and can swim like a fish."

"That may be," replied the Captain, "but Mrs Bedo has been three
years in England, and must be out of practice in swimming. And why--?"
The Captain paused dramatically, and straightly eyed Elias Bedo. "Why,
Mr Bedo, should your wife risk her life in swimming ashore? Was it
because she wanted to get away from you?"

Elias Bedo scowled for a moment, and did not speak.

"Well," he said presently, "I suppose that most of the chaps on board
have noticed that my wife is a bit cracky--a shingle loose, as we say
in the Bush." He looked shiftily at the Captain, who made no reply.
For he, as well as others on board, had remarked Mrs Bedo's silent,
solitary ways, and had thought her a little eccentric, though everyone
had attributed what was odd and unsociable in her manner to her
obvious unhappiness. Mr Bedo went on, "I don't mean that her being
queer, as you may say, is anything to her discredit. Women get like
that sometimes, and it passes. I've had doctors' advice, and that's
what I was told. It made no difference to me, except that I've known I
must look after her. And that's why I say that I was a damned fool to
let her have a cabin to herself. It was your doing, Cass; she got
round you, and if harm has come to her, you'll have to answer for it."
He turned furiously to the Captain, who met his angry gaze with
unabashed eyes, making a little jerky movement of his chin.

"Very well," said the Captain, "I'm quite ready to answer for my
share in the business, which is simple enough. When I have one lady
passenger, and more cabins than are wanted, I naturally give the lady
her choice. Mrs Bedo asked for a cabin on the cool side of the ship,
and I gave it her. It was the only amends I could make for letting
that rascally Chinaman cheat me at Singapore, so that we were put on
short commons with the ice. But abusing me, Mr Bedo, won't help you to
find your wife. She's on this ship, or she isn't; and if she is,
there's no need for you to suppose she isn't."

Silence followed, except for the noise of pulled out drawers, and
the metallic sound of curtains being drawn along brass rods, which
proclaimed to those outside, that Mr Bedo was searching the cabin lest
his wife should lie concealed in berth or locker. After a few moments,
the Captain was heard again.

"There's another thing you've got to think of. Suppose that Mrs Bedo
does swim like a fish, and is up to every water dodge, as you tell
me--I'm not gain-saying it, for I know what a coast-bred girl can do--
how is that going to help her against the sharks? And even if she did
the distance safely, there are the Blacks. Mrs Bedo is a northern
girl, and must have heard something of what the Blacks are, up on this
coast."

"Cannibals," put in the doctor, who, unable to restrain himself, had
drawn the outer curtain and pushed in the door. He stood on the
threshold, and through the rift in the curtain, the Dane's face could
be seen with an expression upon it of horror and perplexity; while
beyond, showed the black boy, with a look upon his countenance half
terror, half satisfaction, which to Eric Hansen, turning suddenly, and
thus coming within view of Kombo, was incomprehensible.

"Come," said the Captain, "it's nonsense to take it for granted that
Mrs Bedo must have thrown herself overboard, because she isn't in her
cabin. I'll talk to the stewardess, and have the ship searched
immediately."

He went out into the saloon, followed by the doctor, leaving Elias
Bedo within the cabin, and the Dane on its threshold, between the
parted folds of the curtain that screened the doorway. The stewardess,
who had come up from her own quarters, was standing beside Kombo, the
black boy; and to her the Captain addressed himself.

Her answers to his questions were clear enough. Mrs Bedo had gone
into her cabin the afternoon before, complaining of a headache, and
requesting that she should not be disturbed. The stewardess had
nothing to do with taking in her dinner, but she had brought the early
morning tea to the cabin door. Finding it locked, she had gone away,
expecting to be summoned by--and-by. Mrs Bedo, however, had not rung
her bell, and had not taken her bath as usual that morning. The
stewardess went on to say that she had again gone to the cabin door,
but still finding it locked, supposed that Mrs Bedo had had a bad
night and was sleeping late. Mrs Bedo had often had bad nights, and
several times had desired that she should not be awakened till she
rang.

Kombo was questioned as to when he had last seen his mistress, and
hesitated a moment, but answered explicitly.

"Mine been take dinner last night to Missa Anne, but that fellow no
want to eat, and I believe Missa Anne cobbon sick like-it cobra."

Kombo made a melodramatic gesture, pressing both hands upon his
woolly head. In speaking of his mistress, Kombo, who had known her
from a child, never said Mrs Bedo, but always Missa Anne, "Missa"
being, in the Australian blacks' vocabulary, the feminine of Massa as
a prefix to the Christian name.

"And where did Mrs Bedo take breakfast?" the Captain went on.

"Mine no see Missa Anne at breakfast," said Kombo. "Mine wait--give
Massa breakfast, but Missa Anne no come. Mine tell Massa, Missa Anne
plenty sleepy, and no like me to make her jump up."

Captain Cass left the saloon, giving orders that every part of the
vessel should be searched, though, as the stewardess remarked, there
wasn't much sense in that, for it was not likely that Mrs Bedo would
hide herself in the hold. The general opinion inclined to suicide, and
there was much excited whispering amongst the passengers, who now
followed the Captain on deck, leaving the saloon almost empty. Elias
Bedo remained, still examining his wife's cabin, and Eric Hansen, the
Dane, watched him from the doorway.



Chapter II--Cannibals or Sharks?



THE cabin was fairly large, considering the size of the steamer. It
had two berths--the top one having been occupied by Mrs Bedo for the
sake of coolness--and a cushioned bunk with drawers beneath, set under
the square porthole. In these smooth seas the heavy dead-lights had
been fastened back, leaving an aperture through which might be seen
the glassy sea, the Australian shore, and maybe a coral island, with
clumps of feathery palms, uprising from the blue. This window was, as
Mr Bedo had said, wide enough for a thin man, and certainly a slim
woman, to slip through into the sea.

Could it be possible that a girl of scarcely twenty--a bride of four
months--had been driven to so desperate a strait as to choose death,
or take the chance of life among sharks and cannibals, in order to
escape from a loathed bondage? He--Eric Hansen--knew what the Captain
and passengers only suspected, that Anne Bedo detested the man she had
married. And was it wonderful? The greater marvel seemed that she had
married him at all.

Eric Hansen gave a shudder as he watched the exbullock driver turn
over certain dainty properties his wife had left in the locker and on
the shelves and hooks; pretty garments and feminine odds and ends, and
finally a soft leather desk with folding cover, that lay at one end of
the bunk. An involuntary exclamation escaped Hansen's lips. Mr Bedo
turned and confronted the Dane, but he was too agitated to speak.

"Can I be of any service?" asked Hansen, commanding himself with an
effort. Bedo took no notice of the offer. His eye had been caught by a
large square sheet of paper written upon and half folded, that lay
upon the open blotting-pad of the desk, from which the leather cover
had fallen back. It seemed as though the pen had dropped upon the
paper, for there was a blot of ink after the last word. The pen,
Hansen noticed, stuck up endways between the red cushion of the bunk
and the vessel's side. No doubt, in shaking the garments, which hung
on a row of pegs above the bunk, Mr Bedo had displaced the writing-
case and caused it to close.

He took up the sheet of paper and held it before him, staring in a
stupefied manner at the words traced upon it in a decided and legible
hand. He stood with his face to the window, and Hansen, moved by some
strange impulse, stepped across the doorway, and read Anne Bedo's
unfinished letter over her husband's shoulder.

It was dated in the ordinary way from the S.S. Leichardt, near
Cooktown, on the previous day, but had evidently been written during
the night. The letter began:--

"My own Mother.

"The moon is shining through my cabin window, a full moon nearly,
with just a little kink in the round, that makes me think of your
dear, thin cheeks. I seem to see your loving eyes looking out of the
moon and asking me things; sad things, dearie, that we mustn't think
about. But oh! I long to lay my poor head on your breast and to feel
your arms round me, and to look up into your sweet eyes which I saved.
Ah! thank God for that!

"Mother, I know the sort of things you'd want me to tell you, and
what your first question would be. Well, I'll answer it. Yes, I'm
happy, dear, and I'm not sorry about anything. It's `altogether
bujeri' with me, as the Blacks used to say when they had got their
flour and tobacco, and were quite contented with things. I've got my
flour and tobacco, having earned it by a job that's just a little more
complicated than grubbing out stumps on a clearing; and I'm quite
content, so you needn't fret about little Missa Anne any more. I'd do
the same job over again if I was put to it, for the same end. So never
let that thought trouble you, dearie. Besides, you won't miss me so
dreadfully now that Etta is grown up, for she is so much more sensible
and practical than ever I could be. I couldn't do anything but sing,
and not well enough to make any money by it. But never mind, I was
able to buy you back your eyes, and for that to the last day of my
life, I shall praise God, and thank Him with all my heart.

"Yes, I'm happy, dearest. Don't worry about your little Anne.

"Oh! It's good to be back in the old country; and the whiff of the
gum--trees makes a woman of me once more. No, not all the musical
academies of London and Paris could change me from what I am, a Bush
girl to the bones of me. No, not even if that wonderful fairy story
were to come true, and I were really Anne, Baroness Marley, in the
peerage of England, as said that funny old burrower in Church
registers. Have you ever seen him again, and has he found the missing
link in the pedigree? But, of course, it's all nonsense. Mr Bedo told
me he had seen into the matter himself. He said that the man confessed
his evidence had broken down, and that he only wanted to get money out
of poor you and me, who hadn't any to give him.

"Dear, in a few days now, we shall be off the old bay--do you
remember? The shining moon reminds me of those hot nights when we used
to get up and bathe--Etta and I--with the waves rolling in over us,
silver-tipped. And how angry you used to be in the morning, and how
frightened because of the sharks! You always said, you know, that I
had a charmed life. The moon seems to be beckoning to me now. It's
streaming over a little bay so like our own old bay, and I can fancy
that I hear the roll of surf on the sand. No, I'm silly; it's the
water against the steamer's side. We're not so far off from land,
however. Since rounding Cape Flattery, we've kept close in shore. Now,
I've been standing up and looking out of my window. I can hardly bear
to stay in the cabin; it's like a prison--so hot, and there seem to
come living fumes into it, Chinese and Lascar smells, you know! from
all parts of the steamer. They poison what little air there is. Out
there, where the moon shines, all looks cool and pure and free, and
there's just a ripple on the water; and the moonbeams shake and
stretch out arms as if they were calling me. Why shouldn't I take a
dip?..."

And here the blot had fallen, and the writing ended.

Mr Bedo, absorbed in the letter, appeared quite unaware of the man
standing behind him. He turned the sheet over, staring at the blank
side for a moment or two; then going back, he read the writing again.
When he had finished, he crushed the paper in his hand, and made a
movement as though he were about to throw it out of the window, but
Hansen put out his hand and stopped him.

"You mustn't do that," said the Dane, quietly. "This should be given
into the Captain's charge, in case"--he hesitated, then said
straightly,--"in case there should be need for an inquiry."

Bedo swore again. "What business is it of yours?" he cried.

"None," replied Hansen, "beyond the fact that if an inquiry became
necessary, which I hope most earnestly may not be, I should be
examined as a witness, and should have to give evidence as to the
contents of that letter."

"The letter is a private one, written to her mother," said Bedo. "It
had best be destroyed; there is nothing in it to throw any light upon
the matter."

"I cannot agree with you," said Hansen, quietly; "nor do I think
would Mrs Bedo's mother."

"You prying skunk!" exclaimed Bedo. "Do you dare to own that you have
been so ungentlemanly as to read over my shoulder what my wife wrote
in confidence to her mother?"

"Certainly, I own it," said Hansen. "I will admit also that it was an
ungentlemanly action. Yet I'd maintain that it was justified by
circumstances. But for my having committed it, you would have
destroyed important evidence."

"Do you understand," said Bedo, trying to speak calmly, but shaking
either with anger or fear, "that you are forcing me to make public a
family scandal, which it is best for all parties should be concealed?
My wife was mad, and her words here prove it. All that nonsense about
the moon shows clearly that she must have thrown herself overboard in
a fit of insanity. She required careful watching, and I ought not to
have allowed her to be alone. That is the truth, though for her sake
as well as for my own, I did not want all the world to know it."

"I think I heard you a few minutes ago hinting what you are pleased
to call the truth, pretty broadly to the Captain," said Hansen, drily.
"If there's any family secret, you yourself have already revealed it.
But nothing would make me believe that Mrs Bedo is mad--unhappy, yes,
but not mad."

"And who are you to judge whether my wife was unhappy or mad?"

Hansen shook himself impatiently.

"Good Heavens! Mr Bedo, why should we stand arguing here? Do you care
so little about your wife's fate, that you don't even want to know
whether they are searching the vessel?"

Hansen was leaning over the bunk, his face against the window. Now,
giving a glance outward, he was attracted by something he saw, and
uttered a violent exclamation. He put out his hand, and drew in from
where it had been entangled in a rope used for the fixing of a wind-
sail, a lock of brown hair, which it was easy to recognise as Mrs
Bedo's. He held it up, carefully examining the ends. Mr Bedo, much
agitated, seized it from him, dropping at the same time the paper that
he had crunched in his hand. Hansen stooped and picked it up.

"That is my wife's hair," said Bedo. "Something must have caught it
when she was jumping over, and dragged it out of her head."

"No," answered Hansen, "I see that it is a strand which has been cut;
not dragged out. Mr Bedo, this convinces me that your wife did not
throw herself into the sea upon an hysterical impulse, but that her
escape was planned. No doubt she cut off her hair, thinking it would
hinder her in swimming."

The Captain had come in while the Dane was speaking.

"The Lord pity her then," he said, solemnly. "There's been smoke of
Blacks' fires along the coast, and yesterday, some of the devils were
sighted on the rocks, hurling their spears. But it seems impossible
that she could have got to shore; and to say truth, I'd far rather
that sharks had eaten her than that she should be in the power of
those fiends. Mr Bedo, I'm afraid we must make up our minds to the
worst. The first officer is still with the men searching, but we've
found no trace, and anyhow, it isn't likely we should. I came to tell
you that I must fasten up this cabin. Have you found anything which
could give us a clue?"

Eric Hansen told him of the letter; and Mr Bedo, who seemed too
stupefied for argument, allowed it to be given into the Captain's
hands. The hair, too, was again examined. Clearly, it had been cut
off, but was not, Captain Cass said, in sufficient quantity to be any
proof of intention, as regards the disappearance. Who could say that
Mrs Bedo had not cut off one of her abundant locks for some purpose of
her own, and then thrown it away. Perhaps she had done so by accident,
some days back. For the wind--sail had been taken down at Thursday
Island, and not fixed again.



Chapter III--Elias Bedo's Wife



ALL had been done that could be done on board the Leichardt in order
to make certain of Anne Bedo's fate. People felt that the search was
perfunctory, yet it was faithfully, if unavailingly, carried through;
Kombo, the black servant of the lost woman, being foremost in the
quest.

Mr Bedo, after his first sullen stupefaction, roused himself to a
fury of anxiety, and stormed at Captain Cass and all the ship's
officers, because the Captain refused to man and send off a boat for
the exploration of the coast behind them. It was useless, the Captain
declared, and would be contrary to his duty to his employers and the
Government, whose mail contract he was bound to consider before
everything else. Mr Bedo swore in vain, and at last was left to
solitary indulgence of his grief.

There was less commiseration with him in his loss than might have
seemed natural, for the man--drunken, brutal, and always quarrelsome--
had been endured rather than liked, and all the sympathy of passengers
and crew went out to the unfortunate woman, who, it was believed, had
done away with herself rather than submit to her husband's ill-
treatment.

The men admired her beauty in spite of her silence and reserve, which
they had at first called "stuckupness," not to be expected from little
Anne Marley, whose mother had had to give up her station to pay the
Bank's loan--little Anne, who had gone to Europe to make a name as a
singer, and had woefully failed, and been obliged to marry rough Elias
Bedo for the sake of a home. They had none of them believed in her
voice, till one Sunday, when the Captain held service, she had poured
out her glorious contralto in a hymn. Afterwards, they gave her no
peace till every evening she sang to Eric Hansen's accompaniment on
the old cracked piano in the saloon. Then, by the magic of her voice,
she had carried each man back to scenes on shore--to opera-nights in
Sydney and Melbourne, as she had sung airs from Verdi and Rossini and
Bellini, and even from Gluck's "Orpheus"; then to nigger-minstrel
entertainments, which the sailors loved best of all, when she had
given them "'Way down upon the Swannee River," and "Hard Times come
again no more," and "John Brown," and the rest of those quaint
plantation melodies.

By-and-by, Elias Bedo betook himself to his cabin in company of a
bottle of brandy; and when the steamer reached Cooktown that night, he
was incapable of even speaking to the Police Magistrate. This official
spent some time of the two or three hours during which the Leichardt
discharged and took up lading, in consultation over the affair. It was
midnight when the Leichardt entered the estuary of the Endeavour
River, and passed into the shadow of Grassy Hill, which overlooks
Cooktown harbour. The sky had clouded over; a drizzle threatened, and
the moon was quite obscured. Only a few kerosene lamps illuminated the
darkness of the sheds, and of that part of the wharf where cargo was
being unloaded. A few steerage passengers, mainly Orientals,
disembarked at this port, and here, Kombo, the black boy, left Mr
Bedo's service, having at Thursday Island announced his intention of
seeking his tribe in order to see what had become of his father and
mother, and, as he put it, "all that fellow brudder and sister
belonging to me."

Eric Hansen, on deck, saw him staggering along the plank with an
enormous swag on his back, and a young Lascar hanging on behind him,
but soon lost sight of the two behind the low sheds which lined the
quay. Hansen was sorry that the black boy had gone, and wondered that
he should care to go back to the Bush; but Kombo, though he was well
tamed, having been taken young from his tribe, and though he had had
three years' experience of domestic service with his mistress in
England, gave an example of that savage leaven which somehow or other
must assert itself in the Australian native. So Hansen knew that once
Kombo had got past the hills behind Cooktown, he would cast off the
garments of civilisation and relapse into his original condition of
barbarism. The explorer had offered, if he would wait, to give him a
place in his own pioneering expedition which was to start from a
little further south; but Kombo, with "Mine very sorry, Massa, but
mine like to stop one two moon before I go again long-a white man,"
had shaken his head and refused the offer. Hansen was disappointed,
for he intended to study the northern natives as well as the northern
fauna of Australia, and had been getting what information he could out
of Kombo, whose tribe was one dwelling inland of Cooktown. It was in
his talks with the black boy that he had come into more intimate
companionship with Mrs Bedo--curiously intimate, considering a certain
half savage, half timid reticence which she showed to almost all on
board. She rarely spoke at meals except a word or two to the Captain,
beside whom she sat. When the weather was fine and comparatively cool,
she would spend much time in her cabin; but in the afternoons, she
would usually sit on deck, and there, Kombo would bring her tea, and
sometimes stay to have a little conversation with his mistress. Then
it would seem to Hansen that she was like some wild, shy creature,
brought in from her native forests, and permitted to hold occasional
converse with a domesticated inhabitant of her own land. For it was
only, he felt, as her face lighted up in talk with Kombo, that he saw
the girl as she really was--as she might have been, freed from the
galling yoke of an uncongenial marriage. On one of these occasions,
when Kombo lingered after bringing her tea, Hansen, walking past, was
struck by the animation with which she spoke to her black servant in
his own language. The conversation, after the first minute or two, had
not seemed to be of a private nature, and presently Hansen drew near,
and begged for a translation of some of the words, over which Mrs Bedo
was now laughing with unrestrained pleasure. It appeared that they
related to certain adventures among the Blacks, which she and Kombo
were recalling, in which the girl had played the part of some native
deity.

Hansen then unfolded to her his own projects, and his desire to
become more intimately acquainted with the language and customs of the
Australian Aborigines.

He now learned that Mrs Bedo had been a Bush girl herself, and had
lived a little lower down on this very coast till, when she was
seventeen, the Bank had, as she expressed it, "come down upon the
station," fore--closing a mortgage, and had turned them out. Her
mother, who was in bad health and in danger of losing her sight, had
gladly accepted the offer of a free passage from the Rockhampton
branch of the Eastern and Australasian Steamship Company, and had,
with her two daughters, gone to live in England. In those seventeen
years of girlhood, Anne Bedo said she had learned the dialect of two
native tribes, and now, she told him, was practising the language to
see if she had forgotten it.

Hansen, as his mind went back to the occurrence, remembered with what
a start she had answered his first question, and how eagerly she had
asked him if he understood what she had been saying. He remembered,
too, how sadly and earnestly she had been talking some little time
before he had ventured to interrupt her, and he wondered whether she
had been confiding her sorrows to this sympathetic black friend.

That episode took place after he had been on the boat about a week--
he had joined it at Singapore--so that he had really known her for a
very short time. Yet it seemed to him that those two or three weeks
might have been years, so great was the interest with which she had
inspired him. He felt that he understood her--her girlish innocence,
her quenched gaiety, so ready to break out when the burden of her
husband's presence was lifted--her misery, and her proud reserve--as
he had never understood any other woman; and more than once it had
occurred to him that were she free and he less wedded to natural
science and a roving life, he would have chosen her beyond all other
women he knew for his wife. But she was married, and he, even had she
been free, was one not given to romantic dreams. So he had put away
the vague fancy--not because of the wrong of it--for, indeed, he
sometimes thought that the man who delivered her from so coarse a
creature as Elias Bedo, would be doing an action worthy of
commendation--but rather because he was the trusted servant of a
scientific society, and had planned for himself an interesting two
years' work, in which there was no place for sentiment concerning a
woman.

He had found out her misery the day after joining the steamer, not
through any confidence of hers, but by the accident that his cabin
adjoined that one occupied by Mr Bedo and his wife. This was before
Mrs Bedo, a few days after the landing of some other passengers at
Singapore, had ventured to petition the Captain for a cabin to
herself. Partitions on a steamer are thin, and ventilators admit sound
as well as air. Hansen had heard Bedo swear at his wife, and reproach
her for what he was pleased to term her imbecile obstinacy, in terms
opprobious and embarrassing to the involuntary listener. He had heard
also Mrs Bedo's sobs and pathetic remonstrances to the man she had so
unwisely married. Hansen had the impulse to rush in and denounce the
persecutor, but thought better of it; and after the second occurrence,
went to the Captain and frankly stated his reason for desiring a
change of quarters. Then he found that Mrs Bedo had been before him;
and as the only desirable cabin had been allotted to her, Hansen
withdrew his claim and remained where he was, suffering no further
disquietude except from Bedo's drunken snores.

He thought of Anne Bedo all through that dreary day, during which the
boat steamed down along the coast towards Cooktown. The notes of a
song she had sung the last time he had heard her sing, haunted him
through the hours--Che faro senza Eurydice--the most heart-thrilling
wail of bereavement which ever musician penned or songstress breathed.
He, too, felt almost as Orpheus might have felt in seeing his love
lifeless, her soul dragged down to the pit. His own Eurydice, it
seemed, had been torn from him by the cruel teeth of the monsters of
the deep. He sat on deck, trying to read, and so occupy his thoughts,
which, in spite of himself, would stray among visions of horror, and
all the while, his eyes, unconsciously lifting, gazed out on the blue
seas dotted with coral islands, or inland to the treacherous
Australian coast. Where was she? He shuddered as he asked himself the
question, recalling Captain Cass's words. Oh! that she had died
without lengthened agony. Better, in truth, a shark for the slayer,
than that she should become a prisoner among the Blacks.

A strange hush had fallen upon the vessel since Tragedy had brushed
it with her wings. All that day the sailors went silently about their
work; the meals were gravely served; none of the passengers seemed
inclined to talk. During the long hours between the event of the
morning, and the entrance into the mouth of the Endeavour River, which
is the harbour of Cooktown, and, indeed, during many perplexed hours
later, Eric Hansen brooded mournfully over his brief acquaintanceship
with Anne Bedo.



Chapter IV--Black Boy and Lascar



A BLACK boy and a young Lascar were trudging along a rough track in
the Bush, some distance from the coast,--a track that could hardly be
called a road; it had been made by the wool-drays coming in from a
far-off Western station. The traffic was at all times small, and now
the way seemed lonely and quite deserted, for the shearing season had
barely begun, therefore the ruts and bog-holes made by the last
bullock team which had trodden it, had already become grass-grown.

Both black-boy and Lascar were dressed according to their kind, the
latter more fully than is customary among Indians and Malays in
Australia, though his garments were wholly inappropriate to foot
travelling in the Bush, and were torn in many places, stained with
mud, and draggled and limp from the heavy dews. His small, lithe form
was pretty well covered by a voluminous sarong, and only a small
portion of brown ankle showed between it and his boots, while the
upper part of the body was clothed by a sort of tunic in cotton,
beneath the outer muslin drapery, which even hung over his arms. He
wore a muslin turban twisted round his head, set far forward, and with
loose ends, that, from a side view, almost hid his face. He trudged
wearily, with a blue blanket strapped upon his shoulders, which seemed
scarcely large enough for its weight. Indeed, he was so small and
slender as to look hardly more than a child.

The black-boy, larger and more muscular than the ordinary native,
seemed to have been a station hand employed by white men. Round the
open collar of his Crimean shirt was a red handkerchief, neatly folded
sailor-wise, above which his neck showed brawny and black. His
trousers were of good material and cut, though they hung loosely, and
were turned up in a big roll overlapping the tops of the boots. They
had evidently been made for a gentleman, and indeed, any one
acquainted with the wardrobe of Mr Elias Bedo might have recognised
the garments as having been once his property. They were held up by a
strap, from which hung several pouches, a knife, a tomahawk, and
sundry articles of miscellaneous use. Round his Jim Crow hat a
puggaree was twisted, and he bore on his back a very large swag.

The two had just struck the main road, having made their way across
country, through scrub and over creeks, to a point whence a small
digging township might be reached without difficulty. The direct dray
road to this township branched off some distance back, but, from the
present point, the diggings lay as at the apex of a triangle, and a
miner's rude track led to it through the Bush. Presently, on the crest
of a ridge in front of them, the black boy's quick eyes discerned two
or three men on foot, also humping their swags. He knew that they were
probably diggers, and this was the signal for him to call to his
companion, who lagged a little, and to strike sideways into the Bush.
They soon got behind another low ridge, and walked on in the direction
they wished to go, but out of sight of the track. By-and-by, the black
boy stopped, looked up at the sun, and peered around. Then he laid
down his pack, while he made certain observations usual with the
Australian native when he is not quite sure of his whereabouts.
Presently, he gave a click of satisfaction with his tongue and teeth,
and re--shouldered his swag, beckoning to the Lascar.

"That all right. Mine soon find--im old sheep-station, I b'lieve.
Come along now; we go look for water-hole."

The Lascar, who had sunk down upon a log, and was idly plucking and
smelling some gum-leaves from a young shoot which sprouted near, rose,
and again followed the native guide.

"That all right," the black repeated. "Mine think-it we sit down
along-a shepherd's humpey very soon now."

The Lascar nodded and smiled, and trudged on again with a springier
step than before.

They went silently through a stretch of gum-forest, wild and utterly
dreary. The great uncouth trees rose above them, stretching overhead a
latticework of stems, vertical rather than horizontal, and giving
little shade. The limbs of the iron-barks were rough and knotted, with
perhaps a stalactite of gum, red as blood, dropping here and there
from some wound or abrasion on their surface, and were hung with long
withes of green-grey moss that gave them a strange look of hoary
antiquity. The arms of the white gums were smooth and ghostly white.
They had but little foliage, and flapped shreds of pale papery bark
that fell from them like tattered garments. Among the gums, there
might be seen an occasional wattle, long past blossom, or a weird-
looking grass-tree with its jaggled tuft of grey--green blades, thin
and unleaflike, and its dark spear as long as the rest of its body.
All was dull green-grey, arid and shadeless, from the thin leaves of
the gum-trees to the tussocks of coarse grass and prickly spinnifex.
These often hurt the bare ankles of the young Lascar, and he would
give a little cry, instantly stifled, and then would tramp bravely on.

The Bush sounds only seemed to intensify the loneliness. It was
getting towards mid-day, and most of the birds were silent. Those that
were awake, had discordant notes, and were mostly of the parrot kind.
They chattered shrilly, their harsh cries rising above the tinny whizz
of myriads of new--fledged locusts, whose cast-off husks made odd
shining blobs on the trunks of the trees. Now and then, the black boy
ahead would call to his mate, and point to where a herd of kangaroos
were disappearing in ungainly bounds through the tangled gum vistas.
Sometimes an iguana would scuttle through the undergrowth, or the boy
would stop and tremble for a moment at the treacherous rustle of a
startled snake.

About dinner-time, the appearance of the country changed, and the
stony ridges, covered chiefly with mournful brigalow scrub, gave place
to a less timbered plain. The sun poured on them as they traversed it,
and more than once the Lascar took a pull at his waterbag. But far in
the distance their goal could be discerned. This was a dim belt of
denser vegetation; and as they came closer, they saw a fringe of
almost tropical greenery--great scrub-trees, and river-palms, and
luxuriant creepers.

Here was the deserted sheep-station of which the black boy had
spoken. It stood on the borders of a plain, close to a water-hole,
which could be seen in a clearing that had been made in a patch of
scrub. The grass upon the old sheep-yard was bright-green; there were
still some straggling pumpkin plants, and a rosella shrub almost
choked with weeds. Broken hurdles lay around, and close to the
clearing was a dilapidated hut. The travellers made their way through
vines and weeds, and entered the hut by an aperture, where the slab
door hung back on broken hinges. Inside was a plank table, nailed to
two stumps set in the earthen floor. Another plank, also supported by
two lower stumps, served as a bench on one side of the table, and a
slab bunk was set opposite against the wall. The Lascar sat down on
the bunk, heaving a weary sigh of satisfaction at having found rest at
last. Then he took off his pack, unrolled the blankets, and spread
them on the bunk, making a bed on which he stretched himself. The
black boy undid his swag too--it was much larger and heavier--and
seated himself on the table, grinning benevolently at his companion.

"Bujeri you, Missa Anne!"--the Blacks' commendatory formula. "Ba'al
mine think-it you able to walk that long way. You very fine boy, Missa
Anne." And Kombo gave a peal of laughter as he eyed the transformed
woman.

Anne laughed too. In their keen sense of humour, she and Kombo were
at one. It is the redeeming quality of even the most demoralised
township black. She tore off the bespattered turban which had covered
her head, and showed a short crop of soft hair--dark, but not dark
enough to accord with her pretended nationality. Never did Singalese
or Malay possess locks so fine and feathery. There did not now seem
much of the Lascar in the little brown face, oval of shape, with its
delicate aquiline nose, its small, pointed chin, and pretty, finely-
curved lips. The eyes were dark-brown, very velvety, with curly lashes
and straight, pencilled brows. Only in the hue of her skin, was the
girl a Lascar; and how Anne Bedo had contrived, during the hours of
her last night on the steamer, to stain herself the colour of a half-
caste, was a mystery only known to herself and to Kombo, who had got
the materials from a black medicine man in Thursday Island.

The girl's white teeth shone, as she laughed, between her red lips.
Her weariness seemed to have gone; at this moment she only thought of
the liberty bought, it seemed to her, so easily. For Anne Marley, in
her Bush girlhood, had loved adventure, had been familiar with the
Blacks and their ways, had known Kombo since her tenth year, and now
alone with him in the wilds, felt no fear.

She got up from the bunk and looked down at her soiled muslin
draperies--so unsuited to the life she had been leading during the
last few days--and at the tattered sarong, between the rents of which
a woman's longcloth under-petticoat could be seen. She put out her
slender feet, cased in laced boots, which had been originally made for
them, and therefore had not galled the poor little stockingless
extremities. She contemplated ruefully the scratches on her ankles,
over which the blood had dried and caked with the dust of the Bush,
and gave a very feminine shudder.

"Kombo, I'm dreadfully dirty. I want to bathe. Find me a place in the
water-hole where I can have a swim."

Kombo shook his head. "Mine think-it alligator sit down there, Missa
Anne."

The girl shuddered again.

"Well, let us have something to eat first. We'll see what the place
is like when we go to get water for the billy. Now let us find some
sticks and make a fire. Quick--Murra, make haste, Kombo. Poor fellow
me plenty hungry. Give me the ration bags. Go cut me a sheet of bark,
and I'll make a damper on it."

Kombo unstrapped his swag, which turned out to be two separate
bundles, each rolled in a blanket, and both together enclosed in
another blanket. From the dirtiest of the two--that which presumably
held his own property--he produced some ration bags containing flour,
tea, and sugar. These he set on the table, and then unfastened a
blackened billy, and two pint pots which hung at his waist.

Anne laid hands on the other bundle, and carrying it to the bunk,
undid it, gloating, like the girl she was, over certain feminine
appurtenances, to which for several days she had been a stranger.
Certainly, she had combed her short hair and washed her face, but that
was the only sort of toilet she had made. Their one idea had been to
push on, in order that as much ground as possible might lie between
them and the possibility of re--capture. So they had slept but for an
hour or two at a time, for the first day and night, and had only
breathed freely since yesterday. A bundle of pocket-handkerchiefs, a
change of linen, a grey riding-skirt and jacket, with a crushable cap,
a few toilet requisites, pencils and paper, needles and cottons, and
some other necessaries, made up all the baggage which Anne Bedo had
brought away from the steamer. It had not been easy to take more, and
even now she dreaded lest her husband should discover that the
garments were missing, and so guess that she had planned her escape.
Round her neck, beneath her tunic, she wore a locket containing the
portraits of her mother and sister, and also a little bag in which was
all her worldly wealth in the way of money.

Kombo went out to find sticks, and make a fire in the bark lean-to
which the shepherd had used for a kitchen. Anne lingered in the hut.
She had taken a little note-book out of her pack, in which were a few
entries--the date of their departure from England, an address or two,
and the list of her boxes on the steamer. The last entry had been a
memorandum concerning prices of cattle which her husband had desired
her to make on Thursday Island. The sight of it brought home to her
the reality of her present situation. She turned the page, and, with
the pencil attached to the book, scribbled sentences one after the
other, with no regard to composition, as a mere vent for the wild joy
that possessed her in the thought that she was safe from Elias Bedo,
and free henceforward to live her own life.

"Anne Marley, escaped from bondage, rejoices in her liberty."

"Better death in the wild woods than life in chains."

"Anne Marley hails Nature, the emancipator."

"How sweet is the taste of freedom! How intoxicating the joy of
deliverance!"

And so on, till the page was covered. Anne looked at her scribblings
with the naughty pleasure of a child which has amused itself out of
school hours by scrawling over a clean copy-book. It was a very silly
ebullition of feeling, which she had cause to regret later.



Chapter V--The Shepherd's Hut



THE crackling of burning sticks recalled Anne to the fact that she
was hungry, and going outside she saw a heap of dry gum-twigs making a
blaze, which the sun robbed of its redness. Kombo was fanning the fire
with his hat, and there would soon be a bed of ashes ready for the
damper. Now, Kombo attacked a young gum-tree with his tomahawk, and in
a minute or two had cut a sheet of fresh bark, on which Anne heaped
flour from one of the ration bags. Water was needed for the mixing,
and, searching the hut, she found a battered zinc pail under the bunk,
which she gave Kombo to carry, and taking herself the billy and pint-
pots, they proceeded down the clearing to the water-hole. This was not
so easy a matter; for though the big trees had been cut, and lay
tilted against others in the scrub on either side, lawyer palms had
grown round them and hung their prickly canes over the path where
ferns and undergrowth spread also, making progress difficult. How
strange it seemed to Anne to be again treading warily for fear of
snakes! This little bit of scrub was a delight, for it was more
luxuriant than those she knew further south, and had tropical plants
unfamiliar to her. She espied a tall tree on which grew a purple fruit
like a plum, and Kombo climbed up to gather it, telling her, when he
presented it to her, that it was very good. The water-hole they found
was one of a series connected by the dry bed of a creek which had not
for some time been flooded. It was dark and slimy looking, with muddy
banks and rotting vegetation. A dead log lay half in and half out of
the pool, and round it, grew a bed of poisonous-looking plants with
large fleshy leaves like those of the arum. At the other end, also
half in the water, lay a brown object which Anne thought at first was
another log, but suddenly it moved, turned over, showing the pale
underside of a hideous jaw, and she perceived that it was a crocodile.
Kombo pointed to it.

"Mine tell Missa Anne that Yamin sit down like-it water-hole," he
said, using the native term for the Saurian. The muddy bank, the slime
of weeds, and dread of alligators, made it not pleasant to dip up
water from the hole. Kombo poked about among the palms and ferns on
the bank, and presently found a wide, shallow trough which had, no
doubt, been dug out by the shepherd who had once lived at this sheep-
station. From this they filled the bucket and billy, and here, Anne
decided, that she would take her bath when the meal was over.

A scanty repast it would have been of new-made damper and tea, had
not Kombo, plunging further into the scrub, discovered the mound of a
scrub turkey, and brought back from it four of the bird's large eggs,
one of which is almost sufficient for a meal. Two were laid on the
ashes and baked. One had in it a young chicken that Kombo ate with
gusto; the other was fresh, and Anne thought she had never tasted
anything so delicious. When they had finished, Kombo put out the fire,
covering it with dead leaves lest there should be Blacks near, whose
attention might be attracted by the flame. This, however, was hardly
likely. The deserted sheep-station was near the little digging
township, as Kombo knew, for he had travelled past it with cattle on
their way to a station called Kooloola. It was hoped that he might
procure at this township a couple of horses, or even one that could be
ridden, also provisions to last them through their journey. He knew
the way to the diggings, and calculated upon getting there and back
before nightfall. Now came a difficulty which had not been solved in
Anne's talks with the black boy on the road. Should she accompany
Kombo to the township, or would it be best that she should remain
hidden in the hut? Anne, who was leader of the expedition, decided
without deep pondering that she would remain. She was afraid to trust
herself among white men, whose sharp eyes would perhaps pierce her
disguise, and who would possibly carry news of her south, that might
reach her husband. Strange as it may seem, she was not greatly
affrighted at being left alone in the wilderness. She knew that there
were no wild beasts in the bush that could possibly harm her, and
crocodiles could not crawl up through the scrub to the hut to attack
her. The most serious question in her mind was whether she might rely
on Kombo. His fidelity she had proved, and could not doubt, but were
he persuaded to drink at the grog shanty, there was no knowing when he
might return.

Kombo, however, swore that no blandishments should entice him into
the bar, or that were he compelled as a matter of business to enter
it, no grog should pass his lips. Anne was obliged to be content with
his promise. Never yet had she known him break his word when it had
been given to her. In relation to other persons, Kombo's sense of
honour was by no means binding, but between him and his young mistress
there had always been the strangest affinity. It had been a puzzle to
Anne herself; it was a puzzle also to the bushmen who knew of it, and
who had no experience of so deep an attachment between black boy and
white woman.

Anne untied the little bag she wore beneath her tunic, and taking
out of it three five-pound notes, bade the boy use them to the best
advantage. She had quickly thought the matter out, and now gave Kombo
his instructions. He was first to buy food at the chief store in the
township, and there to ask where he could best get a couple of horses.
He was not to pay more than five pounds apiece for them, and if he
could not find two for sale at that price, he was to get one; and also
some sort of saddle, if it were possible to pick one up cheap.
Supposing, as the chances were, that he could not get the horses that
day, he was to come back, and go in again on the morrow, but he was
not to say where he had left his mate. His story, if he were
questioned, must be that he and his mate--a half-caste boy--were
engaged to help muster at Kooloola, Mrs Duncan's station, some hundred
miles further north, and that as time pressed, they did not want to do
the journey on foot. The notes, he might say, were his wages which had
accumulated from his last employer.

Kombo, like all Australian black boys, revelled in playing a part. He
proceeded to set forth his views.

"Mine think-it Missa Anne make very good black boy," he said. "I go
along and buy shirt and trouser long-a store, same as black boy. My
word! Missa Anne bujeri boy!" and Kombo went off in peals of laughter.
"But mine think-it no good for ole Missa Duncan to see Missa Anne
like-it black boy," he continued, and meditated for a moment. "Never
mind, mine make-im all right. We stop close-up lagoon, outside fence
at Kooloola, and Missa Anne put on white Mary's skirt. Then ole Missa
Duncan no make-it noise first time. By-'m-by, Missa Anne tell ole
Missus what for that fellow make-im black. That no matter. Very soon,
Missa Anne come altogether white again."

Anne laughed too. She had forgotten she was brown. Her first idea had
been that she would put on her grey riding-suit as soon as the black
boy had departed. Second thoughts now showed her the prudence of
Kombo's suggestion. She knew the Blacks' language well enough to find
no difficulty in passing as a half-caste boy; and should they meet
diggers or stock-men by the way, she would certainly be thus less
likely to arouse suspicion. Besides, she could more easily ride in
man's dress, for it was not likely that Kombo would be able to buy a
side-saddle at the diggings. That in itself would cause remark. Often
in the bush, she had ridden on men's saddles, and even bare-back, and
had therefore no qualms on that account. So they settled that a
Crimean shirt and trousers of the smallest size procurable, were, in
the first instance, with rations, to be got out of the fifteen pounds.
As to horses and saddles, it was doubtful whether the money would run
to all these requirements. She had another five-pound note, but this
she had resolved to keep in case of emergency; and it was a relief to
her when Kombo proudly brought forth two other notes, describing how
he had made Mr Bedo pay him at Thursday Island, and how he had there
cashed his master's cheque. Kombo said he would buy his own horse out
of his own money, and hinted darkly that if horses were not for sale
at the diggings, he might be able to steal one.

Soon the black boy had disappeared among the gum-trees along the belt
of scrub. He had only to follow the river bed to arrive in due time at
the township; and, alone and unburdened, he could go much faster than
when the heavy pack had impeded him, and Anne had been dragging more
slowly behind.

Anne was alone. This she did not mind in the least; indeed, there was
joy in the thought. She had always as a child loved wandering by
herself in the bush. Once she had got lost, and had been out all
night, finding her way back the next day according to the methods of
the Blacks. She knew exactly how to trace down a gully, or follow a
river from its heads, and how to steer herself by the lay of the
country, and by the sun and stars. Many a time, too, had she chopped a
'possum out of a log, and unearthed a bandicoot from its hole at the
foot of a tree. She wished now that she could find a bandicoot, or if
she dared use her little revolver, to shoot some bird by the water-
hole.

She had kept her possession of a revolver a secret, and had not shown
it to Kombo. It was a tiny pistol which she concealed beneath her
sarong--a toy that her husband had given her. He knew what a good shot
she was, and she had asked for the pretty little weapon lying on the
counter in its open case, which she had noticed when Mr Bedo was
buying a gun to take out to Australia.

She had had scruples about carrying off this present of his, but some
instinct had told her that it would be well for her to possess it;
well also, that she should not make Kombo aware of her possession of
it. Brave and lighthearted as she was, Anne Bedo knew well enough to
what dangers a woman might be exposed in the Bush. So she had hidden
the pistol and cartridges belonging to it about her person, before
that early dawn, when Kombo had fetched her from her cabin to the
locker in the stewards' quarters where he had hidden her, and where
the search party had never dreamed of looking. Anne had then thought
vaguely, that were they to discover her, she would shoot herself
rather than go back to her husband.

Thinking over that eventful night and day, she wondered whether it
had been found out that she had left the cabin door locked on the
outside, and whether they had missed the revolver case, which she had
thrown into the sea. She thought, too, of the letter she had left
behind, speculating as to the impression it had made on her husband,
and those who had read it. When she had begun to write, her intention
was merely to finish it and give it to Kombo for the post. But in
writing the last paragraph, she had suddenly reflected that by wording
it in a particular way and leaving the letter unfinished, it might
lead to the conclusion that she had, in a fit of mental aberration,
thrown herself into the sea.

Anne put the revolver and cartridges away again, and went down the
clearing to the dug-out pool in which she had thought of bathing. She
peered carefully round to make sure that there was no horrible Ymain
lying in wait for her. The only crocodiles with which she had as yet
been acquainted were the "bimbies," as the Blacks called them, which
are a smaller kind, and comparatively harmless; but even those had
filled her with terror, though she had eaten their eggs in the Blacks'
camp. She seemed safe, however, from spectators, either human or
animal, except, maybe, a stray wallabi or a `possum in a hollow log;
and the birds which, now that that mid-day had past, were beginning to
find voice. The strange "miawing" note of the cat-bird, the shrill
call of the bower-bird, the plaintive coo of the scrub pigeon fell
upon her ear, and another note that she had never heard--a very
nightingale-roulade--which, under her breath, she tried to give back
again. In old days, she had known how to reproduce the note of every
Bush bird, and the temptation was too keen to be resisted. After one
or two attempts she got the cry right, for the bird answered her back.
Her courage rose; the rich voice swelled louder and fuller. The birds
who at first had piped in response, held affrighted silence: they
fancied that a strange, invisible songster had risen among them.

The girl laughed in almost elfish merriment. It seemed to her that,
after long and weary banishment, she had once more found her home in
her native forests, and felt herself akin even with the wild things
which inhabited them. In truth, as she had herself said, Anne was a
Bush girl to the very bones of her, and now was no more afraid in her
own wild woods, than might have been Daphne before Apollo pursued her.

A very nymph she appeared as her garments fell, revealing her small
form in all the grace of its early womanhood. She had not taken so
much pains in staining herself where her clothes covered her, and
below her breasts, to her knees, the colour of her skin was merely
pale olive. Her face, shoulders, arms, and ankles were much darker,
and she was almost afraid to wash them lest the dye should be removed.
But Kombo had been right in his assurance of its efficacy. She might
have been just a little fairer when she came out of the pool, but that
was all.

As she dressed, the roaring of an alligator frightened her, and she
went quickly back to the hut. Now that the excitement and strain of
her flight were relaxed, she felt extremely weary, and her eyelids
drooped heavily, for she had not slept much for many nights past. She
spread her blankets on the slabs of the bunk, and, making a pillow for
her head with her grey skirt, fell into a deep sleep which lasted for
hours.



Chapter VI--Kombo the Cavalier



ANNE'S scheme of escape had been carefully thought out during the
night-watches on board the Leichardt, after she had told Kombo of her
determination to leave her husband. She had not come lightly to this
determination; and it is but justice to her to say that, much as she
feared and hated the man she had married, she would have remained in
servitude had she not become aware that every law, human as well as
moral, justified her in freeing herself. Therefore she had appealed to
the only friend she had, capable of helping her--the black boy. And in
truth Kombo was made of heroic stuff, and would not have been
undeserving of honour in the ancient days of chivalry. He had heard
Elias Bedo swear brutally at his beloved mistress, had seen him strike
her in a fit of drunken fury, and there had then come a look upon his
face which convinced Anne that here was her Heaven-sent helper. It is
usual to say that the Australian native is incapable of devotion, and
does not know the meaning of faithfulness. Treacherous as a race they
may seem, but there have been devoted Blacks who have served white
masters to the death. "Jackey," of the explorer Kennedy's expedition,
is one notable example. Kombo in his, as yet, humbler fashion, was
another. Certain it is, that from the time when he had been privileged
to hold Anne Marley's bridle at a bad crossing, to weigh the meat for
her, scrupulous to the fraction of an ounce, when she was giving out
rations, to pilot her on her Bush rides and keep the coast for her
when she and Etta were bathing, Kombo had always been Anne's devoted
slave. The girl's voice had in the first instance captivated him. All
Australian blacks, and especially those of the northern tribes, have
an extraordinary love of melody. Their own musical scale is limited,
and their Corobberee songs mere monotonous repetitions and
compositions of half a dozen notes. But their whole temperament is
peculiarly susceptible to harmonic influences, and their passions can
be soothed or excited to an almost ungovernable degree by a war song,
or one of the ugals with which they exorcise evil spirits. In Kombo's
imagination--and the Blacks are wildly imaginative--Anne Marley's
beautiful contralto stamped her as a being above all other humans,
white or black. He had heard the songs of stockmen and diggers by the
camp fire and had been moved thereby, but none of these affected him
as did the songs which Anne sang. He used to tell her that her voice
was as that of Baiamè, the Great Spirit, whose word had made the
world, and as the voice of those wonderful white birds that, according
to legend, had flown into the sky singing praises to Baiamè, and had
been turned into the Pleiades--those stars which the Blacks believe
are the keepers of rains. It was Kombo's fixed belief that Anne was
one of these, sent back to earth again, in order that, by her singing,
she might move the heart of Baiamè when the fountains of heaven were
locked. Once there had been a time of great drought when the cattle
had died, bogged in dried-up water-holes, and the sheep had made food
for carrion dogs, and when the Blacks had come into the head station
and stolen from tanks and reservoirs some of the scanty supply of
water. Then Kombo came to Anne and besought her to sing within the
Blacks' sacred circle. Assuredly, he declared, in answer to such
entreaty, Baiamè would send down rain upon his thirsty people. Anne
listened, for she loved the wild superstitions of the Blacks, and was
but a child, to whom the earth and inhabitants thereof, and the gods
above the earth, were all as one grand fairy tale. She had learned to
shudder at the Kinikihar--ghosts of the dead who wander on moonlight
nights in the Bush, and she feared mightily Yo-wi, the legendary
monster who brings fever and ague, and Ya-wi, the mythological snake,
and Buba, the giant kangeroo, traditional father of all kangeroos. So
she went obediently with Kombo one moonlight night to the sacred
circle that the Blacks had made, in which they had kindled bonfires to
keep Debil-debil away, and round which the whole tribe had
congregated. There were the warriors in the war-paint of great
ceremonials and tribal fights, the elders wealed according to their
tale of years, and adorned with frontlet, and necklace, and tuft of
cockatoo feathers. There, too, the women crouched on the ground round
the circle, crooning and beating time with boomerangs and nulla-
nullas. So, in the midst of them, Anne lifted her voice and sang the
grandest devotional song she knew--an Ave which their store-keeper, a
musician and an Irish Catholic, had taught her. And great Baiamè heard
and was merciful, for the next day the heavens were darkened, and rain
fell upon the thirsty land.

After that, the fame of her went abroad among the Moongar tribe, and
further, even to the far north. The Blacks named her Yuro-Kateena, or
Cloud-Daughter, and from this time revered her as a Karraji-Wiràwi,
which, being interpretated, is Medicine-Woman.

In those days, Kombo had shown his reverential devotion by bringing
her cockatoo crests, the plumage of lyre birds and rare parrots'
feathers, and such spoil of the Bush. Later, when disaster came, and
the Bank manager wanted to keep him on as stock-rider after the
station had been taken from Anne Marley's mother, Kombo had refused to
be servant to the enemy of his goddess.

There had been a great woolla, a palaver amongst the Blacks, and much
lamentation when their Cloud-Daughter, who they now believed brought
them luck in hunting and protected them from evil, was departing from
amongst them. It was the chief of the Moongar tribe who bade Kombo go
with the Karraji-Wiràwi, and bring her back from over the Great Water
that she might once more petition Baiamè on their behalf. So Kombo
made his request to the mistress, and Anne pleaded till, somewhat
against her better judgment, Mrs Marley consented. A free passage was
granted to the black boy also, and Kombo accompanied the mother and
daughters to England, where, if truth must be told, he had been more
worry than profit. Mrs Marley felt thankful when he asked to be
allowed to go back to Australia with Anne and her husband.

Kombo was one of the best specimens of the northern tribesmen, so
much higher in the scale of creation than their southern brethren. He
was a man, every inch of him; his natural gifts were remarkable, and
in sagacity and quickness he was the superior of most white men. He
could not be taught to read or write, and all attempts to instil into
him the principles of orthodox theology had been a failure; but he
could read every chapter of Nature's book that related to the story of
his own country; he could mimic any man or animal with whom he made
acquaintance; he was a keen judge of character, and he could hold his
own among the worst sharpers who ever haunted a shearing shed. With
the most guileless manner and appearance, he could plan and carry
through a complete campaign of deception, and he loved nothing better
than having in the way of work "to make fool of white man." He had
once gone on the drink, but ever since, had been afraid of a grog
shanty, not from any exalted morality, but because he knew that he had
been given doctored grog, which, as he phrased it, had made him
"close-up go bong," otherwise, very sick.

In his own domestic relations, Kombo's conduct left something to be
desired. He was much given to wooing and then incontinently dismissing
his gins, "because that fellow no good," and, according to white law,
he might have been frequently had up for bigamy. When residing in the
stockmen's huts on the Marley's station, he had been quite contented
to live "like-it white man" for a certain time, but about every three
years the savage fever seized him, and then Kombo went off to the
northern haunts of the Moongarrs, where he committed every aboriginal
atrocity, short of assaulting white men. He was even suspected of
having eaten warriors of a hostile tribe, though kindred in speech,
called the Maianbars, who had fallen beneath his spear. It was because
of this habit of Kombo's that he had never been allowed the possession
of a gun, which would certainly have given him an unfair advantage
over his enemies. He was now again due for a burst of barbarism, and
it was when he had announced his intention of joining his dusky
brethren somewhere in the neighbourhood of Kooloola station, that Anne
had conceived the idea of making him her escort thither. Mrs Duncan,
who owned Kooloola, was her father's sister. Some five years before,
Mr Duncan had pegged out boundaries beyond even the extreme limits of
civilisation, at the base of Cape York Peninsula, and though he had
been considered fool-hardy, and even blameworthy, for taking his wife
and children among dangerous Blacks, he had died a natural death, and
had so flourished on his new station that Mrs Duncan had not felt
inclined to give up the place. It was under Mrs Duncan's protection
that Anne Bedo had desired to place herself, till opportunity occurred
for her to start on a new scheme of life under another name than her
own. Beyond taking present refuge, however, at Kooloola, Anne had not
considered the future. Here, at least, she would be for a time safe.

Three days were passed in the shepherd's hut before Kombo found two
horses and a couple of old saddles. Anne had an idea that one of these
was stolen property, but asked no questions, and received back gladly
what was left of the fifteen pounds. Kombo had bought for himself an
ancient rifle and some ammunition, so that they fared sumptuously on
game that he shot and which he broiled on the ashes, or baked, black-
fashion, on red-hot stones in a hole in the ground. On the fourth day,
Anne donned her black boy's costume of Crimean shirt and moleskin
trousers, both absurdly large for her, and a felt hat, the whole a
little inappropriate perhaps to the Karraji-Wiràwi part she meant to
play, and on which her power of dominating Kombo's aboriginal impulses
mainly depended. But she had only to sing a few bars of an Ave or a
Gloria, and to point to the pale clusters of the Pleiades, indicating
the stars as her sisters, for the subservience of Kombo to become
abject. So, fearing nothing, and commending herself alike to the
Catholic Saints and to the heathen gods of the Bush, Anne mounted her
sorry steed, and the two--black boy and white woman--set off on their
hundred and fifty miles ride to Kooloola. They put up at no stations
on the way, not even accepting the hospitality of shepherd or
stockman, but camped each night in the bush, hobbling their horses and
cooking their own food, Anne sleeping under a gunya of boughs which
Kombo made for her.

It was a strange, wild journey. Kombo had heard rumours of raiding
blacks and of tribes at war with each other and with whites. Once,
they met a band of native police with Captain Cunningham, the chief
officer, at the head, which was on its way to the outside districts to
disperse the Blacks, as the leader put it. This meant nothing more
serious than the firing of a few shots, the wounding of an old man or
two, or maybe a gin, and the breaking up for the moment of the camps.
Anne, in her black boy's dress, astride upon what the Captain was
pleased to term "an old crock, only fit to draw my grandmother's
corpse," trembled, and tried to hide her face, making pretexts for
getting off the track, while the Captain parleyed with Kombo. She had
known Captain Cunningham well in early days and feared lest he should
recognise her. She fancied that he eyed her suspiciously, and did not
like his questioning of Kombo, as to where the black boy had picked up
his mate. "Ba'al mine think-it that brother belonging to you. What
name that fellow?" said the Captain.

Kombo invented a name on the spur of the moment; and then Captain
Cunningham, who had also known Kombo in Mrs Marley's time, enquired
about his mistress, and whether the rumour was true that Mrs Bedo had
thrown herself overboard off Cooktown. Just then Anne pretended to spy
a kangeroo, and putting spurs into the "old crock" darted through the
gum--trees. "Billy--Billy!" cried Captain Cunningham, calling her by
the name of Kombo's impromptu baptism. "Come here. Mine want to talk
to you, Billy."

But Anne would not hear; and Kombo, with a whoop and a black's
halloa, spurred along his steed in pursuit of her, leaving the Captain
to go on his own way with his troopers. They did not see him again,
but the incident frightened Anne. Captain Cunningham had known her
ever since she was a child. Often had she sat on his knee, and one of
his amusements had been to make her "talk black," and mimic her native
friends. She was terrified lest he should discover Anne Marley in
Billy, the black boy. Then all would be lost. She was sufficiently
well acquainted with Captain Cunningham's views on matrimony and
things in general, to be quite sure that he would take her in charge
and escort her back to her husband. Each day after that, she rode in
dread of again coming across the native police--in dread, too, of
Blacks, for the presence of the troopers implied danger in that
respect. Of the Blacks, however, Anne was far less frightened. They
therefore forsook the track, riding in a course some distance away but
parallel with it, and thus avoiding the chance of even meeting a
wool--carrier with his team, or a party of diggers, or a lonely
fossicker.

The journey lasted longer than it would have done had they been
riding better horses, or had they kept to the dray-track. They had
many adventures and endured much discomfort--at least Anne endured it;
to Kombo, loose again in the bush, discomfort was a joy. It was the
end of the rainy season, and the heat was steamy. For two days it
poured, and the creeks came down in flood. Once the water bailed them
up for a couple of nights; and twice obliged them to swim, clinging to
their horses' manes, for the beasts were too weak to carry their
weight against the force of the current. Kombo's gun was then disabled
and his ammunition wetted, while Anne had some trouble in saving her
own concealed revolver and cartridges from the wet. She contrived to
tie them on the top of her head beneath her hat, and so kept them
above the flood. When the rain ceased, they had to wind along the bank
of a river through the tropical scrub, which is common up north, for
some distance inland from the coast. In this they suffered greatly
from mosquitoes and ticks. But they fared sumptuously on scrub
turkeys' eggs, and ground game that Kombo trapped, as well as on the
white larvae which they found among the roots of trees, and which is a
delicacy for both blacks and whites. Leaner days followed while they
rode over the barren ridges they next struck. These were low detached
spurs of the great range; and here, one of the horses went lame, thus
retarding their progress. Camping on a ridge at night, a terrific
storm arose, the most awful Anne had ever seen. While the rain came
down in torrents, Kombo, with his head buried in the ground, called
piteously on Debil-debil to depart; and Anne, wet through, hungry and
frightened, wept like a lost child with her hands over her face. The
lightning struck and rebounded upon the iron-stone of the ridge,
making wonderful and awesome coruscations, and a tree within a yard or
two of their camp was shivered to fragments. Their horses bolted
during the storm, and this again delayed them, though the nags were
found later not far off, stowed away in the bed of a gulley.



Chapter VII--Birds of Prey



IT would take too long to tell of their escapes, which, after all,
are common enough with bushmen who have attacked the base of that
north Australian peninsula, though they were sufficiently alarming,
even to a Bush girl accustomed to out-country life. There are women,
however, to whom adventure is as the breath of life, and little Anne
Marley, for all her feminine sentiment and romantic notions, was one
of such. Often, in after life, she looked back upon the Bush journey
with Kombo as one of the happiest times she had known; and, perhaps,
compared with later adventures, it seemed tame and safe. By-and-by,
they came upon beautiful pastoral country, the land which had enticed
Duncan, the pioneer, from civilisation--rolling downs, slightly
wooded, swelling below the basalt mountains and volcanic country
westward. There, the peaks, strange--shaped and rock-ribbed, rose some
three thousand feet out of dark-green jungle, barring part of the
horizon. A little further, the mountains became higher, and multiplied
in forms still more fantastic, where, in the far distance, the range
turned inward towards a country wholly unexplored, and completely
guarded against the inroads of squatters by impassable gullies and
impenetrable scrub.

Anne had heard of the wonders and terrors of those mountain scrubs
from explorers who had climbed part of the eastern side of the range,
but had never penetrated its fastnesses, or gone into the mysterious
region beyond. The Blacks had legends of some great and awful Debil-
debil, more fearsome than any ordinary Debil-debil of the south, which
inhabitated these tracts of the interior. Anne knew of the great sandy
waste in the centre of Australia which had once been sea; where the
rivers lost themselves in the sand, and whence scarcely any traveller
returned. But between that sandy desert and the river-shed at the base
of Cape York Peninsula, rumour spoke of a tract of country, closed in
by scrub, where volcanoes had once raged, and where, according to the
Blacks, were small lakes, supposed by them to be fathomless. The
Maianbar and Moongarr tribes dwelt near its borders, and it was
through stray Blacks who had found their way south, or had been
brought by the native police from the outskirts of their own more
inaccessible haunts, that these reports came. Otherwise, the region
was unexplored. If the ill-fated Burke or Kennedy ever reached it,
they did not return to tell the tale. There were all kinds of
traditions about this unknown country. Anne had heard one prevalent
among the Moongarrs, of a leviathan turtle that had lived in a lake
which dried up, leaving the turtle without water. The story went that
the turtle had turned into stone, and was now a mountain possessed of
magic properties. Then there was another legend of a gigantic
crocodile, dwelling upon the top of a high hill, out of whose mouth
came fire and smoke; a monster which would still spit flame and ashes,
and overwhelm any intrusive stranger venturing into its dominions. It
was Kombo who had told Anne the story; he had learned it among the
Moongarrs. Kombo believed devoutly in the crocodile "Debil-debil
Yamin," and the turtle also--Mirrein, he called it. When Anne laughed,
he was very much offended, giving her to understand that this was too
serious a subject for profane jest. "Ba'al mine gammon," said he;
"plenty black fellow afraid of that fellow Debil-debil Yamin."

Anne asked him if he had ever seen that Yamin. Kombo shook his head.
"Ba'al brother belonging to me go long-a Deep Tank, close-up Crocodile
Mountain," said he. "Maianbar black, sit down there. Long-ago Maianbar
black, brother belonging to Moongarr, talk altogether same. Then many
moon back, two fellow tribe fight--oh! plenty fight"--and Kombo's eyes
and gestures expressed oceans of gore--"Maianbar blacks been eat
Moongarrs. Afterwards, not friends any more. Maianbars one side of
mountains: Moongarrs stop this side. But I believe two fellow tribe
brother again by-'m-by," added Kombo cheerfully, for his own part
quite ready to ignore the blood-feud.

Anne gazed out to a portentous-looking bank of clouds on the north-
west horizon, and fancied that they were mountains, and that two of
them were shaped like the turtle and the crocodile of Kombo's story.
She wondered what was the real foundation of the legend, though it was
not difficult to guess that it originated in a volcanic eruption. She
knew that extinct craters had been found by many explorers, and she
remembered, too, the explorer Hann's account of his find of fossil
remains in North Australia, the wonderful antediluvian animals
scientists had discovered to have existed in this oldest continent of
the world--the gigantic iguana, the Australian diprotodons, the
monstrous kangaroos, the enormous horned turtle.

Nearing the lower hills which bounded the great downs they had been
traversing, Kombo told Anne that now they were "close-up Kooloola,"
and that if she wanted to put on her "White Mary's" dress they would
camp by a lagoon that he knew, not far from the home paddock, where
she could undo her swag, and make herself "altogether like-it half-
caste woman."

"Ole Missus Duncan think plenty sun make-'im face black belonging to
you," remarked Kombo; and consolingly added, "Mine been tell Missa
Anne that all right. That come altogether white by-'m-by."

The lagoon lay between two low, full-bosomed hills, a peaceful tarn,
on the surface of which floated the beautiful blue and white water-
lily of Australia, and a few blossoms of a lovely pink colour, a rarer
kind. Anne wanted Kombo to have a swim, and gather some of these for
the old Missus while she changed her dress, but Kombo shook his head.

"Mine think-it bunyip sit down there," said he in a more portentous
tone than that in which he had warned her against the alligators.
"That water--hole go down long way in the ground. Mine think-it water
come out other side," he went on. "Ole Massa Duncan, he try once to
measure with plenty thread, but that no good. I believe bunyip catch
hold of thread. Ole Massa no find-'im bottom."

Thousands of black duck, teal, and other water-fowl, with their young
broods, floated on the lagoon, and now, alarmed by the voices of
strangers, uttered strange cries, and rose, a mass of fluttering wings
hovering over the water. At one end of the lagoon was a thick belt of
casuarina and flooded gums, the white scaly stems of these last,
uplifted like an army of ghosts. Anne retired with her swag into the
shadow of these trees, while Kombo lighted a fire in a hollow log and
set the billy to boil. Close to the bank, he warily waded to pluck
some roots of water-lilies, which he laid among the ashes, and roasted
like yams.

Presently Anne re-appeared--a trim little figure in her grey riding-
habit, with the soft cap upon her short hair, and a veil, which she
had brought away in her pack, tied round it, hiding the brownness of
her face. Kombo gave a "Tschk! Tschk!" the black's expressive note of
admiration, as she came up, tripping a little over her now
unaccustomed skirt.

"Bujeri, Missa Anne!" said he; "Ba'al ole Missus see that fellow no
look like-it White Mary."

But Anne wondered whether her aunt would recognise her. She had not
met Mrs Duncan since she was a child.

The girl and the black boy were hungry, and feasted with a light
heart. They ate the yellow powdery roots of the water-lilies, which
were very palatable, and a change from their ordinary diet of game and
damper. The quart-pot tea was drunk, and then they remounted. Anne had
some difficulty in sitting side-ways on a man's saddle, but Kombo and
she between them strapped a little hump, cut from a gum-branch, above
the saddle-flap, and thus contrived a sort of pommel. About three
miles further, they came upon a cattle-camp, which showed that they
must be near the station. Before long, the paddock fence appeared, and
they halted to put down the sliprails. Some way off, they could see
the homestead perched on the side of a hill, just above a long narrow
lagoon. Banking the head-station, the hill behind sloped gradually
towards a thick scrub which spread upwards over the summits of a
broken range, and downwards, in a kind of semi-circle, round the upper
end of the lagoon.

Anne, with her Bush knowledge re-sharpened, wondered why her uncle
Duncan had chosen so dangerous a site for his homestead, in a country
infested with Blacks, to whom the scrub would furnish a very effectual
cover for attack. She supposed he must have had some good reason
connected with the working of the station; for she knew that, though
called fool-hardy, there was never a more thorough bushman than her
uncle Duncan. She knew also that he had held theories concerning the
treatment of the Blacks, opposed to those of most bushmen. He had
always paid them liberally for work they did for him, and, appealing
to what he considered their better nature, had constituted himself
their protector. The thought flashed through Anne's mind just then--
for she was a hard-headed little creature, and, in spite of her
friendliness to the natives, knew they were like children whom it
wasn't wise to spoil--that it wasn't over safe to be a pro-Black in an
unsettled district.

A track, broad enough for the water-cart that supplied itself at the
lagoon, wound round the gentler ascent of the hill, past the
stockyard, with its heavy railed fence and massive corner-posts, to
the back of the cluster of bark-roofed buildings constituting the
head-station. They could just see these, partly hidden by a knoll that
abutted from the plateau on which the homestead was placed.

Kombo put up the sliprails, but just as he was about to re-mount his
horse, something attracted his attention, and he walked on a little
way, carefully looking at the grass and saplings which bordered the
track. Then he stood still for a minute or two, gazing keenly from the
homestead in the direction of the scrub behind it.

Anne called to him to take his horse which she was holding. He turned
sharply.

"Kolle mal! Kolle mal!" he muttered, giving the aboriginal words of
warning, and went on a short distance continuing his observations.
Presently he came back to the girl.

"Missa Anne," he said, "you see, smoke long-a scrub? You see, ba'al
no smoke long-a white man's chimbley! What for no fire? What for no
smoke? Missa Anne, mine think it wild black sit down long-a scrub.
Mine no want-im Missa Anne go first time long-a humpey. I b'lieve
Kombo mel--mel--Kombo, look out--Missa Anne stop here--then suppose
all right, I come back and tell Missa Anne."

Anne quailed at the scent of disaster, for the black boy looked
strangely troubled.

"What do you mean, Kombo? Don't you think old Missus Duncan sit down
long-a humpey?"

"Mine no think-it, Missa Anne. Suppose ole Missus long-a humpey, that
fellow make-it fire-smoke. I very much afraid of wild black. You no
been see long-a cattle camp, one bullock have spear hanging down long-
a leg? I b'lieve wild black camp close-up, and this morning he been
spear bullock. I no believe ole Missus long-a humpey. I b'lieve that
fellow plenty frightened and run away."

"No, no, Kombo. Ole Missus never frightened of Blacks."

"I believe so, Missa Anne. One fellow, black-policeman long-a
Captain Cunningham, been tell me Maianbar black come down and make
corroboree closeup Kooloola, Maianbar black want-im flour, sugar,
ration... Ba'al mine think-it, that fellow look out talgoro (human
flesh)." Kombo appeared doubtfully sanguine. "He no like old white.
Maianbar black like best young black fellow."

Anne turned very pale, and reeled slightly in her saddle. A more
horrible possibility dawned upon her than that ole Missus should have
run away.

"Oh! Kombo--don't!" she faltered.

"No fear, Missa Anne. He very bad black, Maianbar black;" and Kombo
made a devout grimace. "Ole Missus know all about that, and make
altogether white man yan (run away). You see--what for no firesmoke?
Mine think-it Missa Anne better stop down long-a hut close-up water-
hole. I go look out." Kombo pointed to a bark hut on the bank of the
lagoon at the end furthest from them. A fringe of trees and swamp oak
spread past the gum-trees, along the side of the lagoon inside the
fence they had just passed through, and Kombo's quick intelligence had
already grasped the advantage of placing themselves under cover. He
suggested that they should get off and lead their horses round along
the edge of the water-hole, under shelter of the trees, and then see
if the hut was empty, or tenanted by the stockman. He might well be
there, for it was near sundown, and work should be over on the run. If
he was at home, they might assure themselves that all was well at the
station. If the place was deserted, Anne might wait in it, with the
horses tethered near, while he, Kombo, crept up the side of the hill
near the scrub, and reconnoitred at the back of the house. Anne did
not quite care for the plan, and would have preferred to ride straight
up to the homestead, but Kombo impressed her by the earnestness of his
manner, and she had confidence in the boy's instinct. Besides, a
feeling of great uneasiness and desolation, such as she had not yet
known during their wanderings in the Bush, had crept over her in the
last minute or two. Though she had reached her goal, she could not
help, after Kombo's suggestion of the Maianbars' weakness for talgoro,
feeling terribly anxious.

Just then, a flight of hawks wheeled down from the homestead hill,
close over her head, fierce, red-eyed birds of prey, whose very
presence filled her with an unreasoning sense of ill-omen. She
resisted Kombo no longer, but got off her horse, and, leading it by
the bridle, followed the black boy among the belt of trees to the
stockman's dwelling. The door of the hut stood open. Inside, the blue
blankets lay in disorder on the bunk, as though a sleeper had hastily
arisen. Outside, the fire under the bark lean-to had been laid, but
had not been kindled. Two or three fresh bits of wood lay upon the
half-burned foundation logs, and there seemed something oddly forlorn
in the heap of last night's ashes beneath them, and in the empty black
pot tilted on the ground close by. Outside the door, on a bit of
stump, the stockman's coolaman--the bushman's wooden washing basin--
was set, with the hard square of yellow soap within it. Though in the
shade, it was quite dry, and had evidently been unused that day.
Nobody was in or near the hut, and Anne seated herself on the slab
bench beside the rough table, while Kombo hung the horses to a tree,
and then, skirting the upper end of the lagoon and the border of scrub
beyond it, began to climb the hill so as to get a side view of the
homestead.

Anne waited a long time in the hut--it seemed to her hours, though
it was scarcely forty minutes. The setting sun shed a glow on the
trees and the bare bit of ground outside, and upon the distant peaks
of the range which she could see through the hut door. The mosquitoes,
coming with the approaching twilight, had begun to swarm, and the hut
was close and ill-smelling. Outside, every now and then, she saw a
hawk circling low to the ground. One came after the other, and she
wondered what carrion feast had caused the foul birds to congregate.
No doubt, she thought, it was the speared carcase of a bullock which
the Blacks had killed, and, unable to carry away, had left to rot. She
had forced herself to dismiss any more appalling conjectures. Anything
else seemed impossible.

The evening birds were beginning to call. She could hear the
gurgling note of a swamp pheasant, and every now and then the raucous
mirth of a laughing jackass pealed from a neighbouring tree. The Bush
sounds which she so loved seemed now only to intensify the nervous
strain, which was becoming unbearable. She wondered why she should
suffer so, for the first time, now that she was within sight of her
aunt's house, and almost under her aunt's protection. For, of course,
her aunt was there. She had not felt so lonely and frightened in the
shepherd's hut by that crocodile-infested water-hole. It struck her;
were there any crocodiles in this lagoon? And then she began to feel
thirsty, and searched the hut for water. There was none to be found,
and she took a pannikin and went restlessly out towards the fringe of
ti-trees which hid the little lake from her view. The sun had now
sunk, and a red afterglow illuminated the plain, striking the slab
fence of the paddock, and causing scales of ti-tree bark to shine like
silver.

Anne walked a little way. All around her, were creepy sounds of
animal life, but there was no sign of Kombo. Now she thought that she
heard the thunder of hoofs--a rush of cattle, perhaps--on the plain. A
hawk rose from among the trees ahead of her close by the bank of the
lagoon; another flew up, and another. She pushed back the branches,
moving uncertainly, for she was vaguely conscious of some wakening
horror, She struck through an odorous thicket of river jasmine, lemon
gum, and the fragrance of ti-tree blossoms, and now stopped dead
short, and uttered a piercing scream.

At her very feet, the head towards her, the legs caught in a tangle
of vine, lay the body of a man clad only in a shirt, with the top of
the head battered in, the eyes staring, the mouth wide open, a swarm
of flies upon the blue lips; while, as she stood, her shoes were
almost wetted by a little stream of coagulating blood. Beneath her
outstretched arms, a loathsome carrion bird spread its wings, and
fluttered out over the lagoon. The girl gave another shriek, and fled
back through the thicket. She understood now. God of mercy! That this
thing should be! Had the Blacks massacred every white man and woman on
Kooloola station?



Chapter VIII--"Altogether Bong"



KOMBO stood at the door of the hut. He had been crouching at the back
of it, even as she went forth to the lagoon, not knowing how he should
tell his gruesome tale. He leaned against the lintel, his limbs
shaking as though he too had not recovered from the shock of some
terrible discovery.

His face seemed ghastly under the outer pigment of black, and his
lips were bloodless; but in his eyes there lurked an unholy light, and
Anne realised, with a fresh shudder, that the savage beast in him,
contending with acquired prejudices of civilisation, was for a moment
unleashed, and might have to be fought and conquered.

The girl's indomitable spirit gazed out from her own eyes, and
quelled the savage. He gibbered helplessly, uttering unintelligible
sounds and laughing with the Black's peculiar note in his guttural
merriment. Then he quailed before her gaze, making a gesture of
pleading and dismay.

"Kombo!" Anne said, aware that now she held the hereditary tendencies
in check, and that he was once more her slave. "Kombo, do you know
what has happened? Do you know that he's dead--the man out there? Do
you know that the Blacks have killed him?"

Kombo laughed again--a hopeless, helpless laugh, in which,
nevertheless, there was a faint triumphant cadence, telling of the
race hatred between black and white, subdued in him, but not wholly
eradicated.

"Yo-ai!" (yes) he said. "Mine think-it all white man bong long-a
station. Plenty dead white fellow--ole Missus; two fellow daughter
belonging that one. Young Massa--one fellow Chinaman cook--all lie
long-a floor where black fellow been, kill altogether white man. I
been tell Missa Anne no smoke--no fire; all white fellow bong--
altogether bong, altogether dead."

"Kombo, do you mean that they are all dead--all?" The girl spoke in a
whisper, her eyes distended, her teeth chattering. "Kombo, you say all
white fellow bong long-a station? You no tell lie?"

"Mine no tell lie, Missa Anne. I believe black fellow come last night
kill everybody, take-im store, find-im grog, mumkull altogether with
spear and nulla-nulla--ole Missus, young fellow white Mary belonging
to her; young Massa Jim--Chinaman long-a kitchen--altogether bong. I
creep up close--up humpey. I see long-a verandah ole Missus--I believe
black fellow kill that one first with waddy. Inside, I see two young
Missee--I believe black fellow take-im that fellow--no kill altogether
quick like it ole Missus. Then I go outside long-a store. Young Massa
he have-im spear like it back, and Chinaman he lie dead little way
off. Mine no see young Massa Tom. Mine think-it that fellow run away
and look out--find Captain Cunningham and black police."

Kombo's keen wit had worked out the situation in all its chances and
probabilities. He knew that of the Duncan boys there should be two at
home, and one was missing. He knew, too, that the black troopers under
Captain Cunningham, from whom he had heard their destination, should
be encamped a short distance eastward.

At this moment, in confirmation of his intuitive reasoning, the
distant thud of hoofs which Anne had heard, deepened into nearer
thunder, and suddenly ceased. Kombo darted to the fence, Anne
following, and both looked along it, to where now they saw a band of
troopers halt for a few seconds, to let the rails down, then pass
through in single file and gallop up the slope towards the head
station. Each one had his rifle ready, and it was evident the little
army was bent on no peaceful errand. No other white man was with the
band. Clearly, if it were Tom Duncan who had roused the police, he had
been too exhausted to return with them. Maybe he was wounded, and had
only dragged himself to Cunningham's camp to die.

Anne and Kombo faced each other--black man and white woman, realising
to the full, and without need of words, the danger of the position. On
one side were the Blacks, glutted with gore and spoil, their fury
satiated, and no doubt prepared for flight into the fastnesses where
men on horseback might not seek them. On the other, were the Whites,
and in their company the certainty of recognition. Were Anne and Kombo
to ride up now to the homestead, it would be almost impossible to
deceive Captain Cunningham. Publicity must be given to all details of
the tragedy, and the report of the native police would surely mean
that Elias Bedo would obtain positive information of his wife's
existence and whereabouts.

Better to fall into the hands of the Blacks, Anne thought, than into
those of Elias Bedo.

But there was a middle course. It might be possible to hide until
pursuit of the plunderers was fairly started, and the southern route
clear. Then she and Kombo might either return the way they had come,
or wait in the Bush and go northward by the coast to Somerset where
there would be a chance of catching some vessel bound for Java. That
had been the plan in Anne's mind, when she had decided upon seeking
temporary refuge with her aunt. The middle course had also occurred to
Kombo as the safest. There was no need between them for preliminary
discussion. He seemed to read her mind as she read his. Kombo
scratched his head, and thought silently for a minute or two. Then he
went back to the horses, unfastened their bridles from the gum-bough
to which he had strapped them, re-adjusted Anne's saddle and the pack
that had slipped down, then delivered himself of his opinion.

"Missa Anne, mine think-it no good to go long-a station until black
police go away. By-'m-by that fellow hunt after wild black in the
scrub, but mine think-it very soon, white man from other station come
long-a Kooloola. You know! That fellow wear-im shirt outside of
trouser and, my word! cobbon woolla--plenty talk and say prayer." Thus
Kombo graphically sketched the surpliced Bush parson of his
experience. "I believe that white man go look-out Massa Bedo... Tshck!
Tshck!" with the indescribable ejaculation of the native. "White man
tell Massa Bedo. `You run--murra, make haste--wife belonging to you
sit down long-a Kooloola. Massa Bedo--he think Missa Anne dead.' When
white man tell him Missa Anne no dead, he very glad. He ride quick,
and pialla (appeal to) Captain Cunningham to bring black trooper.
Altogether come--catch Missa Anne and by-'m-by put Kombo in goal.
Naia-yo! Naia-yo! That very bad for Missa Anne. That very bad for
Kombo."

"Yes: that very bad," said poor Anne. "You must help me, Kombo, to
keep out of Captain Cunningham's way. What can we do?"

Kombo ruminated for a minute or two. "Mine cobbon stupid fellow,
Kombo. Massa Bedo, he plenty saucy. He got-im money; he make black
trooper servant belonging to him. Mine think-it no good to go back
long-a Cooktown. Best way to hide close-up Kooloola and look out till
black trooper go away."

"But where can we hide?" asked Anne. "Captain Cunningham very good
bushman, Kombo. No can hide from black trooper."

"Ole Massa Duncan no like black trooper," said Kombo. "I believe
ba'al that fellow know bush long-a Kooloola. Missa Anne, you see!" The
boy pointed to a knoll, two or three miles distant, which rose sharply
above the scrub. "Big fellow cave sit down over there. Brother
belonging to me show me place long time ago, when I bring cattle for
Massa Duncan. That cobbon big cave; that very dark cave, very good
place to hide. By-'m-by black police take pho-pho, and go shoot wild
black. Kombo look out; find saddle, catch horse--bujeri horse,
Kooloola brand. Missa Anne and Kombo make quick track. White man no
see; police no can find."

Kombo's comprehensive plan was the best in the circumstances, but
Anne hesitated.

"Suppose wild black sit down long-a cave?" she suggested, weakly.

Kombo shook his head.

"Mine no think-it Maianbar black stop close-up station," said he.
"That fellow frightened, and run away long-a mountain. You come long-a
me, Missa Anne; lie down inside cave; make fire and cook supper. Niai
kandu...Mine plenty hungry."

Kombo was a philosopher. No matter what the tragedy around him, the
danger and the difficulty, he never failed, at the close of the day,
to make this announcement. Anne did not feel hungry. Nevertheless, she
listened compassionately when Kombo said "Niai kandu."

"Mine show you short cut long-a cave. Mine take-im swag. Mine let go
yarraman (horses) and mine plantim saddle. By-'m-by, when black
trooper and white fellow altogether yan, mine run up yarraman in
paddock--much better yarraman. You see? You think-it that bujeri?"

Anne nodded acquiescence. She could not speak; something seemed to
have come up suddenly in her throat and choked her. Her eyes stared
vacantly into the bush. She saw before her the dead bodies of her aunt
and cousins, and the tragedy re-clothed itself with new horrors.
Silently she helped Kombo to unsaddle the horses. When free, the
beasts started off with a whinny, and went to drink at the lagoon. She
took the two swags in her right arm, while with her other hand she
held up the skirt of her riding--habit, regretting bitterly that she
had not kept on her black boy's costume. Then she staggered after
Kombo, who was laden with the saddles and bridles and his own gun, and
was making straight for the scrub. The two skulked behind trees and
shrubs till they had reached the shelter of the thicket, afraid that
the native police might espy them, but soon they were hidden in the
dimness of dense vegetation, and pressed inward as fast as their
burdens would allow. After walking for a quarter of an hour, Kombo
laid the saddles and bridles in a hollow at the foot of a tree where
the earth had slipped, leaving the roots bare, and collected mould and
twigs, scraping them backward with his foot, after the manner of a
scrub turkey building its mound. Then he gathered other twigs, and
before long, the saddles and bridles he had planted were covered safe
from the chance of a marauder. The boy then made a discreet blaze on
the tree with his tomahawk, so that they should neither of them, on
returning for their property, miss its hiding-place. While he worked,
Anne gathered her habit round her waist, binding it by a strap that
she took from the pack, so that with kilted skirt, progress through
the jungle might become a little less difficult. It was still
sufficiently arduous, though Kombo went first to move, here a spiked
log, or to cut away there, the withes of a hanging creeper. He steered
straight for the rocky knoll he had pointed out, in which the caves
were situated, though it was no longer visible, and even the stars by
which he might have guided himself were hidden by the roof of
interlacing branches. But a black boy's instinct of locality is a
compass which rarely fails him. Moreover, Kombo was near the hunting-
ground of his own tribe, the Moongarrs; and though it was years since,
as a naked piccaninny, he had wandered through this region, he had
returned to it with Duncan the squatter, and remembered the features
of the land.

Night fell. It was much darker in the scrub than it would have been
in the open, and the eeriness of it all thrilled Anne's nerves, which
vibrated like strings stretched to breaking point. She walked close on
Kombo's heels, sometimes stepping deep in mire, sometimes stumbling
over stones, sometimes slipping down the side of a gully; her ankles
bleeding, her hands torn among the prickly shrubs and tangle of vines.

As they got further into the heart of the scrub, the gullies became
steeper, and the great boulders that encumbered them more numerous.
Hugh volcanic stones were lying pell-mell, monoliths standing on end,
and rocking-stones poised, and trembling at a touch. It was as though,
in the beginning of things, fire demons had played here at pitch and
toss. After a time, through a rift in the trees, they could see the
evening star. The vegetation had become scantier, rocks taking the
place of trees, and now they found themselves on a space, clear, but
for the stones which strewed it, and with a basalt cliff rising close
over it. The base of the cliff was curtained by creepers, and low
scrub trees grew out of fissures in its face. Here, a part of the sky
was visible--cloudless, of an intense blue, gemmed with stars; the
Southern Cross apparently touching the summit of the crag. Anne--
ragged, scratched, and sore from the stings of insects and of scrub
nettles--sank exhausted upon a stone, a most pitiful figure; while
Kombo, marking the position of the stars, took his bearings, and gave
guttural clicks of satisfaction at finding how little deviation he had
made.

"Close-up cave, Missa Anne," he called, encouragingly. "Very quick,
plenty supper, plenty sleep. Come on."

Anne rose; and they moved northward round the knoll, pushing through
the scrub where it encroached on the rock, and at last halting before
a dark blot on the cliff's surface--a half-circle, in the centre of
which was a great bare boulder. Creepers hung round the opening,
which, to a casual eye, would not easily be discoverable. Kombo peered
about on every side, anxiously searching for any signs of Blacks'
fires, but he saw none. Now he bade Anne follow him, and stepped
warily inside the cave.

"All right," he called out; and the vaulted roof of the cave caught
his voice and sent it back in a reverberating echo, so uncanny that
Anne started at the sound. She pressed in close upon him, and, after a
little groping on Kombo's part, both stood in a deep embrasure near
the mouth of the cave, which was here dimly illuminated by the
starlight outside. The light was just sufficient for Anne to trace the
outline of a long, wriggling thing, which, at the sound of footsteps
and voices, stirred from its lair. Kombo darted forward. "Make light
quick, Missa Anne," he whispered hoarsely. "Mine think-it that snake";
and as Anne struck a match which she had in readiness, she saw by its
feeble flare that Kombo had brought the butt end of his old gun down
upon the neck of a great brown serpent, which, pinioned and powerless
to use its poison fang, struck out wildly with its tail, its body half
coiled round the body of Kombo's gun. She drew back shuddering.

"Give me waddy, Missa Anne," cried Kombo, stretching back his hand,
as with the whole weight of him he leaned on the gun. She handed him a
stout stick which he had cut for her as they went through the scrub,
and a few well-directed blows made the snake's coils droop flaccidly,
its back broken, while Kombo battered in its head. Anne struck match
after match, exploring the hollow in which she stood lest other
reptile or beast should there have made its nest. But all was safe;
the floor was smooth and clean, the walls bare stone, and she leaned
against a projection, too frightened to move. The cave seemed to
stretch into unfathomable blackness, but was now silent as the grave.
How thankful she was that Kombo had bought these boxes of lucifers at
the township store, and that they had managed to keep them dry when
crossing flooded creeks, by tying them up in the bladder of an animal
they had shot. She knew that she ought not to be reckless with her
matches, but to remain alone in the darkness of the cave was more than
her nerves would bear. Kombo had dragged the snake outside, but
presently returned, gloating over the supper he would make from it. He
brought in a bundle of sticks and dry leaves, and before many minutes
a fire was kindled. Then he took a fire-stick and searched the cave,
making another fire in a further recess. Here he took Anne's swag and
spread her blanket, keeping his own belongings by the fire at the
entrance. He called Anne to come up to her camp--so he named the
further fire--and the girl gladly obeyed.

Never had distressed damsel more chivalrous servitor, as Anne had
found good reason to assure herself during these wanderings. Each
night she had softly sung a prayer, and Kombo, reverently listening,
had made the Black's obeisance to Baiamè, the masonic sign taught
young men when initiated into the Bora mysteries. Anne knew of those
rites, which aboriginal tradition held that Baiamè himself had
established when, in long past ages, he had descended as a great white
man upon earth. When she had sung, Kombo would retire, and Anne would
lay herself to sleep--the first night or two of their journey with her
revolver clutched in her right hand close by her side, beneath the
blanket. But after a little time she realised the magic power of her
incantation, and the depth of Kombo's loyalty to his gods, and to the
woman who he believed was their representative. She knew most surely
that she had nothing to fear from Kombo himself, and also that his
outpost camp was a protection against intruders, upon which she might
safely rely. It gave her no anxiety to know that both her honour and
her life were at Kombo's mercy, for she realised that they could only
be assaulted across the boy's dead body. In her trustful gratitude to
Kombo, Anne almost cried sometimes when she thought of the treachery
which pioneering Whites had dealt to his race. She was certain that
those savages they had ill-used would have been faithful, had they
been taught by their conquerors the meaning of fidelity. When she
thought of the dispossessed tribe dying out down south, killed by the
very vices they had learned from Englishmen, her heart burned with
indignation. Setting aside superstition, Kombo loved her and was true
to her because she had been kind to him, had never scoffed at his
traditions, nor had tried to force on him a religion which experience
told him had, on the part of its professors, led to outrage upon the
women of his race, and cruelty to its men. Kombo once told Anne of a
certain squatter in the back blocks, who, when a camp of Blacks
pitched their gunyas beside his water-hole, had called up the chief
and palavered with him, telling him that the Whites wanted to make a
feast for the Blacks, as it was Christmas Day, and that "a pudding
like-it white man's Christmas pudding" should be made for them by the
white cook, and given to the chief if he would take it down to the
camp. The chief came, the pudding was given to him, and the next day
nearly all the tribe was dead, for the pudding had been poisoned. Was
it any wonder, she thought, that afterwards white men were speared
from behind gum-trees, and that there were murders on the lonely
stations?

Anne remembered this story now, and found in it a plea for black
murderers. Then the realisation of the tragedy so near, came home to
her, and she wept bitterly. Her kind old aunt, her young cousins; why
had they, who had never wronged either Black or White, been chosen as
expiatory victims for the wrongs civilisation had committed? She could
scarcely believe, even now, in the truth of that grim story which
Kombo had told her. She could not have credited it at all but for the
horrible sight she herself had seen by the lagoon. Her brain was
dazed, her senses numbed, the future was a blank. All her plans had
been destroyed; she could think of nothing now, but that for the
moment, her weary body had found a refuge in which she might lay
herself down to sleep. Kombo came up presently with a billy full of
water he had found in a hole among the rocks, and with the ration bags
of tea and sugar. They had a segment of damper, baked the previous
night, and this she ate greedily, not waiting for the billy to boil in
order to wash it down with quart-pot tea.

Kombo chuckled benevolently at the sight of her hunger, and produced
a bleeding lump of the snake's body which he laid on the embers to
roast. It seemed to him that he had provided a delicious repast, to
the merits of which his mistress had hitherto been insensible, but
which now, in her need for food, she would surely recognise. He had
never yet been able to persuade Anne to eat the blacks' favourite
delicacy, snake; the easiest food procurable in the Bush. But even now
Anne shuddered at sight of the dainty morsel, and bade him take it to
his own fire.

"Mine got plenty more, Missa Anne," said Kombo. "That very good,
altogether bujeri," and he smacked his lips in anticipatory relish,
but Anne still refused the delicacy.

"Mine find-im bandicoot to-morrow," said Kombo, grieved that she
should fare so ill, and took the bit of snake to his own camp, where
he cooked and devoured it, while Anne ate her damper and drank her
tea. Then she softly sang her little hymn, and bruised, tired, and
sore, she stretched herself as she was, on her blankets, and slept
long into the morning.



Chapter IX--The Cave of Refuge



LIFE in the cave, but for mosquitoes and absence of light and air,
was not absolutely disagreeable. The rest from physical exertion was a
relief to tired Anne, whose limbs ached from riding a rough horse, and
on a man's saddle for so many days. They were stiff, too, after the
march through the scrub, and bruised from her falls among the stones.
Yet after the first twenty-four hours, her nerves began to recover
their balance; for the wild life of the woods, the scent of the scrub,
the sough of the wind among the trees, the calls of the birds and
other native sounds breaking the solitude, were as medicine to her
spirit. In spite of grievous thoughts that afflicted her, it was
indescribable pleasure to feel herself once more Nature's child in the
nursery of her earliest years. With the adaptability of youth, she set
herself to make their rock abode as habitable as circumstances
permitted. There was no knowing how long she might have to dwell in
it, for Kombo and she had decided that they would not venture into the
open until the coast was clear both of Blacks and Whites. The native
police, they concluded, would have raised the district in quest of the
murderers, and might at any time, in company of neighbouring
squatters, turn up again at the station; but Anne hoped that her
cousin Tom Duncan, if he were still alive, would return to Kooloola,
and she determined, on the most convenient opportunity, to throw
herself upon his protection.

They had not heard any sound of shots, and no search parties had
come near their retreat. Kombo, taking off part of his garments of
civilisation with the gladness of a savage restored to barbarism, and
clad only in his dark-grey flannel shirt, crept cautiously through the
scrub, and reconnoitred as best he could. He dared not go out of
shelter; but from a little eminence overlooking the station, he had
seen that a small detachment of troopers was quartered at the
homestead, though doubtless the strength of the force had gone in
pursuit of the Blacks. It was reinforced, Kombo had reason to
believe--from the horse-tracks he had descried round the upper end of
the water-hole, and on the edge of the scrub where he had ventured
forth--by some white men from the stations eastward, who had hastened
to Kooloola on receiving news of the murders.

There was no smoke of camp-fires in the scrub, as far as Kombo's
eyes could reach; and it seemed clear, as he had told Anne, that the
tribesmen must have fled towards the mountains, where the troopers
would have much ado to catch them. They would not go, he said, as far
as the fire--spitting crocodile. Into the dominions of that monster no
Black would dare penetrate, and from them no White would issue alive--
so declared Kombo, and Anne wondered anew if there were hidden
volcanoes in that closed region, the existence of which was unknown to
explorers. Short of that fearsome locality, Kombo informed her there
were plenty of scrubs and rocky places on the side of the range, and
where the natives would be perfectly secure from molestation. He also
assured her, shamefacedly, that it would not be his own tribe, the
Moongars, that had committed the evil deed. Their hunting-grounds, he
explained, were further south, this being their extreme limit. He
again suggested that the marauders belonged to one or other of a more
warlike and much dreaded race, either the Maianbars or the
Poolongools, both of which spoke the Moongar dialect, and inhabited
the ranges further west.

Anne tried to forget her sorrow in making the cave comfortable,
Kombo keeping his camp near the mouth of it, while she remained in the
interior. There were grass-trees out upon the stony plateau upon which
they had emerged from the scrub, and she made the black boy cut some
of the green tufts of these, and spread them upon the floor of the
cavern. On a heap of the long blades, she laid her blankets, making an
odorous couch; the trunk of the tree they burned at the entrance of
the cave, and so managed to keep off the mosquitoes, which would not
fly through the smoke. Kombo collected, too, a number of dry branches
to serve as fuel for several days; and finding a convenient basin in
the cave, they fetched water in their billies and pint-pots, making
many journeys to and from a spring Kombo had found, and filled the
basin, so that they might have a supply at hand in case of siege.

Anne dared not herself go far outside the cave; but Kombo foraged
for native berries and roots; for the larvae which, when roasted, make
a dish for an epicure; for scrub turkeys' eggs, and for opossum and
bandicoot, so that on the whole, they fared sumptuously. Kombo
sometimes wished openly that he had a gin to get food for him, and
once tentatively suggested that they should join the Blacks, who, he
said, would pilot them up the coast to Port Somerset. He assured Anne
that she need not dread ill--treatment at the hands of his brethren so
long as she was under his protection.

"Ba'al mine like-it altogether Maianbar and Poolongool black," said
he; "but all the same, long time ago that brother belonging to
Moongar. Suppose mine say, Missa Anne, been bring down rain for black
fellow; Missa Anne, Cloud-Daughter belonging to Mormodelik (the
Pleiades); Missa Anne plenty good to black fellow? Then Maianbar black
very kind--bujeri look out after Missa Anne. Black fellow no make
Missa Anne carry spear, waddy, dilly-bag, like-it gin. Mine tell black
fellow Missa Anne like-it Karaji (Medicine man). Mine say, Missa Anne
pialla (talk to) debil-debil till that fellow go away. Mine say, Missa
Anne make it rain, make it thunder, make-im black fellow very sick--
you see! Black fellow frightened of Missa Anne; give her gunya, bring
her nice fellow tucker--make it altogether bujeri for Missa Anne. I
b'lieve Missa Anne be like-it queen long-a black fellow."

But these gracious promises did not tempt Anne. Indeed, they alarmed
her, as showing the trend of Kombo's desires. She thought of the
horrors at Kooloola, and even began to be a little afraid of Kombo,
who, she saw plainly, was longing to rejoin his tribe; and though she
trusted him as regarded her own safety, she could not be sure that he
would not yield to the impulse of savagery, which, it was evident, had
seized him since the casting of civilisation. She could only beg him
to wait until the commotion had blown over, pointing out that, in such
case, they would both be in danger of being shot by the black
troopers; whereas, if they remained in the cave, by-and-by her cousin
Tom would be settled at Kooloola and would plenteously reward Kombo,
and maybe cease from hostilities with the tribes because of the black
boy's care of her.

Three days passed, and Anne was getting accustomed to being a cave
dweller. She mended the rents in her grey habit, combed her hair, and
took a bath, stealing to the spring for that purpose. She saw in the
pool's mirror that she was less brown than when she had bathed in the
water-hole near the digging township, and was half glad, half fearful.
She was woman enough, however, not to desire that Kombo should get her
materials for re--dyeing the skin that had once been fair.

Things were so quiet, that after the first day or two, Kombo
reconnoitred more freely and was out longer at a time; while Anne
also, chafing against her enforced imprisonment, took courage and went
out into the scrub above which the crag rose. She now discovered that
this was not an isolated peak, but the half of a cloven hump, and that
it was rounded more gently on the other side, and covered with the
same dense scrub which stretched westward among the hills at the back
of Kooloola head station.

Seeing the configuration of the country, and realising the shelter
which so vast a jungle must give to dangerous Blacks, Anne marvelled
again at her uncle's want of bushman-like sagacity in selecting this
site for his homestead. She did not know that the scrub, lightly
wired, formed an easily-made boundary for an extensive home-paddock,
which it would have cost a good deal of money to fence, and that Angus
Duncan's Scotch thrift had on that account prompted the choice.

The wild berries were now, as the summer waned, dropping off the
trees from ripeness. They were very tempting to the little troglodyte,
and a search after an especially luscious plum led Anne one day much
further than she had intended. She lost her way, and was some time in
striking the precipitous face of the hump; then, being quite out of
her bearings, she skirted it in the wrong direction, getting further
and further from her own temporary dwelling-place. Seeing a dark
opening in the face of the cliff, and mistaking it for the entrance to
their cave, she ran towards it, to find that it differed somewhat from
the opening she knew, for it had not the grey boulder which there
guarded the cave's mouth. She was venturesome enough to wish to
explore this new cavern, but was held back by the dread of
encountering such another snake as the one Kombo had killed on taking
possession of their own refuge. Then she fancied that she heard a
Black's cry--the sort of cry Kombo gave when they were separated in
the Bush, to let her know his whereabouts, and which he had taught her
to imitate. She uttered it now, imagining that Kombo had found the
cave before her; but immediately afterwards, a confused sound of
Blacks' jabbering fell upon her ear, and at the same time she saw a
little cloud of blue smoke blown outward from the opening in the
cliff, which showed her that there must be a fire within.

Was it Kombo who had made the fire, or were there other Blacks near?
A sudden doubt came into Anne's mind and caused her to retreat hastily
into the shadow of a boulder of rock, cowering against it till she
should become certain who were her neighbours.

If, in truth, there were blacks near, it was not possible that Kombo
should be unaware of them. Certain small circumstances, suspicious in
themselves, which she had not at the time thought much of, now came
back to her. The black boy had been out an unusually long while the
day before, and she had noticed on his face, when they were afterwards
in the cave together, an expression which had puzzled her, a
suggestion of mystery, glee, and yet of awed timidity in his manner of
dealing with her. At the same time, there had been in his demeanour
something of repressed savagery, and he had talked to her in his own
language entirely, not in the pidgin English--aboriginese--customary
among Europeans and half--civilised blacks. Anne understood to a great
extent the language of his tribe, but had preferred to encourage him
in learning English, an effort which, so far as grammar went, had not
been wholly successful. She remembered, too, that he had brought with
him a bit of half-cooked kangaroo tail, and knowing that they had no
kangaroo meat in their camp, she questioned as to where he had got it,
and why he had not fetched more of the flesh home to the cave, but
received only evasive replies.

While these thoughts were passing uneasily through Anne's mind, she
was startled by the whizz of a boomerang which flew by the rock, and
returned towards the thrower. At the same moment there was a rustle in
the brushwood by the cliff, and two naked Blacks advanced round the
boulder upon her.

The girl kept her self-possession, though the Blacks were fully
armed, each holding a nulla-nulla pointed, and a spear poised. She
reared herself against the rock, and looking straight at the warriors,
said fearlessly in their own tongue:

"Minti into yuggari Mai-al?" which means, "What is it that you would
do to a stranger?"

The men fell back and jabbered to each other, astonished at the
sight of this brown woman who yet was not as themselves, but who
addressed them bravely in their own language. Now, out of the cave a
crowd of natives swarmed--young and old, men, women, and piccaninies.
There must have been nearly a hundred hidden in the recesses of the
mountain.

"Wunti Murnian?" they cried. "Wunti Karabi?" (Where are the police?
Where are the white men?) And they waved their arms at her
threateningly.

The girl felt for her revolver beneath the flap of her jacket where
she usually carried it, then recollected with dismay that she had not
taken it that day from the hole beside her bed in the cave, where she
kept it hidden. Only the belt with cartridges in it was about her
waist. Then she reflected that perhaps it was as well that she had not
the temptation of using her revolver. These Blacks, if they were those
who had raided the station and murdered its inhabitants, would know
the use of fire-arms, and would not regard them as something
supernatural, wherein she felt lay her chief hope of alarming the
Aborigines. Perhaps one of these very nulla-nullas had battered in the
skull of her aunt. She shuddered at the thought. What chance had she
among such blood-thirsty devils? Oh! where was Kombo, who might have
protected her?

And yet her words seemed to have awed them, for the nearest of the
warriors made no further demonstration. And now it occurred to her
that she possessed possibly a surer means of self-defence than even
her revolver. She lifted both her arms, stretching forth her hands in
a gesture so commanding, that the attention of the blacks was
arrested, and they all gazed wonderingly at her, and ceased from
manacing. She stepped back on to a ledge of rock that protruded from
the boulder, and, letting her arms fall at her sides, sent out the
full strength of her voice in the Ave Maria of Gounod, that devotional
chant, which had once before so impressed Kombo's tribe; only, that
for the name Maria, she substituted Baiame, the title of the Blacks'
Great Creator. The natives shrank for a minute or two in amazement,
and made a circle a little distance from her, as they do in a
corroboree when the medicine women dance and sing. Suddenly, a warrior
stepped forward. He lifted his spear and, springing to this side and
that, began to dance the wild semi-religious dance which preludes the
native religious rite of the Bora, to which, however, no women are
ever admitted. Anne sang on, and one warrior after another followed
the example of the first dancer. The sublime strains of the chant
echoed among the forest trees and the great boulders, and were thrown
back from the face of the basalt cliff. The girl's soulwas in the
invocation. She was singing for the glory of God, and the preservation
of the life He had given her. "Ave Baiamè!" Was ever stranger prayer
or praise raised to the Lord of Hosts in His wilderness?

She ceased. The warriors continued their dance, but presently
stopped too; and now the whole congregation gazed at her as she stood
on the raised ledge, her head level with the point of the boulder; her
grey habit the colour of the rock itself, falling in straight folds
round her; her brown face upraised, with its delicate aquiline nose,
its little square chin, and its shining eyes all aglow; her lips
tremulous with excitement. The Blacks, spell-bound, regarded her with
the wonder and admiration they would have given to a divinity. And, in
truth, she seemed like some goddess of their own race, suddenly
descended incarnate among them. They waited in awe--stricken silence.

"Nulla Yuggari berren," she said simply. (I have now finished.)
Shouts arose, and she could distinguish the words, "Pialla naia
nanti." (Tell your name.)

She answered in their dialect--that of Kombo's tribe, the
Moongarrs--the words coming to her as if by inspiration, "What would
you have of me? I, who am sister of the Mormodelik--the Pleiades--have
come to give you blessing."

She pointed skywards. They understood, and with one voice the old
men, the young warriors, and the women acclaimed her:

"Mormodelik! Mormodelik! The Spirit of the Pleiades!"

At that moment, from the summit of the precipice above them, another
voice shouted, and a spear, hurled down with unerring aim, struck the
ground a few paces from the outskirts of the mob.

The voice was Kombo's.



Chapter X--The Sister of the Pleiades



"MISSA ANNE! Missa Anne!" the black boy cried. "Ba'al you jerron
(don't be afraid). Plenty mine lookout long-a you."

As Kombo spoke, he swung himself down the face of the cliff with
marvellous dexterity, clutching at the saplings and shrubs which
protruded from the crevices, and balancing himself wherever a
projecting rock gave him a chance of foothold. The Blacks watched his
descent, greeting him with friendly yells, and making way for him when
he flung himself to earth. He rushed through the little throng to the
boulder against which Anne stood.

"Wunda Mormodelik!" he too cried, pointing to the grey figure, and
making before it a quaint imitation of the white man's deferential
bow.

"Wunda Mormodelik! Yuro Kateena! Spirit of the Pleiades! Cloud--
Daughter!" And then Kombo harangued the tribe briefly but forcibly;
and Anne, following his discourse, made out that the Karràji-Wiràwi
(the Medicine Woman)--meaning herself--was known to all the tribes
below Mount Coongoon, the mountain near Cooktown; for had they not
heard her sing songs which the Great Spirit had taught her, and did
they not know that Baiamè the Creator had taken a star from the sky
and made it into a woman; and that he had sent the woman to his
children, the Blacks, to bring them rain and food, and to make them
victorious against their enemies? Then Kombo proceeded to tell how
Yuro Kateena had sung to Baiamè in the great thirsty time; and how
Baiamè had given rain to the earth, and had made the rivers run again,
and the wallabis rejoice and the fish glad; and so had he provided
food in plenty for the tribes to eat. He told how, when Yuro Kateen
sang for a tribe, so that its warriors might fight and conquer, and
grow mighty men of battle on the slain flesh of their enemies, great
Baiamè listened to Yuro Kateena's prayer, and the tribe flourished
even as she had asked. And so all had gone well with the Blacks while
Yuro Kateena remained among them and sang. But there had come a day
when the white man drove Yuro Kateena from among them, and Cloud-
Daughter could sing no more. Eeoogh! Eeoogh! Yucca! Yucca! Alas! Alas!
Cloud-Daughter had gone across the big water, had left her children,
the Blacks; and Baiamè had been angry with the Blacks because they had
not kept his beloved. Then Kombo told that after a great Woolla
(Council) of the tribe, he had gone from his people and followed
Cloud--Daughter over the great sea to the land where only white people
dwelt, serving a queen who knew not Baiamè. There Kombo had seen that
Yuro Kateena was not happy with the white people, and that she longed
to be again among her brothers the Blacks; and he had brought her home
by sea and by land, so that now she was here to sing once more to
Baiamè, and thus call down blessing upon the people. Kombo paused
dramatically, and again bowed before Cloud-Daughter. The Blacks set up
a great shout, and the warriors made a line, advancing to tender
allegiance to the Medicine Woman, the beloved of Baiamè. But Kombo had
more to say. He had not lived among Whites for nothing. He knew how to
bargain, and could turn his astuteness to account even among his
kindred Blacks.

So he dilated upon the advantage to the tribe of having a great
Medicine Woman among them. He pointed out that if Cloud-Daughter were
to remain, she must be treated as the divinity of a once-time star
demanded. There must be no burden laid upon Yuro Kateena. Were she
tired in marching through the scrub, young warriors must cut a great
sheet of bark, and carry her thereon upon their shoulders. Her gunya
must be made in the best fashion and held sacred, none entering
therein without her permission. The King himself must do Cloud-
Daughter honour.

Whereupon an old man, much wealed upon the chest and shoulders,
which is a sign of age and dignity, stepped forward and spoke. He said
that Multuggerah, King of the Maianbars, was verily King, and all
others were his servants. Even Buli--he who spake--oldest chief in the
Maianbars, had no will but that of Multuggerah. Multuggerah had not
followed the wind of the south, in whose footsteps had trodden Buli,
but had remained in the great camp beside Maianbar, which Kombo
interpreted to Anne as the Deep Tank near to Kubba Ulala, the
Mountains of the Dead. For the King Multuggerah, the old man went on,
not even his chief Buli might answer. But Buli the Whirlwind--for he
it was who made the warriors and their gins to run fast through the
scrub, who laid low the brigalow trees, and carved spears therefrom,
who with his weapons of war swept like a tempest over the herds of
white men, and killed the white men in the camps they had made,
therefore was he named the Whirlwind--he, Whirlwind, would swear now
before the sister of the Pleiades, Cloud-Daughter, that he and his
warriors, old men, and gins, would obey the word of Cloud-Daughter
till, after many days marching through the scrubs, they should reach
Maianbar the Deep Tank. Then when Yuroka-Gora, the North Wind, brother
of Yuro Kateena, should sweep his children the clouds from off the
sky, they should behold, higher than the hills, Kubba Ulala the
Mountains of the Dead. So then also when they came to the camp of
Multuggerah, he--Buli the Whirlwind--would deliver Cloud-Daughter,
unharmed, to the King; and Multuggerah should say whether he would
hear or no the song of Yuro Kateena, sister of the Mormodelik, the
beloved of Baiamè.

Having thus with much dignity delivered himself, the Chief retired,
first prostrating himself before the messenger of Baiamè; and Cloud-
Daughter, some guardian power compelling her, sang in recitative in
the native tongue:

"It is well, oh! Buli, Whirlwind, and chief of the family which bows
before Multuggerah the King. Cloud-Daughter will cause the wallabi to
fall beneath the Maianbar's spears, and the roots and the fruit to
yield themselves abundantly for Buli and his warriors who shall lead
Cloud--Daughter to Multuggerah the King."

But Kombo continued, warily making his stipulations for the safety
and honour and well-being of his mistress.

The finest opossum robe should be laid at the feet of Cloud-Daughter,
and the first portion of game, and first gatherings of roots and
vegetables and berries from the high trees. To all, the word of Cloud-
Daughter should be as the word of Multuggerah the King, till the King
should himself behold and acknowledge the wisdom and power of Cloud-
Daughter. And in return for the honour bestowed upon her, to Yuro
Kateena, the Maianbars should be as her own people, and each night
would she petition Baiamè for them, that the Murnian (troopers) should
not find their camp, that the wallabi should fall plentifully beneath
the warriors' spears, that the caves and hollow logs should yield
bandicoot, and the earth roots in abundance, and the high trees bear
many thousand berries. For all these good things would Cloud-Daughter
entreat Baiamè. Therefore every night at the mouth of her gunya, so
long as the tribe did her honour, would Cloud-Daughter sing her song
aloud, so that all the warriors might hear her commune with the Great
Father Baiamè. Therefore, likewise would she hold converse with the
gods made by Baiamè over whom the Great Spirit had made her queen--
with Munuàla, God of the Waters; with Kurru--Kurru, his wife, Dropper
of Dew and Gatherer of Mists; with Woong-goo--gin, mother of the
earth's produce; and with Billibira, God of Fire, most cruel and most
mighty enemy of gods and men. All these, at the will of Baiamè, even
the dread Billibira, were subject to the song of Cloud--Daughter.

Buli, the Whirlwind, bowed his head before the words of Kombo, and
said affirmatively, "Yoai Pika," in the manner of the Blacks. But he
set before Cloud-Daughter that the gatherings of the forest might be
few, and the spearing of wallabi difficult, for the Murnian--the black
troopers--were pressing upon the tribe for what they had done at
Kooloola; and it had been needful to hide in haste in the caves,
because their camp-fires had betrayed them, and there had not been
time for them to escape afar--"yan wàra wàra."

Then Kombo related how on that very day he had tracked the Murnian
and had found mandowie (foot-prints) going eastward. Therefore he knew
that the troopers had ridden, as far as they could, into the scrub,
and finding nothing, were gone eastward, believing that the Blacks had
fled towards the swamp near the coast. He had been returning in haste
to tell of what he had seen when he beheld Cloud-Daughter, and heard
the voice of the goddess calling upon her Father Baiamè to hold the
spears of his children that they were about to hurl against her. Now,
he said, must the Blacks hasten where the north-west wind would lead
them--the wind Yuro Ballima, brother, too, of the Cloud-Daughter.
"Nalla yan!" (Haste, haste!) he cried. "Let them go quick through the
scrub into the places where no white man on a horse might enter; then
would they be free from the fear of the Murnian, and might travel as
they would, to the camp of Multuggerah the King."

So the Blacks decided the matter. The sacred circle was broken. Buli
issued his commands. The gins hastened back to the cave to collect
their dilly-bags, their piccaninnies, and a supply of food; also to
let loose the tame dingoes which had been imprisoned in a corner of
the cave, lest their barking should call attention to the camp. The
old men followed the gins; and the warriors, at the order of Buli,
defiled before Anne, making a double line, through which she passed
with Kombo to the mouth of the cave. As she stood waiting for what
should come, and realising with dismay that, though a divinity, she
was a prisoner, about twelve of the braves closed in round her, and by
order of Buli, constituted themselves a guard of honour, appointed, as
she understood, to be responsible for her safety till Multuggerah the
King should make known his ordinance as to her keeping. As she heard
this command, Anne's courage sank for the first time; and forgetting
that she was a goddess, she appealed pitifully to Kombo to save her
from the Blacks, and to keep her in the cave they had left till she
could give herself up to her cousin. "Mine think-it that fellow Tom
dead like it ole Missus," was Kombo's reply. "Mine no see Massa Tom
long-a police. Mine think-it that fellow no come any more long-a
Kooloola."

It was, alas! most likely that Kombo was right. Anne recognised the
justice of his argument. If Tom Duncan had been alive, he would
certainly be with the troopers, helping them in their work of
vengeance. It was no doubt due to the fact that Tom was dead or
disabled that their hiding-place had not been discovered. For was it
otherwise probable that Tom should be unaware of caves so close to the
head-station? That the troopers had not found them was hardly to be
wondered at. Of course it would be supposed that the Blacks had fled
westward. No one would suspect that they had concealed themselves so
near the scene of their misdeeds. Kombo made a feint of not
understanding Anne's English, as she went on alternately pleading and
commanding. He turned away and spoke to the guard in so low a voice
that Anne could not hear what he said. The girl grew desperate, and
addressed the tribe in their own dialect, bidding them leave her
behind, for that it was not her will, nor the will of the great Baiamè
that she should be taken to Multuggerah. She even disclaimed her
divinity. She had been made brown, she said, in order that she might
escape from her enemies among the white men. In reality, she was the
daughter of a white man and a white woman, not Yuro Kateena descended
to earth from among the Mormodelik, the Pleiades.

At her words the Blacks scowled and murmured among themselves much
disquietude. Several spears were raised threateningly. Then Kombo,
moved by a sudden inspiration, cried, "Unda burgin duriga maial
Billibira." "Billibira, the God of Fire, has driven the stranger mad
in the scrub."

Scrub madness was not unknown among the Blacks, and they feared
greatly Billibira, the fire-smiting god. The men of the guard had been
standing at ease, each with his shield of wood lowered against the
right leg, the left leg bent, the left foot resting in the hollow of
the right thigh, and the weight of the body supported by the spear
held upright, its point in the ground. Now they were at attention
again.

Among the Blacks an insane person is sacred; and at the words of
Kombo, threatening gestures changed to those of commiseration. Kombo,
pursuing his advantage, spoke eagerly to Anne in broken English. Would
she sacrifice both their lives?--for the Blacks would most assuredly
kill and eat them both, unless she sustained her position as the
beloved of Baiamè, and the sister of the Mormodelik, in which
birthright Kombo, indeed, to do him justice, believed implicitly as a
certain occult mystery. Had she not proved that the gift and the
withholding of rain was in her power? She was Yuro Kateena; and were
she not Yuro Kateena sent down from the sky as the child of a white
man and a white woman, born in the Blacks' country, and destined to be
the Blacks' saviour, then he, Kombo, could regard her no more as a
divinity. She would be to him merely an ordinary white woman--one of
those who were the enemies of his race. Besides, he argued
ingeniously, how could she remain in the cave and not be discovered,
supposing that the Maianbar tribe permitted her to do so? And now that
Massa Tom was no longer at Kooloola, would not her husband most
certainly hear that she was alive and come to claim her?

Kombo's reasoning was not to be gainsaid; and with the terror of
Elias Bedo before her eyes, Anne silently submitted. Then Kombo cried
"Undara Bunman," to the relief of the Blacks, who understood from the
words that the madness of Cloud-Daughter was now cured.

Kombo subtly set forth in broken English that, once established among
the Maianbars as the divinity Kombo himself took her to be, Anne might
so rule the people that they would do her bidding even to the sending
her from them at the will of the Great Baiamè. So might he and she by-
and-by strike north in safety and make for the port of Somerset,
according to their original intention. He explained also, that though
the language of the Maianbars, and the Moongars, his own tribe, was
alike, and that though the Maianbars had undoubtedly heard from the
Moongars of the physical existence of Cloud-Daughter, which had been
bruited among Blacks ever since that memorable bringing down of rain a
few years back, there were many points of difference in the tribal
customs, and he would not have the same influence with this race as he
might have had with his own. He also told her that the Maianbars and
the Pooloongools had the reputation of being the most bloodthirsty
warriors and the fiercest among the northern tribes; also that they
were cannibals to a greater extent than his own tribe, the Moongars.
The Maianbars, said Kombo, lived in a place "burrin burrin (many)
moons journey," to which none of the coast blacks had ever yet
penetrated, through the scrub and over the mountains.

In the midst of Kombo's explanation, a little wailing, but most
tender cry, sounded from the cave's mouth, interrupting his eloquence
and causing him to turn sharply round, for Kombo was a gentleman never
insensible to the claims of womanhood, even though it might be black
womanhood, and for three years he had been mateless. The secret of
Kombo's mysterious glee was now explained. A girl stepped forward and
pathetically stretched forth her arms to the lover who she feared
might be leaving her. She was a comely creature, scarcely matured,
with long straight hair, a skin like brown velvet, and dark soft eyes.
A smile broke over Kombo's face.

"Kunman Kurridu nungundung inta," he cried, which Anne knew meant,
"Darling, I love you." He turned to Anne with the dignity of a man who
has incurred family responsibilities.

"Mine no want-im stop behind," he said. "Mine want-im go long-a
Maianbar camp. Ba'al mine been have-im wife plenty long time. Now mine
got-im gin belonging to me. Name Unda. Come,"--and he beckoned with
loving hand,--"Taiyanàni Unda!"

Unda crept between the legs of the guard at the call of her spouse,
and Kombo presented his bride.

"Unda servant belonging to Cloud-Daughter," he said. Anne bowed to
fate in the shape of Unda, and from that day became the goddess of the
Maianbar tribe.



Chapter XI--The Magic of Cloud-Daughter



TO ANNE MARLEY--for now she refused to think of herself by her
married name--suddenly turned into a goddess, life became a piece of
play-acting, in which she dared not give way to natural impulses, lest
she should forget that she was an incarnation of one of the Pleiades--
Wunda Mormodelik. The rôle of divinity she found, as her experience
lengthened, had, with certain compensations, serious drawbacks. The
worst of these drawbacks was from the beginning very apparent, when
she saw that she was to be denied liberty of action and right of
solitude.

Her guard marched her into a furthermost recess of the cave, which
was now a scene of indescribable confusion as the tribe prepared for
departure. The place reeked with the vile effluvia of animals, unclean
humanity, and decaying meat, while the noise was so great that hardly
one definite sound could be distinguished amid the babel of voices.
Piccaninnies squalled, burning themselves with the scattered fire-
sticks as they crawled along the floor, camp dogs wailed drearily (the
tame dingo never barks), spears and boomerangs clashed while the men
collected their weapons--the only part of the packing performed by
lords of black creation--and gins squabbled over pieces of half-cooked
flesh which they raked out of the ashes, and stuffed into their dilly-
bags; while every now and then, when a gin seemed to slack work, her
husband hurled a nulla-nulla at her head. From one corner of the cave,
close to the recess in which the poor goddess was imprisoned, there
came shouts of ribald laughter among a group of black men there
engaged in some operations, the nature of which, in the dimness of the
cavern, Anne could not at first determine. But now one of the Blacks
threw a branch of dead gum-leaves on his fire. It flamed up, and Anne
saw by its light that the men were holding up some garments of white
women, and with unbecoming gestures were trying on skirts and bodices
that had no doubt belonged to those murdered at Kooloola. Anne turned
sick and faint, soul and body recoiling with deadly horror from the
companionship in which she found herself. How could she endure to
live, even for a day, among these brutes who had killed her aunt and
cousins? Alas! a terrible foreboding told her that not for a day only,
but perhaps for months, she might be doomed to share their food and
shelter. A frenzied longing seized her to escape into the scrub and
trust herself to the tender mercies of whites. She begged that she
might be allowed to go out into the open air. But old Buli the chief
had, with a black's cunning, read her face, and was of no mind to let
Wunda Mormobelik, who was to deliver them from their enemies, slip
through his fingers. He shook his head, and made a sign to the body-
guard, which, with spears uplifted, closed round the troubled
divinity, while their eyes gleamed through the flickering light of the
cave with, it seemed to Anne, a horrible ferocity. She called for
Kombo, but Buli told her he had gone to the other cave to fetch the
blankets and rations. Anne thought of her revolver, for which she knew
Kombo would not search, since he was unaware of its existence. Had
that revolver been now in her hands, Buli and the guards would have
fallen dead at her feet. It had several chambers, and she could load
quickly. But she was helpless. Since force was not at her command, she
tried guile instead, and requested that they would let her go herself
to collect her possessions. She tried to work on the cupidity of Buli
by promises of tea, sugar, and other delicacies, but to no avail. Then
she appealed to his superstitious respect for her magic powers--alas,
also to no purpose. Buli was obdurate. Though she was a goddess, and
though Buli and the braves had sworn to obey her as they would
Multuggerah the King, Anne discovered that she was to have no power in
mundane matters; and even her supposed jurisdiction over the forces of
nature was limited, by reason of Kombo's unlucky announcement that she
had gone mad in the scrub. In reply to her angry questioning, Buli
told her that because Billibira had stricken her with madness, though
now she was recovered, it would not be safe for her to move in that
place without a circle of warriors around her to do battle with the
fire-god, and that on no account could she be permitted to enter the
cave in which the mighty Billibira had robbed her of reason. Anne
laughed hysterically. It was useless to declare that Billibira was
made subject to her by Baiamè. Buli thought it better to be on the
safe side, at all events, till they had got through the Kooloola scrub
and out of reach of the troopers. The girl was now too hopeless and
too exhausted to plead any more. Buli would not leave her side, and
the guards made an impenetrable wall around her. Even Kombo had
deserted her, she thought bitterly, and was no doubt enjoying himself
with his new wife.

She did not see the black boy again till towards evening, when she
was marched back out of the cave, still with her body-guard pressing
close round her, to breathe at last again the pure air of heaven. The
tribe had gone before, and the procession was now formed, so that all
might round the hump and mount in order, piercing the scrub at the
back of the precipice. A band of warriors went ahead; Buli with his
old men strode just in advance of her; and behind, marched the rest of
the men, and the gins who carried on their backs great baskets of
plaited cane and dilly-bags filled with spoil and provisions. Here,
Anne caught sight of Kombo, with Unda by his side, her own swag and
his, which had been brought from the cave, divided between the two;
for Kombo was yet too lover-like a husband to load his gin as if she
were a beast of burden, in the manner of other husbands of his race.

The company of Blacks mounted very quietly to the summit of the crag,
and then descended again in a north-west direction through the dense
scrub towards the lower mountains of the dividing range, which were at
least four days' march from Kooloola. There were other hills to the
eastward clothed with scrub, and also having caves, and it was to
scour these hills that the native police had now gone. From the top of
the knoll the surrounding country could be seen, and far away in the
hollow, the head--station, out of the chimneys of which smoke arose,
showing that the place was not deserted. The stars were shining in
heaven, and the moon getting to her full, sent down occasional gleams
upon the marching band, through rifts in the foliage overhead. There
was a blacks' track through the scrub, which the army followed; but
after some hours this became lost in the thickets of lawyer palm which
often barred progress, and through which those ahead had sometimes to
chop a path.

In spite of the dense vegetation, which hindered any free current of
air, the night was cooler than usual, and the march less wearying than
it would have been by day. The damp soil and rotting leaves of the
scrub sent out a heady smell, which mingled with the scent of flowers
and the aromatic exhalations of many of the trees. Towards morning,
though it was long before dawn, the scrub awoke. After nightfall, in
the early part of the march, they had heard the mournful note of the
jungle hen, the miawling of the cat-bird, the coo of pigeons, and
cries of many other birds unfamiliar to Anne. Sometimes she amused
herself by repeating the note, to the surprise of her companions, who
could not account for a sound so close to them. But as fatigue crept
over her, she lost zest for any such pranks.

By sunrise they were several miles away from Kooloola, and in such a
precipitous part of the scrub that it was not likely any white man
would disturb them. But there were the black trackers to be dreaded--
the men who, with carbines cocked, would creep through the vines and
lawyer palms, and surprise a sleeping camp. So the band made but a
short halt by a running stream, and then marched again. Only the
terror of trackers, and Kombo's exhortations, could have forced the
Blacks to exertions so unwonted. Kombo, as one versed in the ways of
Whites, was respected among them, and Kombo had his own reasons for
desiring that there should be a considerable distance between Captain
Cunningham and himself.

His councils had weight, emanating, as he took care to state, from
Cloud--Daughter, whose magic had enabled her to see afar the fire-
spitting pho--phos of the Whites, which would bring destruction upon
the camp. Billibira, he explained, was the enemy of Cloud-Daughter;
and were the fire-spitting pho-phos of the Whites to prevail, the
Fire-god would carry away Cloud-Daughter, and she would become once
more a star inaccessible in high heaven. Then there would be no more
an intercessor between Baiamè and his children.

Kombo's reasoning had weight with Buli and his braves; and so all
night, and the best part of the following day, the unfortunate goddess
was obliged to tramp on between her guards; and, though they made the
way fairly easy for her, pushing back the palms and vines with their
spears, before morning Cloud-Daughter was almost fainting from
exhaustion. By-and-by they got into clearer country, where there was a
break in the scrub. Here Buli, who, in the rapidity of the march, had
been trying to act up to his name of Whirlwind, stopped, and bade the
men cut a big sheet of bark which was to serve as a litter for Yuro
Kateena. Kombo had reminded him of his obligations, but in the scrub,
such a mode of travelling would have been impossible. There were some
lightly timbered ridges to cross, and beyond the nearer spurs of the
range, scrub land again. On the other side of these near ranges, they
might consider themselves safe from pursuit. So Anne journeyed for the
rest of the day in comparative comfort, lying in her litter on the
best opossum rug in the camp, which Buli had consecrated to her use,
and borne on the shoulders of four braves. These, however, grumbled
sorely at the task imposed upon them, and, but for the exhortations of
old Buli and Kombo, would have left their divinity to come along as
best she could. That night, the Blacks camped just within the further
scrub, and the next day took a welcome rest after their toilsome
march. A gunya was built of branches and palm-leaves for Cloud-
Daughter in the centre of the camp, and here, upon her 'possum rug,
Anne slept in comparative peace.

The next day, the gins hunted in the scrub and brought in a small
animal called yopolo, which they found among the leaves, insects'
larvae, and fruit that, when baked on red-hot stones, somewhat
resembled peas, but were red in colour. The gunya which Kombo and Unda
occupied was next that of Anne, and Kombo kept her fire alight and
cooked her food, claiming a portion for Unda as well as for himself.
The surveillance of the guard was now somewhat relaxed, and she was
permitted to bathe in a stream which ran down a gully below the camp,
Kombo and Unda keeping watch. On the whole, she was better provided
than when in the cave, and but for the uncertainty of her future, and
the long distance from civilisation which was lengthening with every
mile, she might have reconciled herself to her situation. The girl's
buoyant spirits rose in these surroundings, which had upon her an
effect at once soothing and intensely exhilarating. Here, amid perils
and deprivations, she was happier than she had ever been in England,
where the endless bricks and mortar had seemed to her a wall reaching
to the sky, in which her prisoned soul fluttered with maimed pinions,
where her body languished, and her will became inert and morbid. Here,
Nature reclaimed her child.

Anne's heart bounded, her spirit uprose on freed wings, and her
voice, she fancied, had never been so strong and so pure as when at
night and morning she sang her hymn to Baiamè. Sometimes, she thought,
that if she ever again went into the haunts of men, she would not sing
that song in its orthodox form, but keep it always an invocation to
the Blacks' god, an "Ave Baiamè."

When the camp was broken, they mounted the range by walking up the
bed of a watercourse, where, though boulders and pitfalls abounded,
there were no thorny vines, nor impassable hedges of lawyer palm. On
the summit of the hill they camped again for several days, and there
fell in with a strange tribe known as the Poolongools, which surprised
the camp of the Maianbars and tried to steal some of the youngest
gins. In the dead of night, a spear was thrown into the gunya of
Cloud-Daughter, just missing her as she lay upon her 'possum rug; but
at her call Kombo awoke, and gave the alarm by hitting about with the
butt of his old gun, which, though useless for want of ammunition, he
preserved as a potent club. There was wild excitement in the camp. The
warriors sprang out and met their assailants. Spears flew, boomerangs
whizzed, the heavy wooden swords kept for duels to the death, struck
out from behind great painted shields. Two young warriors of the enemy
were killed, while one of the Maianbars was wounded, and a gin carried
away. At one moment, the tide of victory seemed turning in favour of
the hostile tribe, and rout and disaster threatened the men of
Maianbar. Then old Buli hastened to the gunya of Cloud-Daughter--in
the scurry and confusion of battle he had forgotten that their goddess
might save them--and called upon the spirit of the Mormodelik to cry
out to Great Father Baiame, and bring down water from Mununduala, the
Keeper of Rains, which should sweep away and drown their enemies.

It was a critical moment for the perplexed divinity. Anne looked up
to the sky, and saw that it was overcast, and that a pale glimmer of
lightning shone low among the trees. Perchance, she thought, Nature
and coincidence would come to her aid; and so, at the entreaty of Buli
and of the gins who wailed while the warriors fought, she lifted her
voice and gave out the first song that occurred to her--one peculiarly
appropriate to the occasion, "God save the Queen." At the sound of
these heroic strains, the war-whoops of the Maianbars were changed to
acclamations, and fear seized the hostile tribe. The spears ceased
whirring, the swords fell. There was a shriek of "Debil-debil"; and
while

Send her victorious
Happy and glorious

echoed among the rocks and the forest trees, the enemy fled helter--
skelter, never pausing till the gully was crossed and the opposite
scrub gained. Thunder growled now, making a deep toned accompaniment
to Anne's voice; and presently a wind arose and rain fell--proof never
to be denied of Cloud-Daughter's sovereignty over the minor gods of
heaven. Next day there was horrible revelry. The bodies of the slain
had been dragged to a clear space just outside the circle of the camp,
and there a great fire was kindled. Dear to the native is the flesh of
his fallen foe, both for its toothsomeness to the palate of the
aboriginal, who prefers black meat to that of white man or Chinaman,
and also for the prowess in battle which it is believed to produce in
the one who eats. There was a shout of "Talgoro! Talgoro!"--which is
human flesh--and all the gunyas poured out their occupants. The whole
tribe and the dogs collected round the fire, and there was a great
feast. Even Kombo ate of the dainty morsels to which his stomach had
long been a stranger; and some would have been taken to the gunya of
Cloud-Daughter, had not Kombo cunningly represented that the Sister of
the Pleiades was forbidden to eat flesh of man. All day Anne cowered
in her gunya, sick with horror; but when it grew dusk, she stole out
unperceived by the revellers, and climbed down into the bed of the
gully. Here she sat, among the boulders which strewed it, out of
sight, smell, and hearing of the cannibal orgie. In her misery, she
wondered whether the time would ever come when she should fail in
bringing down rain or in frightening away the tribesmen's enemies; and
whether they would then denounce her as a false goddess, and roast and
eat her as they were eating the dead warriors of the Pooloongools.



Chapter XII--Domestic Difficulties



FOR the present, however, Cloud-Daughter seemed in no danger of
denunciation as a false goddess. The old men and braves of this
wandering band of the Maianbar tribe lauded her greatly for the manner
in which she had routed the Pooloongools. They were grateful for the
feast of human flesh, which they attributed to her magic, and were
quite ready to believe that Yuro Kateena held an exalted place below
the great Baiamè in the council of native gods. And, moreover, the
rain she had called down from heaven caused edible fungi to spring up
in the scrub, swelled the fruit on the trees, and made succulent the
roots, which the gins prepared into a paste that was to serve as food
in a time of scarcity. Now, meat was abundant; for the rain also
brought game from exposed places to take shelter in hollow logs,
caves, and rocky nooks--wallabis, the marsupial tiger, and snakes
which the Blacks love; so that each night when they camped in the bed
of the watercourse, or in some clear spot on the fringe of the scrub,
whole animals were roasted in their fur, and the half-cooked flesh,
left unconsumed, was gathered up by the gins and carried in their
dilly-bags for sustenance during the day's march.

For a day after the cannibal feast the Maianbars gorged and,
lethargic after the orgie, rested, wrapped in their 'possum rugs
beside the camp-fires. They did not resume the march for still another
day, and, during the halt, even Cloud-Daughter's guard of honour
relaxed vigilance so much, that it would have been easy for her to
escape had she been within reach of civilisation. As it was, she
wandered helpless and hopeless in the scrub till night fell, and it
became necessary to go back to the camp, for which she now felt the
most horrible repugnance. But so buoyant was the girl's nature that
the very wandering distracted her thoughts; and a young opossum, which
she caught in a dead tree and determined to tame, helped her still
further to shut out from her mind the horrors of the previous evening,
and to efface her miserable previsions of a similar fate for herself.
Had the victims been white men, her imagination could not have been so
easily lulled, but she knew that Blacks much prefer the flesh of their
own kind to that of white people; and she hoped, too, that if she
could retain their faith she might not only be safe herself, but might
gradually bring them to believe that Baiamè disapproved of
cannibalism, and had sent her, his daughter, to make known his will.
Anne's courage and enthusiasm rose at this thought, and every voice in
the scrub seemed to speak to her of the mission she now almost
believed that she had been sent to fulfil. What of through her, these
Blacks could be civilised, taught to cease from their wanderings and
their fightings with other tribes, taught to till the ground, and
build huts of wood instead of gunyas of leaves; taught to be clean,
wholesome, and righteous in their dealings, to look upon the Whites as
their regenerators, and not as their enemies? But here Anne paused and
sighed, for how could this be till the Whites also were regenerated?
And of that she knew there was sore need.

The next day the Maianbars roused themselves and hunted, bringing in
a goodly supply of game; and upon the following morning, they started
once more upon the ascent of the range. The hills spread eastward in a
series of low spurs with ravines between, till the backbone of the
range was reached--a series of sharp peaks connected by narrow necks,
which, viewed from the coast side, appeared to touch the sky. Anne
knew that beyond the Dividing Range, as it was called--the Australian
Cordilleras, which form the watershed of the whole continent--the
country at this point was mostly unexplored.

They mounted at first by the gulley, down which flowed a broken
stream, swelling later on, Kombo had told Anne, into the river which
watered Kooloola station. On each side of the little stream was a
stony bed clear of vegetation, though much encumbered by great stones.
Sometimes the way was barred by waterfalls--especially just now after
the rain, which they perceived had been heavier on the higher hills.
Then it became necessary to make a détour through the scrub, and this
was a labour of pain and difficulty, for here the growth of thorny
palm was thicker than in the hills behind Kooloola. It would have been
impossible for a horseman to pierce this jungle, and the black
trackers were not likely to venture so far on foot. Therefore old
Buli, no longer anxious to keep up his reputation as the Whirlwind,
moderated the speed of his flying squadron, and the march was now
conducted in a more leisurely fashion during the first week of their
progress.

In her girlish days Anne had always been fascinated by the
loneliness and weirdness of the scrubs, and had been wont to defy
rules, and spend long hours in those which surrounded her mother's
station. But never had she been in a scrub so vast and wonderful as
this one--a wilderness probably till now, untrodden by the feet of
civilised humanity. The solitude of it, which might have driven many a
white woman in such a situation to madness, stimulated her romantic
fancy, and drew her fears away from the dangers which surrounded her,
and the uncertainty of her future. She was like a child traversing a
fairy forest, and each day brought her new amusements and interests.
At first, the silence of the scrub oppressed her in an almost
supernatural manner, for except at early morn and evening, scarcely a
bird calls or creature stirs. Then as she became more at home in it,
and her ear was attuned to its whisperings, even in the silence, she
could hear faint noises, stealthy rustlings of reptiles and insects
among the dead leaves and decaying wood, soft flutterings of
butterflies, so large and brilliant in colour that they might easily
be mistaken for flowers, throaty gurglings of animals hidden in the
trunks of trees; strange murmurings--she knew not whether of bird or
grasshopper--sometimes making loud echoes among the greenery, or the
wild alarm cry of the mound builders disturbed in their work. Many a
scrub turkey's nest did they find, and the eggs of these birds,
roasted in the ashes, were the most palatable food offered by the
Blacks to their divinity. Occasionally, they would come upon the
footmarks of a cassowary; and once a man of her guard brought Anne a
young bird whose eaglet eyes looked at her in such wild pleading, that
she let the creature loose as soon as it was possible to do so unseen.

As a general rule, she was rarely left alone. During the march, some
or all of her bodyguard of braves surrounded her, and on this account
she was somewhat debarred from mixing freely with the tribe. Moreover,
the gins were taught to regard her as a superhuman being, and they
brought always to her gunyah the best of the fruit they gathered, and
of the roots which they dug up with their pointed sticks. They held
her in too great awe to attempt any more friendly intercourse. Even
Unda, the wife of Kombo, was afraid of her, though she and her spouse
always occupied a gunya adjoining that of Cloud-Daughter; and it was
she who gave the peculiar cry which summoned the tribe within hearing
of their goddess' invocation to Baiamè, sent up night and morning for
the prosperity of his children.

Poor Unda was but a child herself, and, as the honeymoon waned,
ceased to enchain the facile affections of Kombo, who very shortly
began to follow the example of native husbands, and to chastise his
wife with a nulla-nulla. When Anne remonstrated with him on behalf of
the weeping Unda, Kombo sulkily replied, "Mine plenty tired of Unda.
That fellow stupid--no like-it white woman." Anne was silent, for she
saw that already savagery was palling upon Kombo, and she felt glad,
for therein lay her only hope of escape. But this seemed to be getting
more and more impossible, for they went each day further into the
wilderness, further from the haunts of white men, and the chance of
rescue. The last vestiges of civilisation were disappearing. All the
rations stolen from Kooloola were consumed; there was no flour to make
damper, nor tea, nor sugar; though, as a substitute for the last, the
Blacks cut down sugar-bags--the wild bees' hives--from the trees; and,
as they always presented the best of the comb to their goddess, Anne
was able to make a pleasant drink of water from the stream mixed with
honey. So she partly satisfied the natural craving for saccharine
matter; but salt, for which she also craved, was in no way procurable;
and gradually she learned to eat and relish the birds and beasts, and
even the tree-pythons without it, when they were cooked in native
fashion between aromatic leaves upon red-hot stones, in a hole in the
ground covered over with earth. There is no better oven than this, and
the bandicoots and yopolo baked in their skins in such manner are
excellent as sucking boar and fat young chicken.

So Anne did not find life wholly without charm in this desolation of
scrub and mountain. Her own gunya she was able to keep clean; her
food, cooked by Kombo, and eaten off plates of leaves or fresh bark,
was nourishing and appetising. Her position in the tribe brought her
respectful treatment, and the duties of priestess to Baiamè were by no
means arduous. Winter was drawing in; and, as they mounted to the
higher slopes, the clammy heat of the scrub became less trying in the
day-time; and the nights were often so cold and chilly that she was
glad to keep a large fire burning in front of her gunya, and to wrap
herself closely in her opossum cloak. Days and days passed in this
slow ascent of the range, short marches alternating with stretches
spent in camp, while the men hunted, and the women gathered roots from
which they extracted the poison, by steeping them in a running stream
and grinding them between stones, then drying them in the sun, till an
innocuous powder was produced, which they made into cakes. Anne now
began to occupy herself during these days of rest, and in the long
winter evenings Unda taught her to sew the skins of opossums together,
and to weave a sort of grass-cloth out of the fibre of a certain
creeper and the strands of a kind of grass that grew beside the water-
courses. From this grass-cloth she made herself a petticoat, for very
soon there would be little left of her grey habit, though she mended
it sedulously with the needles and cottons she had saved, and which
she kept for that purpose. Unda had shown her how to make needles out
of the small bones of birds, and thread from the sinews of wallabis
and opossums. The feathers of the birds that Kombo snared, she kept,
and sewed on to a foundation of grass-netting into the shape of a
tippet. She was vain enough to admire herself in this tippet, which,
being composed chiefly of brilliant feathers of parrots and the soft
grey and white plumage of pigeons, was picturesque and becoming. Anne
was a true woman in her small vanities. It amused her to deck herself
with necklaces of berries, and head-dresses of parrots and cockatoo's
feathers. When she bathed in some quiet pool amid the rocks, she would
look at her reflection in the water and feel very glad that the brown
dye was wearing off her skin; she felt pleased, too, in beholding the
brightness of her eyes and the delicacy of her features. At these
times, she was sorry that there was no white person to admire her, and
then her thoughts would stray guiltily back to conversations with Eric
Hansen on the deck of the Leichardt. She would recall glances at her
from his eyes, which her own had intercepted; and she would wonder
whereabouts in the Bush he was exploring--whether he ever thought of
her and regretted the tragic termination of their friendship; and
whether, by any strange vagary of fate, they would ever be brought
together again.

Of Elias Bedo she never thought, except with shuddering relief that
she was free. In comparison with that hated bondage her present
nomadic existence seemed almost happy. There must have been a strain
of gipsy blood somewhere in the Marley pedigree. Anne loved the long
days in the open, and the nights beside her camp-fire. She loved the
good smell of earth and leaves, the wonderful tropical flowers, the
strange plants and ferns--all natural beauties that surrounded her.
She loved the sounds of the scrub, the weird cry of the brush hen, the
shrieks of giant cuckoos, the occasional roar of the cassowary, the
tinkle of the bell-birds, and the soft coo of Torres Straits pigeons.

By-and-by they left the water-course, and pierced into the heart of
the scrub, dallying for game, and walking slowly for many days, till,
on the opposite side of an immense ravine, they found themselves in
more open country, on a raised plateau under the shadow of the highest
hills. Then with much toil they climbed to a neck between two peaks on
the very summit of the range; and here Buli halted, and made a camp by
the side of a river that had its rise in these mountains and flowed
down the west side of the range to water the country beyond. Anne now
discovered that Buli was in no haste to report himself to Multuggerah
the King. She suspected that he did not wish to resign the glory of
his chieftainship over the band with which he had raided Kooloola.
North of the river, naked crags rose precipitously, and the very neck
itself which joined them ended in a fall of rock several hundred feet
deep. Below this, lower spurs rolled downward, something like those
they had already crossed, but less timbered and less steep. At the
edge of the cliff was a high wall of rock, making a shelter for the
camp. Game here was plentiful, and a sort of trout abounded in the
river.



Chapter XIII--Mirrein the Tortoise



ONE day, Anne waded across the little river and climbed up the side
of the south crag, whence could be had a magnificent view of the
country to south and west. On the west, another range of mountains
bounded the horizon, and here, afar off, was the Crocodile Mountain, a
long narrow ridge with a great rock rearing itself like the uplifted
head of a crocodile. The rock was of peculiar appearance, and had a
curious funnel-shaped opening in its side representing the jaws,
whence, according to native tradition, fire had spouted. Probably it
was the crater of a volcano, apparently now extinct. All the country
indeed, seemed volcanic. Beyond the upheaving spurs of the Dividing
Range, as they spread down westward, stretched a space of
comparatively level country, though at a considerable elevation. Out
of it rose cones resembling those around the Puy de Dôme in Auvergne,
testifying like them to the presence long back of volcanic fires. At
the upper end of the plain, in the shadow of three or four of the
cones, lay a small blue lake, probably also of volcanic origin. This
was called Maianbar, the "Deep Tank," for it was declared by the
Blacks to be bottomless. Through the plain, appearing at intervals
among the cones, flowed the river--a narrow stream that emptied itself
into the lake. Beyond and below the lake the cones became less
numerous, and the land stretching south from here was level and
barren. It seemed indeed to be sandy desert. Anne likened this desert
tract, in imagination, to a waterless inland sea, bounded on all sides
by mountains. South and west it extended, to the base of a further
great range higher, Anne fancied, than the one on which she stood, but
invisible from the coast belt nearer Kooloola. Anne had always been
told that beyond the Dividing Range, the central desert of Australia
began and spread south-westward into the immense and uninhabitable
wilderness below the Gulf Carpentaria. But here was a small
Switzerland; a sea of mountains, some covered with tropical verdure;
others, bare granite peaks and humps, barring the horizon as far as
eye could reach. At right angles with the famous Crocodile Mountain,
equally far inland, was another even more curious in appearance,--an
enormous dome of naked rock rising above the scrub, which clothed its
lower slope with a short black fissure in its near side, evidently a
deep ravine; and at one end of the huge mound of rock, a large
slanting crag of smooth granite rounded at the top, the whole giving a
suggestion of some gigantic couchant beast or reptile. Anne did not
wonder that the Blacks held these two extraordinary mountains in
superstitious awe. Each might indeed have been the fossilized shape of
some huge primaeval monster. The day was peculiarly clear, and she
could see distant outlines with an unusual distinctness. She asked
Kombo, who had accompanied her in her climb, what the natives called
this domed mountain. The black boy at first pretended to misunderstand
her, and tried to change the conversation, but Anne insisted, calling
his attention first to the deep chasm at the foot of the rock, dimly
visible, notwithstanding the great distance from which they were
viewing it. She showed him the rounded rock at the end which
overlooked an enormous and impassable ravine, and made her think of
the massive turret of some Cyclopean citadel. Then with bated breath,
glancing round as though he were uttering something sacrilegious, and
there were a lurking devil that might carry the matter, Kombo told her
that it was Kubba Mirrein, otherwise, the mountain of the Tortoise,
brother, as he put it, to Kelan Yamina, the old man Crocodile. Kubba
Mirrein, he said, was even more feared than Kelan Yamina; the
Crocodile spat fire, but the Tortoise had a mouth from which a
poisonous breath issued, that killed man or beast upon which it fell.
The mouth, he explained, was beneath the Tortoise's head in its
stomach, and was full of bones, the remains of animals and human
beings that had ventured into it. The mouth was at the end of the
great chasm they could now see beneath the rocky head, and it was
called by the Blacks, Gunida Ulàla, the Place of Death, since none who
went towards it ever returned.

Anne asked how, if the breath killed all who approached, it had been
seen that the mouth was full of bones. But Kombo gave a puzzled shake
of his head.

"Ba'al mine know, Missa Anne. That what Karraji--Medicine Man--tell
Maianbar blacks. Medicine Man say that many thousand moon ago, one big
Karraji make friends with Mirrein debil-debil. He go look inside
Mirrein and come back again. That murrin-murrin moon--long time since
Medicine Man go and come back. No more Karraji go long-a Mirrein
debil."

Then as Anne questioned fearlessly, assuring the black boy that the
magic of Cloud-Daughter, sister of the Mormodelik, was greater than
any magic of Yamina and Mirrein, Kombo gained boldness and waxed
garrulous, telling Anne all that he had heard about the race which
dwelt under the shadow of the Tortoise. It was not a black race, Kombo
declared, nor yet a white race. It was a race of men who were red as
the setting sun, and of women tall and beautiful, with eyes like stars
and flowing red-gold hair. This Kombo set forth, relapsing into his
own language, since his command of English was not equal to the tax
put upon it. Anne listened, nodding, and interrupting him occasionally
with a question. He sometimes used phrases she did not understand, but
on the whole she followed the gist of his story. Then it struck her as
strange that she did not always understand his speech, for she had
been long enough with the Maianbar tribe to speak their language with
ease. Later, she realised that he had been quoting the words of one
long dead, who had no doubt incorporated with the vocabulary of his
tribe, words in the tongue of a strange people.

The men of this race, said Kombo, according to the description
handed down by oral tradition from the old Medicine Man to succeeding
Medicine Men, were very large, of peculiar customs, and wiser and more
powerful in their magic than any of the wizards of the Blacks. Kombo
himself had never seen a red man, nor had his father or grandfather,
in the days when Moongars and Maianbars were friends, nor any other of
the tribe within historic memory. It was that great Karraji among the
Maianbars, who, many thousand moons ago, had gone into the land of the
Tortoise, and had brought back to his fellows, accounts of the Red
Men, and of the Kubba Mirrein. Also of the Tohi Mirrein, which is the
spirit of the Tortoise. For, inside the Tortoise Mount, related the
Medicine Man, there dwelt another and smaller tortoise, though that
too was greater than any known beast, or fish or reptile; and this
tortoise was the Tohi--or soul--of the great Tortoise, and it was its
breath that proved manai-manai (poison) to all men not of red race.
The red men breathed on by the Tortoise, he said, grew strong and
brave and beautiful, for the Tortoise never devoured its own, but only
the sons of strangers. It was said, too, among the tribe, that long
ago the Maianbars had been richer and greater and wiser than now. They
had built houses after the manner of the red men, and altars to the
great Tortoise, and for a time had been successful in all their wars,
and had subdued all the people round. That was why only the Maianbar
tribe occupied this district. Not even the Poolongools or his own
tribe, the Moongars, nearer the coast, had been mightier than they,
Buli had told him. Still might be seen near the great Tank remains of
the houses which Maianbars had built under the instruction of the
first wizard, while he was friendly with the Red Men. For the old
Karraji had brought back knowledge from the land of the Tortoise, and
for many moons after his death, the tribe had remembered it, and acted
according to the laws he had given them. But after a time, the Karraji
had died, and the Maianbars had ill-used some of the red men, and from
that day the breath of the Tortoise had gone forth against them, and
none that entered the Place of Death, Gunida Ulàla, had come back to
their wives and their kindred. So, too, when generations had passed,
the wisdom of the Tortoise had been forgotten by the tribe; though
even still, the Medicine Men of the Maianbars were held to be wiser
than any other Medicine Men, and the King Multuggerah was greater than
any other chief among the Blacks. But Multuggerah the King was not
powerful as had been kings before him, nor were the Medicine Men who
dwelt by the Deep Tank learned in magic, as had been that ancient
Karraji, who was taught by the Red Men the wisdom of Mirrein the
Tortoise. When Kombo had finished his tale, he bade Anne never speak
of what he had told her, for it was accounted a sin in the tribe so
much as to mention the name of Mirrein the Tortoise, or to hint at the
existence of the Red Men.

These words must not be uttered lest evil befall the tribe of
Maianbar from the magic of Kelan Yamina the Crocodile, and of Mirrein
the Tortoise.



Chapter XIV--The Signal of Relief



ONE night, many weeks later, when the tribe, after a long loiter in
the mountains, had ascended the range and were within a day or two's
march from the Deep Tank, Anne was standing at the opening of her
gunya, having bidden Unda give the signal for the assembling of the
Maianbars to join in the invocation to Baiamè.

Unda's shrill call was caught up ere it died away and smothered by
the report of a gun, which, though a good way off, could be distinctly
heard. "Pho-pho! Murnian! Murnian!--the gun of the police," shouted
Kombo, jumping excitedly from his `possum skin on which he had been
squatted before his camp-fire. A great commotion arose in the camp;
the warriors rushed to and fro gathering up their weapons, while cries
came from every side, "Wunti? Yumbu-yumbu. Nalla yan. (Where is it?
Quick! Quick! Let us go.) Then old Buli came out of his gunya, and
went up to Cloud--Daughter, saluting her in blacks' fashion. A weird
figure he looked with his apron of opossum yarn, his many strings of
berries, and the raised weals upon his naked body, which denoted his
age and chieftain-ship, but a figure not without dignity.

"Wurra-wurra!" (Look! Look!), he cried, lifting his arm towards the
blue sky overhead, in which a young moon shone brightly, and all the
constellations showed with clearness in the deep blue. He was pointing
to the pale cluster of the Pleiades.

"Look! Mormodelik!" he cried, and spoke to the excited braves,
stilling their alarm. "That was no pho-pho of white man," said he,
"for it was impossible that horsemen and black trackers should have
followed by the way they had come. It was Tulumi Mirrein, the Thunder
of the Tortoise; Manai-manai Mirrein, the poison of the Tortoise,
which had been breathed from Gunida Ulala, the Place of Death. But
there was no cause to be afraid," he went on, for the gins began to
howl and the warriors to gesticulate. "Had they not Cloud-Daughter,
the Sister of the Pleiades, among them? Had not Cloud-Daughter
delivered them from the Poolongools? Had not the magic of Cloud-
Daughter brought rain upon the earth and given game into their hands?
For surely, no evil had befallen them since Cloud-Daughter had
besought Baiamè, night and morning, that he would protect his
children. See, the thunder had already ceased; the poison of the
Tortoise put forth power in vain, while Cloud-Daughter lifted her
voice to heaven." And now he bade Anne sing the prayer to Baiamè, so
that the camp might sleep in peace.

Then Anne lifted up her voice, which seemed to have swelled in
strength and volume during her sojourn in the woods; and "Ave Baiamè"
rang through the forest, and reached faintly the astonished ears of a
white man who was encamped beyond a projecting spur of rock not a mile
distant. Buli crept back to his gunya, and ate composedly of the
wallabi which was roasting on his camp-fire. The warriors and the gins
followed his example, and, except for the excited murmur of their
voices, the camp was quiet.

Great was the faith of Buli. After his manner, the old chief was a
fatalist, and believed that most surely, while Cloud-Daughter dwelt
with the people of Maianbar, no power of earth or heaven should
prevail against them.

Anne sang on. She let her voice out at its full compass, and her
nerves thrilled with wild excitement. Then a sudden fear struck her,
and changed her joy to terror. What if it were Elias Bedo who had
fired that gun? She stopped singing, and called in a low tone to
Kombo. The black boy was bending over the camp fire in front of his
gunya. He had just taken a bandicoot from the hole in the earth in
which it had been baking, and was tearing its limbs asunder, reserving
the choicest portions for his mistress and himself, while he threw to
Unda the least savoury morsels. The honeymoon was long past, and
Kombo's chivalry, as far as Unda was concerned, had died a natural
death. Now he treated his gin with undisguised contempt. When Anne
spoke, he brought a thigh of the bandicoot to the door of her gunya,
and laid it on a fresh bit of bark which served her as a plate.

"That bujeri, Missa Anne," he said, "mine think-it Yuro Kateena
plenty hungry."

"Kombo," the girl whispered, "you been hear him gun? You believe
white man sit down close-up camp?"

"Ba'al mine think-it, Missa Anne. Mine no believe white man come
long--a this place. Too much scrub; too much stones. But I believe
that noise altogether like-it pho-pho," he added, doubtfully.

"I believe too," said Anne. "And suppose black fellow come long-a
this place, what for no white man?"

Kombo could not answer this argument. "That very like-it gun, Missa
Anne," he said. "Ba'al mine believe it Mirrein thunder. Cobbon stupid
that fellow Buli. He not been hear white man shoot--never all his
life. He been tell me that plenty dark long-a Kooloola when black
fellow kill altogether white Mary. Black fellow jump up quick--give
ole Missus no time to shoot."

Anne shuddered. During these weeks of journeying, she had been
forcing herself to forget the Kooloola tragedy. Now the thought of a
white rescuer near, and the faint hope of escape, brought back to her
the horrors of her first days in the cave, and also the danger and the
helplessness of her present position. If only she could be sure that
there was indeed a white man's camp beyond that projecting knoll, and
that it was not the camp of Elias Bedo!

"Kombo," she said, "I am going round the hill to look if there are
any white man's fires. Suppose Buli say to you, `Where Cloud-
Daughter?' you tell Buli Mormodelik call me."

Anne frequently employed this subterfuge to ensure for herself an
hour of privacy. She allowed it to be understood that her sisters, the
Pleiades, or even Baiamè himself gave her counsel from heaven, to
which no black man might listen. Buli, less vigilant now that they
were, as he believed, beyond the reach of the native police, made no
objection to her solitary withdrawal upon occasions into the bush.

"All right, Missa Anne; suppose Buli look out, I tell him Mormodelik
pialla (talk to) Yuro Kateena, all about Tulumi Mirrein."

For a minute or two, Kombo devoured his bandicoot, ruminating the
while, and then spoke again.

"Missa Anne, suppose white man sit down close-up camp, mine think-it
Kombo no tell black fellow. I believe Missa Anne and this fellow Kombo
go long-a white man. Mine plenty tired of black fellow; mine plenty
tired of Unda. Mine want-im go back long-a Missa Anne to Cooktown.
Then find-im steamer, and take Missa Anne home long-a ole Missus over
the big water."

Anne realised with gladness that Kombo's bout of savagery was at an
end, as far as his inclinations were concerned. The black boy
continued, still tearing the piece of bandicoot with his white teeth
while he talked:

"Missa Anne, Buli tell me we close-up now to Deep Tank where King
Multuggerah sit down. Mine been think-it--suppose Multuggerah no
believe that Missa Anne come down from sky, no want-im Missa Anne sing
to Baiamè. Plenty water sit down long-a Deep Tank. Black fellow no ask
for rain. Then I believe Multuggerah angry, and that fellow King, he
kill Kombo and Cloud-Daughter, and make it one big dinner."

Anne remembered the cannibal orgie, and shuddered again. The same
dread had been in her mind also.

"Mine been think-it like that too, Kombo," she said. Then she
reflected that even were it Elias Bedo who had fired off the gun--
supposing that a white man was near and that it was a gun--if she were
to throw herself upon her husband's protection, she need not fear
being killed and eaten, and as long as Kombo remained with her, there
was always the chance of getting away again.

"Mine wait until black fellow go to sleep," said Kombo, "then mine
come long-a Missa Anne, and we go look out white man. Plenty soon I
believe black fellow go to sleep."

This agreed upon, Anne forced herself to eat a piece of the bandicoot
for the sustaining of her strength in preparation for what might come.
She knew that the probabilities were against their finding a white
man's camp so far from civilisation, and that the sound they had heard
was perhaps not the report of firearms, but had possibly come from an
isolated thunder--cloud, or was the noise of some giant gum-tree, dead
at the core, and falling from its own top-heaviness. She weighed these
chances in her mind, and came to the conclusion that the sound had
been too like that of a gun for them to dismiss it as a mere illusion
of the forest.

When she had made a small meal, she went back into her gunya and
wrapped her 'possum robe close round her, putting on a cap that she
had made out of the skin of a grey duck which peaked over her face,
and which, being all of a colour with the 'possum fur, made her look
like a shadow of the grey gum-trunks as she glided out of the camp.
The dogs knew her too well to bark, and many of the Blacks had their
backs to her, while the others were too well occupied with their
supper to notice her as she passed. Soon she was out of sight, and was
skirting the rocky knoll beneath which Buli had fixed his camp.
Beyond, rose an undulating ridge covered closely with acacias and
gums, and also with a sort of scrubby undergrowth. Here she need not
fear being detected; and even if the Blacks came after her, it would
be easy to say that she was communing with her sister deities. She sat
down on a stone and waited, her eyes fixed on the point of the knoll,
waiting till Kombo should come to her. All the time, her ear was
strained for any sound that might betoken a friend's presence, and her
eyes peered into the dense bush, seeking the glimmer of a camp-fire.
But all was darkness, and silence reigned save for the night sounds of
the bush.

By-and-by, she saw Kombo stealthily creeping among the undergrowth
near her. He gave a low "Kai!" and muttered the Blacks' adjuration to
be cautious. "Kolle-Mal," he whispered, as he beckoned her to follow
him up the ridge. She trod in his footsteps, carefully making her way
over the stones which encumbered the ridge, and through the thick
bushes and creepers growing among them. After a time they had climbed
to the highest point, and could look down and up the gully and across
to the other side.

The gully was not steep, nor was it difficult of passage. They
threaded it upward, walking along its comparatively smooth bed, and
skirting the little pools of water which lay here and there among the
stones. Its course was somewhat tortuous, and as they rounded a curve,
Kombo suddenly stopped short, and Anne's heart leaped to her mouth,
for there, some distance off, glimmered a camp-fire.

It had been made evidently with a view to safety, in a semi-circular
hollow at the gully's head. The spot was banked by cliffs, and was
quite invisible except from the hill above, or from the particular
bend in the bed of the watercourse to which they had crept. For this
reason, both Kombo and Anne guessed that it must be the camp-fire of a
white man. Blacks would not have been so careful in choosing a
position. Their doubts were presently set at rest by the sharp report
of a revolver, fired at a little distance above them.

Kombo crept into the shadow of a big rock, afraid of the pho-pho, but
Anne sought no shelter. She stood fearlessly in front of the rock and
gazed into the darkness near her, and towards the faint illumination
beyond. It was a bright starlight night, and the moon, in its third
quarter, was shining above the gully. Anne fancied she saw a dark
shape move, and then become stationary between her point of vision and
the fire-glow in the distance. She felt sure that the shape was that
of a man, and the indistinctness of its outline made her suspect that
it was a clothed man. She strove vainly to assure herself that the
figure was not her husband's form, but found it impossible to be quite
certain whether even it were that of White or Black. Kombo settled the
doubt. He had crawled round the boulder to Anne's feet, and whispered
excitedly, "Missa Anne! That all right. I believe that fellow white
man."

A Black's "I believe," is tantamount to certainty. Anne thrilled to
the finger-tips at once with joy and terror. She bent to the black
boy.

"Kombo," she said very low, "you no think that fellow white man Mr
Bedo?"

"No, Missa Anne," Kombo replied confidently; "I no think-it that
Massa Bedo. I certain sure that no Massa Bedo."

Black man and white woman waited for what should happen. The shadowy
form remained still, seeming almost like some tall slim rock in the
gully bed. Then the man, whoever he might be, made a movement as
though about to return to the camp. Kombo whispered in even greater
excitement. "Missa Anne, that fellow go away. By-and-by white man go
to sleep. Then suppose we wait and creep close-up camp, I believe that
fellow white man jump up quick; think-it strange black fellow, and
shoot Kombo. Missa Anne, suppose you sing big song--white man hear and
no shoot. Black fellow over there, think-it Debil-debil, make a noise,
and run away altogether. Suppose Buli hear--no matter. Buli think-it
Missa Anne talk to Mormodelik."

Kombo's quick intelligence had grasped all points of the situation.
Anne's song would proclaim their whereabouts and arrest the attention
of a white man--if there were one--while it would terrify any strange
blacks, who would be too frightened to search for the cause of the
sound. And, at the same time, were Buli to hear it at the camp they
had left, though this was improbable, he would know it was the voice
of Cloud-Daughter, and would only suppose that she was pleading with
Baiamè on behalf of the tribe. Therefore he would not trouble himself
to investigate the matter.

"Sing, Missa Anne," said Kombo. "Make-im noise. Plenty make haste. I
believe white man go to sleep now long-a gunya."

Anne hesitated. The shape which stood out against the fire-glow
turned. There was a side view of him visible for an instant. The black
boy's keen eyes discerned the profile more clearly than did those of
Anne. Kombo started up. "Missa Anne! Missa Anne!" he cried. "I believe
that Massa Hansen. You know--Massa Hansen long-a steamer. He been ask
me show him road up north. Mine think-it he find other Black, and come
plenty quick long-a scrub. Oh, bûjeri, Massa Hansen! All right now.
Sing! sing! Missa Anne."

Then Anne, a great weight lifted from her soul, and a new joy filling
it, sang softly and clearly, her voice echoing through the loneliness
of that northern forest, the last song she had sung on board the
Leichardt, a song Eric Hansen had loved--the immortal plaint of
Gluck's Orpheus--"Che faro senza Eurydice."

The man in front of the camp turned again. He paused, and then strode
rapidly forward, clearing a fall of rock which banked the small
plateau on which his camp was made, and shaking the stones in the bed
of the gully upon which he stepped, in his eager passage towards the
woman he loved--scarce knowing indeed that he loved her, but with
heart leaping at the mere suggestion that she was alive. Anne sang on,
her eyes lifted skyward, as was her wont in the invocation to Baiamè.
She did not hear the footsteps of the Dane; she would not let herself
hope even that it was he; she dared not send her heart out to him as
she might have done had she been free, had he ever owned in words that
he loved her. And yet a woman's instinct told her that it was Eric,
and that free or bound his heart was hers.

Suddenly she heard her name,--"Anne,"--uttered in that deep, tenderly
masterful voice which she remembered so well. "Anne"! he repeated. He
did not call her as he had always done hitherto--"Mrs. Bedo." She
ceased singing, and a great sob shook her body. She tried to speak,
but could not: she could only sob and laugh hysterically. She could
not even ask his name, and assure herself of his identity.

He came close to her, and took her hand in his, "Anne"! he repeated.
"Thank God, I have found you."

She laughed still, though trying to control her hysterical shaking.
Her wet eyes met his, which, in the pale moonlight, she could see
fixed upon her with a look that is never in the eyes of a man unless
he gazes into the face of death, or into the face of his love, at a
moment as tragic as might be that of death itself.

And now, the pent wave of emotion swept over Anne, and bent her as
the wind beats an ear of corn on a stormy day. She sank back against
the rock behind which Kombo had cowered at sound of the pho-pho, and
fainted dead away.



Chapter XV--"That Massa Hansen!"



WHEN Anne became conscious again she was lying in a gunya on a bed
of leaves and grass, over which a waterproof was laid. Her head rested
against a tilted saddle with a folded overcoat for a pillow, and her
own 'possum rug was drawn up to her knees.

Water trickled from her forehead, and she began to shiver, for in
that high region the nights were cold. She wore over her grass fibre
petticoat an upper garment, also of plant fibre, upon which she had
sewed parrots' feathers, taking pardonable pleasure in arranging the
colours to suit her complexion. But this gave insufficient warmth, and
she put out her hand to pull up her blanket of skins.

Another hand arrested hers, and drew up the 'possum rug instead.
Then the same hand softly wiped the water from her forehead with a
silk pocket--handkerchief. In her dazed state she was hardly sensible
of the fact that a civilised being was tending her, but was filled
with delight at the touch of this fine material to which she had for
so long been a stranger. She fingered the corner of the handkerchief
caressingly.

"Why, it's silk," she cried.

"Yes, it's silk," said a voice that she recognised and which sent
the blood to her face. "Lucky that I've still got one of them fit for
you to use." The girl turned upon her elbow and looked up at the man
who was kneeling beside her. She saw a face bronzed to copper-colour,
and very thin, the naturally high cheek-bones now standing out
prominently under the skin. She saw, through an untrimmed fair
moustache, a mouth that trembled, and bright blue eyes which gazed at
her with tender fierceness. It was Eric Hansen, but unkempt, and
changed from the handsome, close-shorn, and trimly clad man she had
known on the Leichardt. She turned away from him, and her hand
instinctively moved about her neck where the fur tippet had been
disarranged, and her skin, now almost fair again, showed through her
ragged under garment.

"It's all right," he said, in a matter of fact way. "I hope you're
not very wet. I had to douse you, for I thought you were never coming
to again." Anne took the silk handkerchief from him, and spread it
upon her chest, stroking it softly.

"You can't think how nice it feels," she said, simply. "I have no
pocket--handkerchiefs of my own, nor any clothes either. My swag was
swept away when we were swimming a river, and I lost everything except
the things I had on. They went to shreds very soon, and I was obliged
to make myself some clothes of grass and feathers to cover myself
with. I'm nothing but a savage now."

"I think your dress is beautiful," he said. "Yes, you're like a
savage princess. It's all wonderful. I can't believe it's true that
I've found you at last."

"You were looking for me?" she exclaimed, eagerly.

"Yes; I had got on your tracks. I was combining my search for you and
for the marsupial tiger."

"Oh!" She was a little abashed. He had given a shaky laugh when
bracketing her with the marsupial tiger. "Have you found it?" she
asked, laughing shakily too.

"The marsupial tiger? No, but I've found you. I'm beforehand with the
others."

"The others!" she repeated in a tone of blank dismay. "Who?"

"Your husband," he answered, shortly. "He is in tow with Captain
Cunningham--whereabouts I don't know."

The girl gave a passionate movement, flinging off the 'possum rug and
half rising from the couch. Then she realised how weak she had
suddenly grown. He put his arm round her, supporting her for an
instant, then laid her back against the saddle.

"Let me go," she cried. "I will go back to my tribe, and ask them to
hide me from him."

"Your tribe!" he repeated, gently ironic. "So you're counting
yourself a black gin already! And have you become a cannibal too? No,
no," he added, seeing the tears drop from her eyes on to her cheeks;
"I understand. I know why you ran away, and you needn't think I'm
going to give you up to Elias Bedo. I couldn't if I wanted to, for I
haven't the least idea where he is. Look here," he went on, "I've got
a lot to tell you, but I won't do it now. I'm going to make you some
hot tea, for you're shaking all over after the ducking and the fright
I gave you."

He went to the opening of the gunya, just turning back his head as he
told her to keep still, and she saw him take up some ration bags, and
occupy himself with the fire that was burning outside, and with the
billy that hung over it from a bent stick.

The mists slowly cleared from Anne's dazed brain, which had been
roused only to a momentary activity by the mention of her husband, and
the dread possibility of his reclaiming her. A sense of relief and
rest came to her. She recollected now all that had happened before she
fainted, and knew that she must have been carried from the gully to
Hansen's camp. It was as though a miracle had been worked for her
deliverance, and she could think of nothing but that deliverance, now
that Hansen had assured her of his protection against Elias Bedo. It
did not seem to matter that she was still in the far Australian bush,
that she and Hansen were perhaps the only white people within hundreds
of miles. She was safe; he would take care of her; and by-and-by she
would tell him everything--all her misery and despair, and why she had
felt that there was nothing for her but to run away and pretend to
them all that she was dead. But how had they found out that she was
alive? Who had betrayed her? She asked the question, but did not
trouble now to speculate upon the answer. Hansen would explain it all.
In the meantime, she was in a white man's camp. There was no more need
to play the part of Cloud-Daughter, Sister of the Pleiades. She need
not now be afraid lest Multuggerah the King should roast and eat her.
It was as though she had awakened to find herself in heaven. She
caressed the silk handkerchief, which was to her, for the moment, a
symbol of salvation. Then, as she did so, a new dread assailed her.
After all, it was but an hour or two since the report of Hansen's gun
had startled the Maianbars. Their camp was hardly a mile distant. They
would soon discover her flight, and would track her up the gully. She
rose again on her couch of grass, and called anxiously "Mr. Hansen."
He had gone to the other side of the fire, and was just then out of
her sight. She called again, "Mr. Hansen!"

He stood in the opening of the gunya, a pint-pot in each hand and
from one to the other he was pouring a foaming brown liquid.

"It will soon be cool enough for you to drink," he said. "Be patient
for a minute or two."

"Oh! it isn't that. But do you know--have you thought? The Maianbars
are camped on the other side of the ridge. They are the fiercest of
all the northern Blacks--it was they who killed my aunt and cousins at
Kooloola. There are nearly a hundred fighting men, and they'll be mad
at the loss of me. They think, you know, that I am a sort of goddess
who can bring down rain and help them against their enemies." She gave
another little shaky laugh.

"Yes, I know. I've heard about Yuro Kateena--Cloud-Daughter--from my
Moongarr Blacks. You're afraid they'll attack the camp, but there's no
need for alarm. I've sent out a scout, and I and my gun are a match
even for Maianbars. Besides that, you can fire a revolver?"

"Yes, of course. I had a revolver, but I lost it in the cave."

"The cave! Oh, yes, I know about that too. Well, you'll tell me all
your adventures by-and-by, when you are rested and feel inclined to
talk. They must be the makings of a wonderful tale." He had been
speaking all through in a matter-of-fact manner, with a certain
brusqueness, which was affected, partly, to hide his real feelings.
Now he could restrain them no longer. "Merciful heaven!" he exclaimed,
and his voice deepened and thrilled. "I give thanks, indeed, for your
preservation. Oh! if you knew--if you knew! Day and night I have
thought of you in the hands of those demons. And that you should be
safe! Oh! thank God!"

"I do thank Him," Anne answered, softly.

Neither spoke for a few moments. Hansen stopped pouring the tea from
one pannikin to another, and stooping, held one of them to her lips.

"Drink it," he said, huskily, "and don't shake any more, my poor
little woman. I've got you now, and I mean to keep you safe till I can
put you on board a home-bound boat. You can trust me. That's all I
want to say. Only just tell me this--you do trust me?"

"Absolutely," she replied. Then she took the pannikin from his hand,
and drank the tea in slow gulps. "Oh! how good it is! How good it is!"
she cried.

"Now," he said, "I want you to sleep, for we've got to break up camp
and clear out of this by day-break. I shouldn't care much if the
Maianbars did attack us. It wouldn't be the first brush I've had with
the natives, and I've inspired them with a wholesome respect for my
gun. But it's as well that we should put a day's march between us and
them, and I've pretty well exhausted the ground hereabouts. I've made
one or two splendid finds, and the blacks have been telling me of some
queer beasts in the range opposite. Only the worst of it is that they
are in such deadly funk of a monster who, they say, lives in the
mountains over there, that I can't persuade them to come with me. Now
I won't stop and chatter. Try and get some sleep. First let me take my
gun. And don't let yourself feel frightened, for I shall be outside
wrapped in my blanket, and you've only got to call and I shall be
awake in a moment."

Anne asked after Kombo.

"He's out there having a jabber with the other Blacks, who turn out
to be of his own tribe--the Moongarrs," said Hansen. "His chief
anxiety seems to be to escape from his wife and from a certain old
gentleman called Buli. You may be quite sure that he'll be ready to
start in the morning. I've told him to wake us up if I should happen
to oversleep myself."

With this, Hansen departed, first ministering as best he could to
Anne's wants, and tucking her opossum robe round her, close to her
chin, with the kindness of a woman.

But for a long time the girl did not sleep. Not far from her bed
stood a lamp made from a sardine tin filled with fat, and having for a
wick a strip of moleskin trouser. How the sight of that fat lamp in
the old sardine tin reminded her of camping-out nights at the back-
blocks cattle station near her girlhood's home! Its flame cast
flickering shadows in the small space of the gunya. Hut it might have
been called, rather than gunya, though it was constructed of gum-
boughs and palm leaves. But four upright saplings made a loftier
framework than is usual in the Blacks' hurriedly built gunyas. Across
the side of it, above her bed, Anne saw stretched out the skin of an
animal which she recognised as the tree kangeroo, and on the opposite
side was another skin of some beast she did not know. Beneath it, were
a pile of saddle-bags, one of which gaped, showing a heap of small
wooden boxes, square and shallow, such as are used by naturalists for
the keeping of specimen insects. These, she afterwards found, were
filled with butterflies and beetles, which the Dane had already
collected. Over all, hung the faint scent of chemicals used to
preserve the specimens. Here and there were various masculine
properties; and on a stump which served for a table, was a manuscript
book in which the explorer had evidently been posting his diary, for
it was open, and the pen lay across the page. But in spite of the
primitiveness of the dwelling, it was curiously orderly, and Anne
found a strange pleasure in noting the small contrivances which the
Dane had made for his convenience and comfort.



Chapter XVI--The Manoeuvring of the Moongarrs



THE Maianbar Blacks were famed in that region as men of war, and the
Moongarr Blacks who led Hansen's party were even more anxious than the
white people and Kombo to get as quickly as possible out of their
reach. The guides adopted a cunning ruse to deceive the enemy. While
it was yet night, Anne was awakened by the voice of Hansen, who stood
over her with a pannikin of tea which he made her drink. He then told
her to follow him, explaining that for this move, the cover of
darkness was necessary, and that they would return before long to
break up camp and breakfast.

They now passed down the gully by twos, or in single file, and,
rounding the projecting spur, made a feint of crossing to the flat
country beyond. A long narrow water-hole--more swamp than water-hole--
lay beneath this part of the range. The Whites stopped at the edge of
this swamp, while the black scouts and Kombo marched a little way in
the direction of one of the volcanic cones, hiding their tracks in a
bog, then returning on their steps, and re-wading the water-hole.

Anne had waited shivering, as this manoeuvre was performed. Far off
in the distance, through the trunks of the gum-trees, the embers of
the Maianbar's fires could be seen like feeble glow-worms, but it was
evident that the camp was still wrapped in sleep. Old Buli, as Anne
knew, had grown careless, believing himself safe from any enemy. No
watch was kept at night, and the warriors, heavy after the plenty of
game in which they had been indulging of late, were never in haste to
rise.

The wanderers now re-ascended the gully, obliterating their tracks by
boughs which the scouts dragged behind them, and treading as well as
they could in the dim light upon their former footsteps. There was
only a pale streak in the east when they reached their camp again.

Here a hasty meal was eaten, of damper and cold bandicoot, and Hansen
collected his possessions, and took down the skins from the sides of
the gunya, packing them carefully and strapping the saddle bags. He
called up the Blacks to receive their burdens, distributing a small
portion of tobacco among them to secure their goodwill, for he
intended to make a long march that day. Some of the Moongarr men had
brought their wives, and these took the greater part of the load.
There were six men, not including Kombo, and four gins; also three or
four dogs--a half-breed of the station bound and the wild dingo.
Hansen told Anne that these had been selected with great care, as they
were his best assistants in the pursuit of valuable animals. Kombo
shouldered Anne's opossum rug--she had no other baggage--and, after
demolishing the gunyas and scattering the fires, so as to leave as
little trace as possible of the recent occupation of the camp, the
convoy started while yet a few stars were faintly shining.

They climbed the cliffs at the head of the camp, taking every care
they could to hide their tracks--not so difficult a matter, for the
rocks were bare, and, but for the inequalities on the surface and
natural niches, the precipice would not have been easy of ascent. It
took them nearly an hour to do the climb; but even then the sun had
not risen above the hills to their left, as skirting the range they
struck a southerly course towards a dim half circle of mountains which
bounded the lower part of that curious cone--strewn extent of level
land.

The Blacks all went before, and Anne walked beside Hansen in the
rear, he carrying his gun, and, besides the knives and pouches at his
belt, a big soft leather wallet slung over one shoulder, into which he
put his specimens, and where he carried ammonia and other chemicals,
also his note-books. A curious picture they presented as they walked
side by side where the rocks and trees permitted, or one after the
other, where it was impossible to move except in single file--he
bronzed, unshorn, a straggling fair beard covering the lower part of
his face, his Crimean shirt a little open at the neck, gaiters to the
knee over his moleskin breeches, and boots long since worn out, held
together by stripes of opossum hide; his gun in one hand and a stout
stick in the other, while a soft felt hat, stained and shapeless,
covered his head. He had but a change of shirts and socks, and was in
almost as sorry a plight as Anne herself, since feminine ingenuity had
not come to his aid in the matter of raiment. Anne had no boots
either. A pair of opossum-skin moccasins, roughly put together by
Kombo and Unda, covered her bare feet, less dark in colour than when
she had first dyed them, but still a little browner than Eric Hansen's
neck and face. She, too, had contrived a sort of gaiter made from the
hide of wallabis, which protected her legs beneath her skirt of woven
fibre, and such tattered under-garments as still remained to her from
her original wardrobe.

The tippet of fibre and parrots' feathers came below her waist, and
from it her brown arms protruded, only slenderly covered with strips
of grass netting. Upon her head was the cap she had made of grey
duck's skin, and below it her brown hair showed in short roughened
curls. She had a dilly--bag slung round her neck, in which she had
brought such small properties as she had been able to carry away from
her gunya in the Maianbar camp--a pair of scissors, a reel of cotton,
and a few needles--her dearest possessions. She wore always round her
neck the large locket with her mother's and sister's photographs,
which was regarded by the Blacks as a sort of talisman, and into which
she had contrived to fold the last of her five-pound notes. She, too,
held in one hand a stout stick, which she used to assist her in
climbing, and at her belt hung one of Hansen's revolvers. After
heading the gulley, they came upon a low round spur cut out by a
precipice, which seemed to fall sheer into the plain below. Yet to
call this upland tract between the ranges a plain, was almost a figure
of speech, for it undulated here-abouts in land billows, to where the
desert tract stretched mistily south-westward, tossing up on its
surface, as far almost as the eye could reach, those curious volcanic
cones. The spur they were traversing was lightly wooded with gum and
acacia, and low green trees which Anne did not know--indeed, there was
much of the vegetation of this northern country with which she was
quite unfamiliar--so that progress was delightfully easy compared with
that they had made through the scrub. The thick jungle which clothes
the lower slopes of the Australian Cordilleras they had now left
behind, and with it, the more tropical appearance of the vegetation,
as well as the intense heat. On the higher level at which they were
proceeding, the climate was almost temperate, being chilly at night,
though still extremely hot in the daytime, and the fruits they
gathered were different, and if less luscious, Anne fancied, more
sustaining. On the edge of the precipice they found a species of wild
raspberry, and further, a low shrub bearing fruit which was red in
colour and strongly resembled the strawberry guava, also a gourd-like
creeper on which was a kind of melon that was aromatic in flavour, and
seemed to Anne a cross between a custard apple and a rock-melon.

Hansen took careful note of the botanical family of these plants,
which he told Anne he had not before seen. About breakfast time they
found themselves in a garden-like cup sloping down to the precipice,
and here they lingered a little while, the gins digging for edible
roots with their sharp sticks and filling their baskets, while the
black men spied for ground game After leaving this cup, the country
they traversed became smoother; and as they walked along the side of
the range, a splendid view was to be had of the cone-dotted plain, and
of the distant mountains bordering it afar, which, as the sun rose
above the hills behind them, turned from purple to rose and gold
beneath the orb's kiss. Through a cleft in the far-off range they
could see clearly both the Crocodile Mountain and the Tortoise Hump.
Hansen gave Anne his powerful field-glasses, which showed plainly a
long deep ravine stretching from the Crocodile's upreared jaws to the
naked hump that so oddly resembled the shell of a turtle. This hump
shone a luminous grey, terminating at one end in the rounded monolith
which the Blacks called the Tortoise's head, and below which--a small
triangular blot--was the fateful mouth.

Anne told Hansen all that she had heard from Kombo concerning Gunida
Ulàla, the Place of Death, and what the black boy had told her of the
old Karraji--the Medicine Man of the Maianbars, who was said to have
explored the mysteries of the Tortoise, and to have brought back to
his tribe the wisdom of the Red Race. Hansen was deeply interested.
He, too, had heard legends of the Tortoise Mountain, and of the
existence of a mysterious race of red men who were Tortoise
worshippers. The stories of the Moongarrs had set him speculating upon
the possibility of a prehistoric race dwelling in the unexplored heart
of Australia; and the description of the Tortoise brought to his mind
certain altars in the shape of a turtle which he had seen in the
buried cities of Central America, overgrown by forest trees, and
dating back to an immemorial antiquity.

He told Anne the tale of five years which he had spent in the
Yucatan forests, exploring the remains of this ancient civilisation,
which pre-dated that of the Children of the Sun, conquered by Cortes.
He told her of the hieroglyphic monuments he had unearthed, on which
the snake and the tortoise figured so conspicuously--told her how he
had compared them with certain Egyptian hieroglyphs and had found
points of similarity suggesting a connection, improbable though it
appeared, between the two countries. He told her of the old tradition
of the lost Atlantis; of the legend related in Plato's Critias and
Timoeus, of Donelly's book tracing all civilisations to that centre;
of his own meeting with Le Plongeon in Mexico at the dead Palenque, to
whom he had handed the tracings he had made, and who had himself
arrived at the same theories, and had begun the deciphering of the
hieroglyphics on a scheme derived from a comparison with the writings
of ancient Egypt. He, Hansen, had regretfully left the great scientist
engaged on that work which has, since those days, been prosecuted with
results so magnificent, and had obeyed the call which took him back to
Denmark and started him on his present expedition. What if his
Australian exploration should lead to discoveries more astounding than
even those of Le Plongeon! What if in the supposed desert interior of
this vast continent, which differs from all other continents in the
peculiarity of its fauna and vegetation, he were to find traces of a
civilisation going back even further than that of which the Aztec
empire was a remnant?

He now ardently desired to cross the upland sea of cones and land
waves, and penetrate into that mysterious region over which, according
to the Blacks' traditions, the Crocodile and the Tortoise kept guard,
and where he might perhaps come upon the traces of an extinct race--
maybe the same which had built those Cyclopean ruins discovered in
Easter Island, the origin of which is shrouded in an unknown past.
Moreover, apart from this visionary object, he hoped to enrich science
with specimens of mammals not yet classed in natural history, and
which might prove a link between the fossilised remains of prehistoric
animals and those now living only in this part of the globe. He
unfolded these ideas to Anne as they walked on, and again getting a
view of the mountain, they stopped to look through the glasses more
closely at the curious triangular gap in the rock side, which, as the
sun illuminated it, had a shiny blue appearance as though the interior
of the chasm were lined with lapis lazuli.



Chapter XVII--The Promised Land



"GUNIDA ULÀLA! The Place of Death!" Hansen repeated, thoughtfully. It
is not possible that the Blacks could have given the place such a name
unless it were a grave--possibly the scene of a great battle that once
took place between the natives and this strange tribe the old Medicine
Man discovered. Or, perhaps, he went on, there may be some natural
property of the rock, some mephitic exhalation from the interior of
the moutain, which accounts for the tradition and for the Blacks'
dread of the spot, as fatal to man and beast.

"Kombo spoke of the poisonous breath of the Tortoise," said Anne; and
she related how the Maianbar camp had been thrown into consternation
by the thunder of the Tortoise--the noise of that breath which killed.

"That explains everything," said Hansen. "Probably there is an
opening from which some deadly vapour issues. All this country is
volcanic. One sees it from the formation of the land, and the Blacks'
story of the fire--spitting crocodile confirms the notion that there
are craters not long extinct. I have been wondering whether over there
we may come across a volcano that is still active. Then, too, the
exhalation would affect the sides of the cavern, and give it that look
of being lined with blue marble. Oh, Anne! Oh, Yuro Kateena!" he
exclaimed, "can't you bring some of your magic to bear upon my men and
assure them that the white goddess will protect them from the breath
of the Tortoise? I am simply longing to explore that extraordinary
mountain, and discover the red men who inhabit it--or, at any rate,
their graves, if they have ceased to exist."

"Well," said Anne, "why not try? I am not afraid of the Red Men, nor
of the poisonous breath either, and perhaps the Moongarrs will believe
that I have magic enough for them to go without fear of the breath.
Oh! I should like to put that wild stretch of country and the Place of
Death between me and my--" She had spoken excitedly, but now paused.
"Between me and my pursuers," she said, quietly.

Hansen guessed, however, that she had been thinking of her husband;
and this reminded him that she was not, or ought not to be to him,
Anne, or Yuro Kateena, but Mrs. Bedo, and that she might have resented
his familiarity.

"Tell me," he said, abruptly, "what name am I to give you? I can't
call you Mrs. Bedo, as I used, and I am sure that you cannot wish that
I should do so."

"Thank you," she said. "No, I could not wish you to call me Mrs.
Bedo. I cannot think what madness possessed me when I accepted that
name. I think you must understand, though we have neither of us said
anything about the matter. Now that I have left my husband, I forswear
his name for ever."

"So be it. I am glad. Yes, I think I understand sufficient for all
practical purposes--for you to feel safe with me. By-and-by, perhaps,
you will give me your confidence, when you have proved to yourself
that I am worthy of it."

Anne's heart was too full for words. She turned her face to him, and
her lips trembled, while her eyes shone with a light no one had ever
before seen in them; then she moved a step apart from him, and gazed
out towards the mountain.

"I am going to prove myself worthy," he said, and again there was a
short silence. Then Hansen said gaily, "Well, is it to be Yuro
Kateena? I see that even Kombo--to say nothing of the Maianbars--
believes implicitly in your goddess-ship, and I am quite ready to bow
down defore your divinity. So, shall it be Yuro Kateena?"

"I'd rather you called me Anne," she said.

"That's good of you. It shall be Anne; and believe me, Anne shall be
as sacred to me as ever was Yure Kateena to the Maianbar blacks. You
trust me, Anne?"

"I told you last night that I trust you absolutely."

He slipped his gun from his right hand to the left, which also held
his staff, and taking her right hand bent his lips to it in a most
courtly gesture.

"In token of my fealty," he said.

"Mr. Hansen!" cried the girl.

"No," he interrupted. "If you are Anne, I am Eric."

"Eric, then. Oh, Eric, in all this topsy-turvy world, were ever two
people in such a strange position as you and I? We have need to trust
each other. From to-day, I am going to look upon you as my brother. I
had one once, but he died when I was eleven years old. I shall feel as
though you were that brother come to life again."

"As you will, Anne. I prefer to look upon you as a goddess, but it
comes to the same thing. Now the question is, what am I to do with
you? Were you really serious when you said that you'd like to go with
me and try to find the country of the red men?"

Anne blushed and hesitated.

"I did not mean--" she began; then said with some dignity, "I trust
you to act by me as seems to you best. I think you understand that the
one thing in the world which I should most hate, would be to be given
back to my husband. If you did that, it would not be to much purpose,
for I should escape from him again, and my last state would probably
be more desperate than my first. But I did not mean, when I came to
your camp last night, to thrust a burden upon you which would upset
all your plans, and cause you trouble and inconvenience. If you feel
like that, don't worry about me, but let me turn east with Kombo, and
we two will wander on, as we did before, until we get to the coast. We
should not be worse off, anyhow, than if we were still with the
Maianbars--better off, in fact, for now we have got our liberty, and
as it was, we ran a considerable risk of being eaten by Multuggerah
the King."

"And if I were to do as you say, you would run an even greater risk
of being eaten by the Poolongools, the most bloodthirsty cannibals--so
my men tell me--of all the northern tribes. No," Hansen said,
decidedly; "I have been thinking things out, and it must be one of two
courses. Either we all turn back, and I take you to Cooktown and put
you in charge of the Police Magistrate there, leaving you to settle
matters with your husband as best you can; and really, I don't know
why you should be in such terror of him. He can't force you to live
with him if you don't choose, and there's your mother in England for
you to go back to."

"You don't understand," cried Anne. "For my mother's own sake, I
could not go back to her."

"No, I don't understand," he rejoined. "Then what do you mean to do?
You didn't suppose that you and Kombo were to spend your lives among
the Blacks?"

"I meant to stay with my aunt at Kooloola till I could find
employment of some kind, or till I could make for Thursday Island and
get taken in a steamer to Singapore or Java. I have my voice, you
know. I thought that I should be able to get an engagement to sing in
public."

"In Java or Singapore or some part of the Malay Peninsula! You, an
unprotected and penniless woman--for I don't suppose you have got much
money."

"I have got five pounds," said Anne.

"My dear," said Hansen, gravely, "rather than this, you had better
turn beach-comber, and that is about the lowest profession I have ever
known."

"Well, as far as my poor aunt is concerned, my plan is ended," said
Anne, mournfully. "You know that they were all murdered by the
Blacks--my aunt and cousins--all except, perhaps, Tom. I wonder if you
can tell me whether Tom is alive or dead?"

"He is dead," said Hansen. "He just managed to get to the camp of the
native police, and died an hour afterwards."

"Then I have no one left in the world whom I can ask to help me,"
said Anne, sadly. She did not weep at the news of this fresh disaster.
She had become too accustomed to tragedies for this last one to move
her.

"My child! My child!" said Hansen, "I'm not much of a woman's man,
and a poor sort of chap at anything but ferreting out unclassified
beasts; but such as I am, I'm your servant and your protector till you
can find a better one. I'm not much at protesting either," added the
Dane, and an odd little spasm went over his features as he looked at
her; "but I can tell you--and you've got to believe me, for it's
true--I never felt so badly in my life about anything since my poor
old mother died, as I did when we knocked in the door of your cabin on
the Leichardt, and found it empty. Now I am not going to say a word
more than that if I can help it--about what the finding of you last
night meant to me--not a word if I can help it, while you and I are
wandering through the bush like two savages. You are my goddess,
remember, though you don't want me to call you Yuro Kateena, and as
soon as we make a camp, I'll build you a temple all to yourself as the
Maianbars did. If ever I come across a Maianbar, Anne, I'll give him a
bigger present of tobacco than a black fellow ever had, for the sake
of the respect his tribe paid you."

Anne laughed and so did Hansen, but the voices of both quavered.

"You haven't asked me about the alternative course I spoke of," he
said. "It is for both of us the best after all, I think. You see
you're not keen on making straight for civilisation, and a settlement
with your husband, and I'm not keen on giving up my trip before I've
discovered the red men, and what's more immediately practical, a new
marsupíal--a sort of land platypus, I've heard of from the Blacks, a
creature that isn't amphibious like the ordinary kind, but yet has
webbed feet, while it lays eggs, suckles its young, and carries its
babies in a pouch. Now, what I want to do is to catch that beast, skin
him and christen him--something Hanseniensis--carry him home to the
Museum in Copenhagen, and become famous for ever. Well, why shouldn't
we go on together round these mountains and get to the range on the
other side, have a peep into some of the old craters--avoiding the
Maianbar Tank and Multuggerah the King--then, presuming of course that
I have got a good specimen of my Platypus-Kangaroo, make for the
Tortoise Mountain and have a look, from a careful distance, at Gunida
Ulàla, the Place of Death, and explore for the red men? It's a large
programme, but I think we'll have a try for it."

"Very well," said Anne, her spirits rising at the prospect, and her
eyes dancing with glee. "I wish that I had been a man," she exclaimed.
"I think that I should have made as good an explorer as you, Mr.
Hansen. I've always longed so for adventure and discovery."

"We are well mated," replied Hansen. "I see that you are as eager
about the Red Men and the Tortoise, to say nothing of the Platypus-
Kangaroo, as I myself. Oh! Anne, what a plucky woman you are, and what
a comrade I have found!"

"But you mustn't expect too much of me," said Anne. "I have been
terribly frightened sometimes, and if you knew what I felt outside
that cave near Kooloola, when the blacks surrounded me, and held up
their spears as I sang 'Ave Baiamè,' you wouldn't call me plucky. But
tell me--you said that you knew about the cave?"

"Yes; you were traced there, and your revolver found. Then the
trackers followed into the scrub, but had to give it up. The Maianbars
were too cunning for them, and started Captain Cunningham on a blind
chase."

"But how was it possible that I was traced to Kooloola? I thought
that once I had got away undiscovered from the Leichardt you must all
certainly believe I had drowned myself."

"So we did; and it was not till some time afterwards that we were
shown some incriminating evidence you had left on your travels, and
which proved to us that you were alive."

She questioned eagerly; and Hansen pulled out of an inner pocket a
piece of soft paper--the page of a note-book, in which was wrapped a
lock of her hair. The page of the note-book was blank, but she
recognised it as one from the little book she had carried on board the
steamer, and taken away with her. Hansen fingered the bit of hair
tenderly, as though it had been in reality a relic of the dead.

"People don't usually cut off their hair as a preparation for
committing suicide," he said. "The magistrate and the captain, and
most other people, supposed that you had thrown yourself into the sea,
but this set me thinking on another track. It puzzled your husband
also, I fancy, as soon as he became sober. Several things of yours,
too, were missing, and it wasn't reasonable to conclude that you'd
want a change of clothes in heaven. Well, Mr. Bedo and I landed at
Townsville, and I made for the station that was to be my headquarters
in the intervals of my trips. But after a little while I came to the
conclusion that I'd go back to Cooktown and start exploring from
there. So I took the next coast boat north, and to my surprise found
Mr. Bedo at the hotel. He was in a state of intense excitement, for
news had just come of the Kooloola murders, and he thought you were
murdered too."

"But he had no reason to think I was up there," said Anne. "It was
impossible that I could have been recognised on my way. I did not even
go to the diggings where Kombo bought our horses and things. I camped
by myself in a deserted hut by a water-hole full of alligators."

"Yes, I know all about that. They say, you know, murderers always
leave some stupid little trace which leads to their committal. Well,
you were engaged in a sort of murder, and you did exactly the same
thing. You left the note-book from which I tore this sheet, behind you
in the hut, and it gave incontestable proof that you were alive. Do
you remember writing in it: `Anne Marley escaped from bondage,
rejoices in her liberty,' and some other remarks of the same kind,
with a date beneath them?"

"Yes. How I could have been so foolish I cannot imagine. It was a
babyish thing to do. Then I must have forgotten all about the book,
for I did not find out that I had lost it till we had left the place
several days."

"You dropped it in the hut, between the bunk and the wall. A
Chinaman found it there; one of the Chinamen who had been on the
Leichardt. He was going with a mate from Cooktown to the diggings, and
camped in that place. He brought it back to Cooktown and made some
money out of it. Now, if you had not betrayed yourself by that
womanish piece of carelessness, neither Elias Bedo nor I would have
known you were alive. And that's why I cherish this morsel of paper,
and why I bless you with all my heart for having shown yourself no
wiser than most women."

Anne was overwhelmed with confusion and shame; and whereas she had
not wept at the news of her cousin Tom's death, she wept now over the
tale of her own stupidity. This also was like a woman, and Hansen told
her so. He tried to console her.

"Much cleverer people than you, my child, have been caught by the
police through having made just such a blunder," he said, "but the
mischief is done and can't now be mended. Mr. Bedo is on your track,
and Captain Cunningham is helping him. They both started from Kooloola
about the same time as myself They must have taken a different
direction, for I have not seen nor heard anything of them since."

Anne paled. "Then they may be near. They may have followed you to
this place!"

Hansen shook his head. "I doubt it. I don't fancy that Mr. Bedo and
Captain Cunningham would care to force their way on foot through the
prickles of a scrub of lawyer palm. The prickles funked even me, and I
gave up, and turned south-west till I got into desert country. I
crossed that, and got over the range through a sandy gap, till it
became a case of scrub again, and leaving the horses. My impression
is, that Bedo and Cunningham tried rounding the scrub to the north. Of
course, it's possible that they have reached the open country, for
your husband's determination to find you seemed equal to any danger."

Anne was silent; she appeared to be weighing the situation. Just
then, they came to a bit of difficult walking over boulders and
through clumps of scrub. They made their mid-day camp shortly
afterwards, and then the Blacks turned sulky, and needed persuasion
and more tobacco to continue the march. It was only Kombo's vivid
description of the war-strength of the Maianbars which induced them to
quicken their paces. By-and-by, the party came upon a track made by
beasts going to water, and found a tiny lagoon embosomed among the
swelling slopes. After this, the path became easier, rising and
falling over lightly wooded spurs of the higher hills, as they marched
along the side of the Dividing Range, not daring to ascend into the
open till a much greater distance separated them from the land of the
Maianbars. They could now see that the Deep Tank, which they had
fancied close to the opposite range, was in reality much nearer this
one, for the further mountains receded like the shores of a vast bay,
showing more clearly a flat extent of country which they believed to
be desert.

Anne abruptly resumed the conversation.

"I cannot understand why my husband should go through so much to find
me. It cannot be because he cares for me. He told me himself before I
left the Leichardt that my moodiness had completely destroyed any
affection he had ever had for me. Why then does he want me back
again?"

"I believe that I can explain that to you," replied Hansen. "Mr. Bedo
himself let out his reason to me, when we were at Cooktown, after he
had been drinking rather much champagne. He was greatly excited by
some news the mail had just brought him. Do you not guess the
explanation of your husband's anxiety on your behalf?"

"No," she answered; "I have no idea of it."

"Yet the letter you left unfinished in your cabin before you
disappeared, rather suggested that you understood. You spoke in that
of the possibility of your being a peeress in your own right."

"Oh, that!" Anne laughed. "I wrote it as a joke. The whole thing had
been proved a mistake. Mr. Bedo told me so. But you shall know the
story. While we were in England, an old man who had been busying
himself in hunting up pedigrees came to my mother with a long story
about our own. It appeared that a barony and a great fortune had
lapsed, or was going to lapse, to the Crown for want of a proper heir.
This old man said he believed he could prove our descent and heirship
if we would give him money for the search after some missing link in
the evidence. Of course we had no money to give him, and no documents
to prove anything ourselves. In fact, there are several reasons for
supposing it all a fairy-tale. Mr. Bedo saw the old man--that was
before our marriage--and then again afterwards, just as we were
sailing,--and he told me he was sure the whole thing was a fraud."

"Mr. Bedo was deceiving you for his own purposes, judging from what
he himself said to me," replied Hansen, gravely. "Possibly he did not
wish to raise expectations in your mind before your position was fully
established. Anyhow, he gave me to understand in Cooktown that there
was no doubt about your being Baroness Marley, and that a large
fortune as well as the title--both of which would otherwise go to your
sister--depended upon his finding you. That is why I believe he will
leave no stone unturned to do so."

Again Anne appeared to be pondering the matter, her face showing pain
and perplexity. At last she said:

"If it is true that I am a rich woman, will the money be mine
absolutely?"

"I cannot tell you," answered Hansen, "for I am ignorant of the
conditions in such a case as yours. Ordinarily speaking, I believe
that, according to English law, and unless there is a settlement to
the contrary, a wife's money is her husband's."

"Then," said Anne decidedly, "my mind is quite made up. I would much
rather be dead, and that the money and everything else should belong
to my sister Etta. Then my mother would be independent of Mr. Bedo."

"But you are not dead," objected Hansen.

"It doesn't matter. I should have been eaten by the Maianbars long
before now, but for their superstition about Cloud-Daughter. I'd like
everybody to believe that I had been killed and eaten."

"I'm not sure if it's practicable," said Hansen, dryly. "Murder will
out, you know. But Anne, never mind about that for a moment. Tell me,
if I may know, was it for your mother's sake that you married Mr
Bedo?"

Anne looked at him with a surprised expression in her brown eyes.

"I thought you would have known that," she said. "Why else should I
have married him? Not for my own. I'd rather have died first. It was
for mother that I did it, and I'm glad I did; and though I said that I
must have been mad, if it had to be done over again, there would be
nothing else possible for me. You see it was this way. I had failed in
my trial as a singer. We were in debt. Mother was almost blind, and we
had no money to pay for the operation that afterwards saved her sight.
Do you understand? Mr Bedo asked me to marry him, and I consented on
the condition that mother should be provided for, and the operation
tried."

"Yes; I guessed as much before. There's one thing I ought to confess
to you--which is, that I played the sneak and read the letter you left
in your cabin, over Mr Bedo's shoulder, and I'm not at all ashamed of
having done so in the circumstances, though eavesdropping and reading
other people's letters isn't a habit of mine. It would have been
destroyed otherwise, and a valuable clue would have been lost. Do you
forgive me?"

"There is nothing to forgive," said Anne. "I thank you for having
cared so much about my fate."

"Your marriage was a cruel sacrifice," said Hansen, "a wicked
sacrifice, one for which heaven will require atonement."

"I did it of my own free will," replied Anne. "No one coerced me.
Having done it, I had to take its consequences. Perhaps I was wrong in
having run away from them; and yet, I can't think that any law of God
or man obliges a woman to live with a husband she hates, and who has
been brutally unkind to her, as well as other worse things. Yet I knew
what I was about, and if he hadn't sworn at me and beaten me, perhaps
I should have acted differently."

Hansen gave a stifled sound of indignation, but he said nothing. Anne
went on.

"You are thinking that I am a wicked, heartless woman, and I often
think so myself. I know that if I were to ask a clergyman what my duty
is, he would tell me to go back to my husband. Perhaps my own mother
would say so. Everybody seems to think that because a poor girl takes
a vow at the altar to love, honour, and obey, and to be faithful until
death, she must carry it through, no matter that she is suffering a
living martyrdom; no matter, too, whether the other one in the
contract be true to his oath also. Suppose that you cannot love or
honour, must you obey? Is it not enough to be faithful in the one
sense? ... And then what about his share of the bargain? Has he loved
and cherished me? Has he even been faithful to me? No. Can you wonder,
then, that I felt myself absolved from my oath?"

"My poor girl!" said Hansen, hoarsely. "Was it as bad as that? Then
you were absolved--you are absolved."

"That is what I felt. And from the day that I found out that, I
determined I would leave him at the first opportunity. Mother was all
right; the money was secured to her, and she could see again. So I
made up my mind that when we got to Australia I would run away and
hide myself among the stockmen and the Blacks--I knew that they would
be kind to me--and manage somehow till I could make a living for
myself. I didn't look forward very far, and even to that I couldn't
make up my mind quite till he beat me again, just before we got to
Thursday Island. Could you blame me afterwards?"

Again Hansen gave that smothered exclamation. He dared not trust
himself to speak.

"Even Kombo--that ignorant black boy--saw how impossible it was that
I could ever live with Mr. Bedo. He would have killed my husband, I
think, if he had seen him ill-use me again. So you see that even for
Mr. Bedo's sake it was better I should go."

"Yes," repeated Hansen, "it was better you should go; but I'm
thinking of you, not of Mr. Bedo."

"We made the plan, Kombo and I," Anne continued, "just before the
steamer got to Thursday Island, and it was then that I decided to go
up to Kooloola to Aunt Duncan. But I needn't tell you anything more
about that. You know how everything happened, and how well I should
have succeeded if it hadn't been for my abominable stupidity and
carelessness in writing as I did in my note-book and leaving it in the
shepherd's hut. Yet, even still, if you'll only be true to me and
never say how you found me, or rather how I found you, they'll think I
was killed and eaten by the blacks, and Etta will get the money and be
Baroness Marley in my stead--that is, if there's really anything in
the story, for I can't quite believe there is. Mr Hansen--Eric, will
you promise not to betray me?"

"I don't know how to answer you," Hansen said after a pause. "I
couldn't give an unconditional promise of that sort, for what you
would call betrayal might be my duty, and I should have to do that at
any cost. Do you think," he went on, his voice deepening as it did
when he was moved, "do you think, Anne, that I could give you up to
Elias Bedo, if I were not convinced by every human argument that I
ought to do so? And whatever happened, I'd stand by you and advise
you, if you'd let me, so that you might free yourself legally and
honourably, and still enjoy your own. Only in that case, I suppose I
shouldn't be the person to help you. But you have your mother, and
surely she would so advise you."

Anne's face fell. "You don't know my mother. Publicity of that sort
would kill her. But never mind." There was a pause. "Then you won't
help me?" she said, with the dejected air of a child rebuffed.

"Help you?" he cried. "Haven't I just said that nothing but sheer
compelling force would make me give you back to your husband? You told
me not long ago that you would trust me. Won't you go on trusting me?
I'm not a man who jumps at once to a conclusion. I must think this
matter out. In the meantime, I'll look after you as though you were my
own sister. After all, why should we worry about that just now? If
your husband follows and finds you, he finds you, and we'll make our
fight. If he doesn't, there's plenty of time to consider the situation
before we get back to civilisation. The point is--are we going back or
not? You know now who you are, and what you may be losing. If you
really are Baroness Marley and a rich woman, it seems to me--knowing
nothing of English law--that you've got the whip hand, and that
matters might be arranged somehow to your satisfaction. I'm just
taking a common-sense view of the position. But if you go on with me,
you're risking a great deal, and there's no knowing whether we shall
ever return. Of course, I'm supposing that we explore yonder
mountains. I'm resolved to find out all that there is to be found out
about them and the mysterious Red Race, if not now, then later. But it
does seem a pity to turn back when with great danger and difficulty
we've got in sight of the place."

"Oh, yes, yes," cried Anne. "You must not turn back."

"It's only a question of time," replied Hansen. "I shall come back
by-and--by; and, if you wish it, I'll gladly take you to the coast
now. Perhaps, after all, it would be better for my own sake that I
should go back, and then make a fresh expedition on different lines to
explore the Tortoise Mountain, which appears to be quite unknown to
all previous explorers. So Anne, do not let the thought of my
disappointment weigh with you, should you decide on the civilisation
scheme. I really believe it would be far wiser for me--speaking from
the explorer's point of view--to start anew with a better equipment."

"And if I decide on the scheme of barbarism or rather of
exploration," she said, "what then?"

"Then," he answered, fervently, "I will even more gladly take you
with me into all unknown dangers, and I will guard you with my life
against possibility of harm."

He waited for her reply with an anxiousness he could not hide.

"I have decided," she said, presently. "I decided before, when you
spoke of the alternatives. I will go with you thankfully, and will be
as little hindrance to you as is possible. Perhaps my reputation as a
goddess may be of greater service than you imagine," she added, shyly.
"I can at least bring it to bear on the Blacks, to prevent them from
jibbing at the fire-spitting crocodile, and the poisonous turtle."

And so it was settled.



Chapter XVIII--Comrades in Adventure



AFTER that long day's march, which must have covered twenty miles,
the wanderers came to more broken country and progress was necessarily
slower. They had again got into the heart of the range, having been
obliged to head precipitous gullies, and for many days were out of
sight of the cone-strewn upland. Twice, being as they believed beyond
reach of their enemies, Hansen made a temporary camp, and rested for a
day or two, employing the interval in searching for unknown beasts. He
succeeded in finding one hitherto undescribed by naturalists, but the
mythical platypus--kangaroo seemed, figuratively speaking, a will o'
the wisp, never to be caught, but always luring him on. Then for a
week, the party was flood--bound on the banks of a roaring torrent
swelled by heavy rains in the mountains, though of the rains they had
but a drizzle. The bad weather kept them inside their gunyas, however,
for several days, and in that time Anne came to know the Dane even
better than while they had been marching. For now they had long spells
of talk by the camp-fire, and the tale of adventure being exhausted,
Hansen had to draw upon the stores of his own mind for her amusement.
These were varied and interesting, and Anne came to the conclusion
that to be a savage in company of Eric Hansen was a liberal education.

He was very good to her, thinking no trouble too great which might
ensure her some little comfort; and after her experiences with the
Maianbars, this sojourn in the white man's camp was to Anne a taste of
Paradise. When they got down from the higher spurs east, into view of
the western range, the opposite mountains appeared to have receded,
and to be many miles distant, while the Deep Tank of the Maianbars was
now completely out of sight. From their southerly position they looked
towards the edge of the cone-dotted upland, which terminated some way
off in a natural wall like a cliff on the sea-shore. Below it,
stretching to their feet, was indeed a sea, but of sand, not water.
Northward and westward, as far as the dividing cliff and the distant
range, there was now nothing to be seen but desert.

They had the intention of skirting the southern mountains and of so
rounding the desert, but in this plan they were frustrated by
impassable ravines and peaks of naked rock rising sheer from the plain
below. Besides, as long as they remained in the hills they were sure
of water, but if they were to start crossing the desert plain, they
might have to encounter all the horrors of thirst as well as of
extreme heat. As long as they kept to the highlands the air was
comparatively fresh, while the nights were often cold enough to make a
fire agreeable. There was nothing for it, therefore, but to strike
upward to the wooded ranges where all was scrub again, though less
dense than it had been in the earlier part of Anne's wanderings.
Nevertheless, it was sufficiently thick to make walking tiresome and
difficult. Yet the scrub had its own interest, for it abounded in
botanical wonders, and Hansen collected some curious "leaf-
butterflies," specimens of the muskbug, the smoke-ejecting beetle, and
other Australian insects. In the days of rest, Anne employed herself
in the manufacture of fibre garments, while Hansen provided both with
new moccasins of skin.

Now they walked in a south-westerly direction as near as they could
to this great basin enclosed on all sides by mountains, and which had
no doubt been a small inland sea. But crags and precipices soon made
the route impracticable, and they saw that it would be necessary to
descend. From the face of a steep crag above the eminence on which
they made these observations, a stream sprouted in several places,
and, gathering into one volume of water, swept down a gully to the
left, and lost itself in the sand of the desert below. Hansen told
Anne that this was a very common feature of rivers in the West
Australian desert, and that they should doubtless find the stream
again, re-emerging among the mountains to which they were bent, or
possibly flowing still through some subterranean passage which it had
hollowed for itself in the heart of the hills.

To follow this gully appeared the easiest mode of reaching the level,
and they climbed down with some difficulty along its bed, crawling
part of the way upon a ledge of rock overhanging the stream, and for
the rest, picking their steps among water-worn boulders. There was a
deep pool dammed by rocks some feet above the plain, and from the
bottom of this natural trough the river flowed on unseen beneath the
sand.

The travellers now found themselves on the brink of that dried-up sea
closed in by naked rock as far as they could see, except where above
the dividing cliff northward, they had a faint and very distant view
of those volcanic cones among which lay the Deep Tank of the
Maianbars. There was no sign of an oasis, nor of any other stream
rolling down from the higher hills to hide itself in the sand. All
along, fringing the desert, the grey cliff rose unbroken. For several
days the party camped in this place, and here, the Blacks mutinied and
refused to go further.

For some time, there had been dissatisfaction in the camp. The
tobacco had given out and game was scarce in these barren regions, so
that for food all were dependent on Hansen's rifle and Anne's
revolver. The gins and men grumbled loudly at their burdens, which
increased as more specimens were added to the pack. Then a favourite
dog had been bitten by a snake and died, while two other dogs had
eaten of a poisonous fungus in the scrub, or had got their death in
some unexplainable fashion, all of which things aggravated the blacks'
discontent, and convinced the Moongarrs, who were extremely
superstitious, that Debil-debil was hanging round. Not even the magic
of Cloud-Daughter was held to be a safeguard against the evil spirit,
and to no effect did Anne raise her voice in the awe-inspiring Ave
Baiamè. The confidence of the Blacks had been shaken, for whether or
not she could produce rain did not greatly matter, since she had not
of late brought them wallabis--except of the shy rock kind which is
difficult to spear--or serpents of which they had found abundance in
the tree ferns of the scrub, and which had reconciled them greatly to
the march. The aboriginal stomach craved morbidly for a feast, and as
one of the Moongarrs was known as being especially clever in procuring
Talgoro--human flesh--it behoved the two white people to take care
that no Black ever walked behind them. Indeed, Kombo had given dark
hints of a plot to slay Hansen from the rear with a nulla-nulla, and
to carry back Yuro Kateena to the Moongarrs' land.

One night a bird sang weirdly over the pool into which the stream
discharged itself before becoming lost in the desert, and the Blacks,
crying out that it was the voice of Debil-debil, made a wild stampede,
and removed their camp from the haunted spot. Possibly, for
geographical reasons, as their natural hunting-grounds were further
south, the Moongarr, had not the same definite terror of the thunder
of the Tortoise as the Maianbars. Their legends were more misty, and
their ideas of the mysterious red race inhabiting the opposite range
vaguer than those of the Maianbars. It was rather the usual native awe
of Debil-debil that held them back. The Debil-debil superstition
seemed, however, potent enough. All the next day the Moongarrs were
very sulky, and towards evening declared their intention of re-
mounting the bed of the stream in search of fish or game. They took
all their belongings with them, and even Kombo accompanied them. To
start so late in the day was in itself suspicious; and neither Anne
nor Hansen were surprised when the next day passed and none of the
escort had returned.

Those two nights, the man and woman camped in a sort of cave beneath
the projecting cliff. They could not have made gunyas--had that been
necessary--for here were no trees nor ferns with which to roof any
extemporised hut. The heat was great, being reflected back from the
sandy sea on the grey precipices above them, and, but for the good
supply of water, they would have suffered much discomfort. Now it was
that Anne proved her fitness as the companion of a brave man. An
ordinary woman might have wept at the desertion of her black comrade,
which was in fact a sharp blow to the girl; an ordinary woman might
well have shrunk from the traversing of that hideous strip of desert
which lay before them, and from the unknown experiences which awaited
them in the opposite mountains--the strange Crocodile with its yawning
jaws of stone, and the still more mysterious Tortoise.

Then, too, an ordinary woman might have been over-come with
conventional scruples at finding herself thus committed to the
solitary company of a man who she guessed loved her, whom she scarcely
dared confess to herself that she was beginning to love, and whom,
moreover, while her husband lived, she could not marry.

But none of these considerations deeply affected Anne, the last one
least of all. Since it had been decided that she was to take part in
his expedition, Hansen had sedulously guarded his lips and had striven
to establish a merely friendly comradeship between himself and the
girl in his charge, so that but for the unacknowledged consciousness
at the back of both their minds, they might in truth have been brother
and sister. As for the difficulties and dangers of their enterprise
and the desertion of Kombo, this was not the hour in which to bewail
them.

Anne had heroism sufficient to make the best of the situation,
resolving not to add to Hansen's perplexities. She laughed, and made
light of their troubles, and would not listen when he again suggested
that they could still turn back.

Firing here was not plentiful, and the two diverted their thoughts
from unpleasant subjects in gathering up driftwood that had been
washed down by the stream, and heaping it in stacks, Anne singing the
while, as was her way when Hansen showed depression. The Blacks had
taken away most of the provisions, and Hansen went up with his gun and
fishing line in the hope of shooting some game, and of catching fish
in the pool. Anne did not go with him, but remained beneath the cliff,
putting into such order as she could the baggage, which had been piled
pell-mell by the Moongarrs against the rocks. It was a problem what
they should do with the specimens, chemicals, and ammunition, now that
the bearers had left them. She put the question to Hansen when he came
back with some fish he had caught, and a rock kangaroo that he had
luckily shot on its way to water. He decided that they would bury the
specimens, and all else that they could not carry, in the sand. By
measuring a certain distance to right and left of the pool, they
would, he said, find the spot easily on their return, as the gully
would form a landmark. Water was what they would most need; also
ammunition, of which they must take as large a supply as possible, as
well as such food as they could carry. This he set himself to prepare
for transport, slitting the fish they did not eat, and drying them in
the sun, as well as portions of the wallabi. He settled that they
would camp in this place for a day or two longer, in order to get
provisions together and to recruit themselves near the water for their
journey across the sand. Thus, too, they would give Kombo a chance of
finding them, should he think better of his ill-deed. Of the other
Moongarrs, Hansen had little hope, but neither he nor Anne could
believe that Kombo could seriously desert them after the perils he had
already shared with his mistress.

It was soon proved that they were right. Kombo's better nature had
triumphed over his superstition, or some more potent fear had driven
him back to the protection of the white man's gun. The third night
after his departure, Anne and Hansen were awakened by a stealthy
native call, and then a cry of woe, which sounded from the bed of the
stream a little higher than the pool into which the water emptied
itself and disappeared. Both started up, Hansen with his gun in his
hand, and Anne having her revolver ready. At first, they hardly
recognised the voice, which was drowned by the rush of the river, but
presently knew it as that of Kombo.

"Eeoogh! Eeoogh! Poor fellow me! Missa Anne! Missa Anne! Massa
Hansen! Kombo plenty close-up bong (dead). This fellow altogether
sick--no got him arm! Poor fellow Kombo! Eeoogh! Eeoogh!"

Hansen mounted in the direction of the call, and in a few minutes
Kombo, half led, half carried, presented himself before his mistress.
He was a pitiable object. His old flannel shirt--all that remained to
him of his wardrobe, which he had discarded during his residence with
the Maianbars, resuming it after the example of Hansen's men--was torn
to shreds and caked with blood, while one arm hung helpless from a
flesh wound near the shoulder. The boy was in an exhausted and almost
starving condition, and before he could speak, fed greedily on a piece
of cooked wallabi, drinking long draughts of cold tea which had been
made from the last pinch left in the ration bag. Afterwards, Hansen
examined and bathed his hurt, binding it with the silk handkerchief he
had given to Anne--another last remnant of civilisation. He saw that
the wound was a small matter, its chief importance being the fact that
it had been caused by shot from a gun. The black boy told his tale.

"Ba'al mine want to run away," he pleaded, evidently deeply ashamed
of himself. "Mine plenty frightened long-a Debil-debil, and Moongarr
black fellow, he say, `Suppose you no come, Kombo, then black fellow
kill you.' Mine no want to run away from Missa Anne. I been think-it
me go little way long-a Moongarrs, then wait till sun fall down, and
by-and-by come back when black fellow not looking. But that no good.
All the time, Moongarr black stop close long-side of Kombo. No chance
to run away. My word! Black fellow walk quick! I believe Moongarr
black very much frightened too of gun belonging to white man. So all
night Black make light with fire-stick and climb up mountain, then
sleep a little while and climb up again. One black fellow find-im hole
where mountain split like-it melon when that fellow plenty ripe. Black
fellow altogether creep long-a hole a long way, and get down close-up
scrub on other side. Then mine been see horses with hobbles--mine go
little way and mine been see black trooper--then mine been see--"
Kombo paused dramatically--"Mine been see--Massa Bedo." Kombo's
pantomimic gesture was expressive of utmost dismay. Anne gave a little
cry.

"Are you sure--are you sure, Kombo, that it was Mr Bedo?"

"Mine plenty sure, Missa Anne," replied the black boy. "Mine see
Massa Bedo. I b'lieve that fellow long time long-a bush. He look like-
it wild man. I believe certain sure that Mr Bedo. He no been see me.
Mine climb up big tree while Moongarr black make camp and look out
snake in scrub. Suppose like-it this--" And Kombo made a sort of
diagram with his hand, pointing to a boulder near him, and then to a
lower ledge half way down it, and to imaginary scrub in the distance.
"Here you see, big fellow rock." He went on: "You see, Kombo up on
tree close-up top; Massa Bedo down bottom of rock--good way, but that
close enough for gun to find Kombo. Mine been frightened,--suppose
Massa Bedo see me, and so mine been crawl down tree. Then one big
fellow branch break, and Massa Bedo he look up, and I believe he think
Kombo one fellow wallabi. He put up pho--pho--Ow!--he fire off gun,
and one little baby bullet hit Kombo. My word! that plenty hurt--
altogether blood run down, but ba'al mine make a noise. Mine
frightened. Mine think, suppose Massa Bedo fire again! Mine stoop down
and run along like-it snake, quick up the mountain, over other side.
Then mine stop little while, because plenty blood come. But mine no
like to stop long time. My word! Kombo plenty make haste--run--run.
Then mine find-im hole, and crawl like-it first time long way. Ba'al
mine stop for eating, but by-'m-by mine lie down. Eeoogh! this poor
fellow altogether sick. Mine believe Debil-debli marra (take) Kombo,
make that fellow go bong. Then mine think, suppose Kombo go bong,
Massa Bedo climb up, look out blood, and see poor fellow Kombo--then
soon Massa Bedo find Missa Anne. He very saucy--Massa Bedo; he no go
back. He got-im horse too. But ba'al mine understand how horse come
along through scrub. I believe black trooper bring him other way. My
word! I been very sorry because no can steal horse belonging to Massa
Bedo. When mine think like-it that, mine get up and walk--all night,
all day--all the time mine very sick. Poor fellow Kombo! Nothing to
eat! By-'m-by, I find-im river. I got-im spear and catch-im fish and
eat-im. Afterwards ba'al mine sick. Now can run. I want to tell Missa
Anne and Massa Hansen, you look out--Massa Bedo, he close-up. Suppose
he give Moongarr blacks ration, they show-im road. Missa Anne, you no
want-im catch you. Then, you make haste--up stick and yan. Nalla yan,
Massa Hansen, before sun jump up."

Thus Kombo delivered himself, and the manner of his delivery was even
more graphic than his words. The tears came into Anne's eyes, as she
realised how the brave boy had dragged himself along in his maimed
state, conquering the tendencies of his race, for when a Black is
wounded he gives himself up for lost, and thinks only of getting among
his tribe to die. Kombo had left his tribe to save her, and for her
sake he had even ventured back to the regions of Debil-debil. While he
spoke, his teeth chattered with intense fear. It had cost Kombo a good
deal to descend the haunted stream alone. Mercifully, the wild bird
had not again piped its mournful cry, or superstition might have
driven him back. The girl put out her hand, and stroked the black
boy's dirty paw.

"Oh! Kombo," she said, "you altogether brother belonging to me.
Bujeri you, Kombo! Good boy, Kombo!"

Hansen also was moved. "Bujeri you, Kombo!" he repeated. "Mine
brother too belonging to you. And you very clever boy, Kombo. We must
up stick and yan before the sun rises. I don't think Mr Bedo will
catch us just yet. Now see, I will put medicine on this sick place,
and Yuro Kateena will pialla (pray to) Mormodelik, so when the stars
go away, Kombo will jump up altogether well. But first tell me--how
many men were with Mr Bedo?"

"I been see only two black fellow," said Kombo.

"Not Captain Cunningham?" asked Anne, anxiously.

"No," replied Kombo; "I only see one gunya belonging to white man. No
sign of Captain Cunningham. I believe Massa Bedo all by himself with
two black trooper."

"So far well," said Hansen. "Now Kombo, you go to sleep, and
remember, you'll be all right when you wake up."

The black boy rolled himself over, and almost before Hansen moved
away, was fast asleep.

"Anne," said the Dane, turning to the girl who was sitting with a
very disconsolate air on the rock which had served Kombo as an
illustration of Mr Bedo's position, "I'm not going to let you be down-
hearted, and I don't intend that Elias Bedo shall find you. You've
been the pluckiest comrade man ever had, and you must be brave a bit
longer. Shall you be ready to start at daybreak?"

"I am ready to start now," she said.

Hansen looked at his watch, which he had kept in working order, and
then at the sky. "It wants three or four hours yet, and in the
meantime we must fill our water-bags and stow the ammunition about our
waists. I don't want to leave a cartridge behind--as well as the food
we are going to take. Kombo won't be up to much weight just at first,
but I can manage a good load. You've got your belt filled with
cartridges for the revolvers?"

She pointed to it--a bandolier she had manufactured herself out of
skin and plant fibre that she wore slung over one shoulder.

"All we have, are there," she answered, "and I have packed my dilly-
bag with food."

"That's right. Lucky we buried the rest of the stuff this afternoon.
My specimens are the only things that trouble me, but I think they are
pretty safe in this dry sand. Now I'm going to give you a bit of
advice. Just before you start take off that cartridge belt for five
minutes, and lie down in your clothes in the shallow part of the
stream, letting the water soak into the pores of your skin. You won't
catch cold, and you'll find it a preventive against thirst, so that we
sha'n't need to tackle our water-bags so soon. I shall do the same."

"How far do you suppose it is to the mountains?" she asked.

"I should fancy about thirty miles--nothing of a walk. But we have to
face the heat and the chance of barren rocks at the end. And we must
be provided with grub, and against there being no water beyond this
stream we are leaving. It really is no great undertaking, the crossing
of the strip of desert, and we shall keep under the shadow of the
cliff. The heat will be the worst part of it, and I shall be glad when
we get to the uplands again. Then think of what we may discover. It's
worth while braving the Red Men and the magic of the Crocodile for
that."



Chapter XIX--The Tortoise-Altar



THE Crocodile and the Tortoise--as the lowering sun shone upon them--
had the appearance of gigantic primaeval monsters. The yellow orb hung
over that grey hump which so curiously resembled a turtle's shell, and
specially illuminated the slanting monolith in which to the north, it
terminated. So natural did this monolithic head appear, protruding, as
it were, from beneath the upper crust of the mountain, that it was
difficult to believe Nature had not been assisted by man. That,
however, in this remote region, could hardly be thought possible.
Below the monolith, and carrying out the Blacks' tradition of a mouth
in the reptile's stomach, the mysterious blue lips of Gunida Ulala
were partially visible. Yet it seemed that the opening into the valley
where the wanderers stood, might even more appropriately have been
named the Place of Death. Never was scene of wilder desolation. At
this point, the range of mountains turned inward, and thus formed the
gorge which led up to the Tortoise. Gaunt peaks rose at the south end
of the gorge, straight from a grey level of loose stones and ashen
soil patched with stunted bushes. At the north side, abutting from the
ridge, the Crocodile reared its ungainly shape like some petrified
antediluvian monster appointed to guard the valley. It had to the eye
of a spectator, standing close to the crag, a less distinct likeness
to the form of a gigantic saurian than when viewed from a distance,
under softening atmospheric conditions. It was, in fact, a long
precipitous ridge forming part of the range, the end of which, rearing
abruptly like an uplifted snout, was a tall trough of rock, with a
jagged rift in its side, that gave an appearance of gaping jaws. The
surface of the rock was black and scaly from the action of internal
fires, and there could be no manner of doubt that this natural trough
had once been the crater of a volcano--whether or not now extinct who
could tell? There was at least no present suggestion of activity. The
course of the lava flood which had issued from it was clearly
indicated, and in one part, seemed to have been broken as by a rush of
raging water which had flung it back against the rock, from which it
now curled and hung in mighty petrified shreds, like black foam on a
giant wave.

The very earth itself had been riven in the struggle, for there was a
deep chasm, partly filled in the course of centuries, by soil and
scanty vegetation; while beyond, across the valley's mouth, lay huge
boulders most fantastic in shape--fragments of a mountain torn in that
cataclysmal convulsion--and heaps of grey-black stones which might
have been vomited in prehistoric times from the crater-jaw.

Opposite the Crocodile, to the south, at the foot of a great basalt
ridge, which did not seem to have been so severely dealt with by the
elemental forces, there lay a belt of verdure, where possibly, a
stream had once flowed. Closing in the head of the valley, and partly
hidden by the tortuous lines of the projecting hills, the grey stone
carapace of the Tortoise Mountain lay against the horizon.

This was the scene which met the wanderers' eyes, as, worn out with a
two days' march across the desert, where inhospitable grey cliffs had
walled them in like the sides of an immense natural basin, baked by
the fierce sun, and parched with thirst, they came within reach of
their goal.

Hansen hurried as best he might over the uneven surface of a
comparatively level stretch of the valley towards the ribbon of scrub.
Alas! he found no shimmer of water within its depths. But the sight of
the green was hopeful, and calling to Kombo to come on, he helped Anne
to climb the boulders till they dropped from a low fall of rock down
upon smooth ground in the shadow of great trees.

The vegetation of this scrub was unlike that of the scrub they had
already traversed, for here was no dense undergrowth nor any thickets
of the prickly lawyer palm.

There were shrubs unknown to them, bearing flowers of different hues,
and large, trunked trees, very lofty but bare to a considerable
height, where they spread out in horizontal branches. The stems of
these trees were white, while they tapered inward at the bottom, and
just below the branches, in something the shape of an enormous bottle.
There was no doubt that they were a species of bottle-trees, only very
much larger than those further south. With his knife Hansen at once
made four incisions in one of them, and taking out the wedge of soft
wood found that a few drops of colourless liquid trickled down the
stem. He collected what he could of the liquid, and made Anne moisten
her lips with the few spoonfuls in the pannikin. She wanted him to do
the same, but he shook his head. "There's sure to be water here," he
said; and just then, Kombo, who had been scraping the soil with his
sharp club, called out that he had found it. The two men made a
deepish hole, and before long, they had a bucketful of clear water.
Now they relieved themselves of the baggage they had been carrying. It
was reduced to ammunition, for all else had been cast aside. Kombo cut
some branches of acacia which grew among the bottle trees, and soon
rigged up a shelter for Anne. He spread a blanket on the floor; the
opossum rug had been abandoned long ago, both on account of its
weight, and because the heat made such a covering, even at night,
unnecessary.

The girl threw herself down, with a piece of log for a pillow, and
sank almost immediately into a sleep of utter exhaustion. When she
awoke, Hansen was beside her, holding in his hand some fruit,--a flat
long purple plum and a cluster of large red flowers like lilies, which
she could but dimly see in the dusk of the gunya. In spite of his own
fatigue, there was a look of repressed excitement upon his face, but
he said nothing, bidding her eat the plums and stay her appetite till
the junglehen he had shot was cooked.

It was now dark, the twilight having abruptly deepened into night,
and only the flames of Kombo's fire lighted up the little smooth space
among the bottle-trees where they had made their camp. All were too
weary for anything but to eat and sleep; too weary also, to feel fear
either on the score of Elias Bedo, who they believed was pursuing
them, or on that of the mysterious Red Men. They never thought of
blacks. For many days there had been no sign of native fires, and it
was certain that the Maianbars' superstitious dread of the Tortoise
and Crocodile would keep them from venturing into the neighbourhood of
these mountains. Only Kombo was uneasy. He would not now, as was his
wont, camp over his own fire a little way apart, but crawled close to
Anne's gunya, between it and the place where Hansen slept, his gun
beside him; and more than once in the night the girl, was awakened by
the black boy's whispering voice.

"Missa Anne, you no think-it that Tulumi Mirrein? (the thunder of the
Tortoise). You no think-it Kelan Yamina--the old man Crocodile--spit
fire on Kombo?" At which Anne would reason with him, declaring that
since the magic of Cloud-Daughter had so far preserved him from harm,
he might trust it against the breath of the Tortoise and the fire of
the Crocodile. But even she was sometimes startled by strange noises
and peculiar night cries, whether of the wind among the tall trees or
the voices of bird or reptile, she could not tell. The whole place
seemed to her strained senses haunted and uncanny, and she was, later,
interested in discovering that the history of that wild valley might
well justify ghostly alarms. The heat had been terrible for the time
of the year, intensified no doubt by the glare of the desert and the
reflection of the sun upon the sides of the great sandy basin they had
crossed; but it was very hot and steamy even in this mountain gorge,
and they became anxious to ascend into cooler regions. For some time
the next day they traversed the scrub in fruitless quest of a pool of
water, but they found none, and there was no sign of the buried river
emerging from beneath the desert sands. They climbed up the northern
ridges--which, though inaccessible crags towered above them, were on
the lower slopes, not difficult to mount--in the hope that here, as in
those of the range they had formerly skirted, they might find a
mountain tarn.

But here again progress was slow, for again they found volcanic
boulders and banks of loose grey stones upon which, at every moment,
their feet slipped. As they proceeded, the vegetation which had
clothed the lower spurs at the opening of the gap became scantier,
till it ceased or showed grey and withered, as though burned by the
heat of the ground on which they trod. There was a sulphurous stench
in an intersecting ravine they had to cross, and here and there, smoke
issued from the side of the hill; while once, Kombo, treading
incautiously, fell through the crust of an earth bubble, and was with
difficulty pulled out. The boy uttered piercing shrieks of "Debil-
debil," and when he came out was scorched and in places badly burned.
This did not add to his happiness, and he went whimpering to the rear,
afraid to retreat, afraid to go on; and repeating to himself, in
mangled fashion, the Lord's Prayer, which had been taught him during
his civilised years, but which he had given up for the employment of
his native exorcisms.

"It's like a place I know in Japan that they call the Great Hell,"
said Hansen. "Keep close to me, Anne, and tread exactly in my
footsteps." Thus they went in safety over that part of the Pass, and
climbing again, seemed to leave the sulphurous track behind them.

All this time they had been steadily mounting. Though suffering great
inconvenience from the heat, they were not tormented with thirst, for
they had filled their water-bags at the little wells they had dug in
the scrub below. But after a while it got cooler, and by-and-by they
found themselves in pleasant pastures, ascending and descending land
billows that were green with long grass and shrubby vegetation, above
which rose, here and there, the feathery crest of a clump of palms. At
last, in a hollow between two of these undulations, they found a tiny
blue water-hole which seemed of an incalculable depth, and round the
sides of which grew lilies with pale blue and white cups.

"The lotus!" exclaimed Hansen. "The sacred lotus of India, Japan, and
Egypt. This is very interesting. I have never seen it growing in
Australia."

There were other surprises in store. They camped that night by the
little lagoon, and supped sumptuously on Torres-Straits pigeons that
Hansen had shot, and on fresh-water fish caught in the pool. The
presence of this particular river fish in so small a lagoon puzzled
Hansen, and he concluded that there must be an underground stream
making a continuous current in the lagoon.

Next day they mounted higher, with still the Tortoise Mountain before
them. But it was partly hidden by the projecting spurs of the range
which seemed to meet in front of it, so tortuous were the curves of
the valley. The rock head of the Tortoise, which at intervals rose
above the curving hills, appeared more natural than ever. They could
discern some resemblance to the flabby folds of skin that hang about a
real tortoise's neck. It was a marvel of nature, if it were indeed
entirely due to nature. That seemed almost incredible, but there was
no other explanation of the wonder. From this point of the valley they
could not see the blue triangular mouth of Gunida Ulàla, for the lower
part of the mountain was wholly obscured by a great rocky spur some
distance in front of them. There was a still lower spur intervening
between the wanderers and the further hill; and as they approached
this nearer rise, they saw that what they had taken for a rocky
serrated formation on its summit, was in reality a series of monoliths
placed in a definite circle with irregular spaces in the circle where
great columns were missing. These ruins had certainly been made by no
convulsion of the earth, and as certainly, by the hand of man. Such of
the monoliths as remained upright, surrounded an oval space, in the
centre of which stood a large round stone supported upon another, and
with a slight depression in the centre, suggesting an altar of
Cyclopean size.

Till now they had come upon no sign of humanity; and even this circle
of stones, giving somewhat the idea of Stonehenge, seemed a relic of
some race of Titans rather than of human beings like themselves.

Kombo, when he beheld the monoliths standing out against the sky,
cried aloud that "Debil-debil sat down there," and hid himself behind
a bank of shrubs where he again assiduously repeated what he could
remember of the Lord's Prayer. The air was very still; no wind stirred
the tree-tops on the mountain side; neither human being nor animal
gave sign of its presence, nor was there any sound presaging
supernatural occurrences or giving countenance to the Maianbar's
terror of the Tortoise's ominous thunder. Had there been, Kombo would
undoubtedly have fled back to the desert and to the Maianbars
themselves to avoid the greater evil. As it was, he waited, and by-
and-by, taking heart of grace, cautiously followed his mistress. Anne
ran up the grassy slope after Hansen, who turned, waving his hand to
her to remain till he should have reconnoitred this strange spot. But
she was not to be holden. Before many minutes she stood by his side,
in front of the desolate altar which reached high above their
shoulders.

"They must have been big people who worshipped here," Hansen said,
thoughtfully. "This seems to me higher than any of the Tortoise altars
I have seen in the buried cities of Mexico."

Hansen's eyes were agleam with the delight of scientific discovery,
which is greater even than the joy of finding gold. He knew that he
had found here in the unexplored heart of Australia--that continent
which was declared to have no previous inhabitants but the degraded
aboriginals found there on the first explorers' landing--ruins which
proclaimed the fact of a civilisation, linked with, and perhaps as
great as, the prehistoric civilisation of Central America, traces of
man's occupation in remote ages, which might, indeed, change modern
scientific conceptions of the former history of the globe.

"Anne," he said, solemnly, "I am now confirmed in an idea which came
over me the night we camped in the valley, though I said nothing to
you till I had further proof of my theory. I am convinced that this
was once a populous region, which has been destoyed, probably long
ages back, by an eruption of the Crocodile Mountain. I believe that we
shall find the remains of a race similar to that which built the old
cities of Palenque and Copan. I know the shape of that altar--a
tortoise altar,--though I have never seen it enclosed by a druidic
circle."

"A tortoise altar!" repeated Anne, with a puzzled expression on her
face. "Do you mean that there were ever any people who worshipped
tortoises?"

Hansen did not answer the question for a minute or two. He was too
deeply engaged in tracing the lines of some much-worn hieroglyphics
which covered the pedestal of the altar.

"Oh! If I had but the drawings I made in Yucatan, to compare with
this!" he exclaimed. "But who could have dreamed of such a discovery?
It certainly confirms Brasseur de Bourbourg's theory, that there was
once a vast continent with a great civilisation, extending from Chili
and Peru to Australia. Remains have been discovered in the islands of
Polynesia, but till now none in Australia. Who knows that they may not
be buried beneath the sands of the great Central desert, or the lava
of extinct volcanoes? Anne, you do not realise what a stupendous find
this is."

"No," she answered, "but you will explain it to me."

"Yes, as far as I am able. I worked up the subject as well as I
could before going to Mexico; and when I got there, the question of
that ancient Mayan civilisation interested me so intensely, that I
tried to pierce into the forbidden heart of Yucatan, where white men
dare not go. You know the legend of a mysterious city, where, it is
supposed, is a remnant of the lost Atlanteans? I learned as much as I
could of the old Mayan language from Landa's Grammar, and the dialects
of the Quichés--which is a corruption of the Mayan--so as to be able
to talk to the natives and collect their traditions."

"Did you find the mysterious city?" she asked.

He laughed. "No; I don't think any white traveller is likely to do
that. I meant to have a try at it, however, only I was laid down with
fever at the start, and when I got well I was recalled home."

"And you never went back?"

"No. It is only a year ago. I came out here instead."

They were walking round the circle, and there were pauses in the
talk, for every now and then, Hansen would stop and spend some minutes
in examining the monoliths. There appeared no trace of inscriptions on
the great stones, some of which were upright, others fallen. The
vegetation on the summit and sides of the mound was scanty, indicating
no depth of soil except in a line sloping perpendicularly where there
was a band of verdure. He prodded the ground with his staff.

"It is as I suspected," he said. "There is masonry under the grass,
and I am very much mistaken if here are not steps like those leading
to the great temple platform on a hill I've been to in Hawaii. So
there must have been mound builders and pyramid builders in this new
world, as they are pleased to call it; though it is my opinion that
Australia is about the oldest portion of the known earth."

He was greatly excited. Anne caught the reflection of his
enthusiasm.

"Let us stay here and dig for what we may find," she cried.

He held out his staff derisively. "With this, and the butt end of my
gun! No; we will push on at once to the Tortoise Mountain. I shall be
surprised if something astonishing does not meet us there. Very likely
this temple, or whatever it was, guarded the approach to the sacred
hill. If this people had anything to do with the ancient Mayans, which
seems probable, I can understand why they chose this as the site of a
city. No doubt they utilised the shape of the mountain in their
rites." They had come back now to the great altar. Hansen raised
himself and peered over its sides.

"There's a hollow in the stone," he said. "It may be, Anne, that we
are standing by the very spot where human victims were laid for
sacrifice."

"To a tortoise!" she exclaimed, shuddering. "You have not told me if
it's really true that any people ever worshipped tortoises."

"Why, yes," he answered. "All the old religions had a beast or a
reptile as the emblem of a cult. There's the winged serpent of
Yucatan, the hooded cobra of India, the elephant, the bull, the cat--
ever so many besides. The tortoise was a very sacred symbol among the
Chinese. Its upper shell was supposed to be the are of heaven; its
under one the bottom of the earth, and its body floated on the waters.
Therefore, you see, it typified creation."

"I see," she assented, doubtfully; "but I think the idea is rather
silly."

"All symbolism seems silly till you get a clue to its inner meaning.
They spoke to the people in parables in those days when men were
undeveloped animals and only the priests knew anything. But I'm not
going to worry you with ancient symbolism till we have had our lunch.
You shall hear as much as I can tell you--which is little enough--by-
and-by, when we are not hungry. Now I'm going to desecrate one of
these old stones by making a fire against it, and cooking the birds.
Where is Kombo?" and he gave a cooee.

The black boy came diffidently from behind the bank of shrubs, and
sidled up the hill. He was still very frightened; but as neither the
Crocodile nor the Tortoise had so far shown signs of animosity, he
began to feel more comfortable, and reflected that the Lord's Prayer
had proved efficacious.

"By-'m-by, Missa Anne, you tell me again that fellow `Our Father,"'
he said, confidentially, to his mistress. "I plenty forget. Mine
think-it that frighten Debil-debil."

Soon, a couple of pigeons were roasted, and some of the roots like
yams. Hansen deplored the apparent scarcity of game.

"We shall have to get into the mountains," he said, "or we shall be
starved out. Now," he added, when the meal was finished, "now for the
mysteries of the Tortoise."



Chapter XX--The Place of Death



THE wanderers were at length camped under the very shadow of the
Tortoise. The rock head, protruding northward, was slightly slanting
in poise. The small face with its round eyes depressed in the skull,
its sunken nostrils and slit of a mouth, so strangely resembling that
of a senile old man, was now clearly visible, and certainly gave small
confirmation of the theory that this effigy of Nature was Nature's own
freak. Nature had supplied the monolith, and perhaps the rude outline
of a head, but undoubtedly man's hand had fashioned this into its
present similitude of the Chelonian species.

Since the discovery of the ruined temple and prehistoric altar,
Hansen had become prepared for signs of a bygone civilisation. No
marvel of workmanship, on however titanic a scale, would now have
struck him with amazement. The greater wonder was the utter
depopulation of this extraordinary region. Not a trace had they as yet
found of living human occupation; the spot seemed to be shunned even
by beasts and birds; for the further that the explorers proceeded, the
more intense was its solitude and silence. It appeared as though the
cataclysm which, long ages back, had rent the mountains and doubtless
destroyed cities and inhabitants, had also scared away, during many
succeeding centuries, the animals that had once browsed on peaceful
hillsides and the birds that had nested among rocks and forest trees.

As Hansen and his companions skirted the spur nearest the great
mountain, there opened before them a scene of even wilder desolation
than that at the valley's mouth. A chasm torn in the range met them
with yawning jaws, and forced them to descend along its borders to a
point where the gap was partly filled by a tongue of earth and rock,
grown with straggling shrubs, or more correctly, dwarfed trees of
immemorial antiquity--a landslip arrested in its fall and forming, in
course of ages, a natural bridge. Beyond this cleft, the spur rounding
northward gave a fairly level shelf beneath the overhanging precipice,
making a sufficiently convenient camping-ground. From this spur, with
its bectling cliff, the ground fell away southward, taking the shape
of buttresses to a semi--circular range of high hills, These curved
inward to the north beyond the streaked and jagged rock carapace of
the Tortoise Mountain, and joined the base of the great monolith, in
semblance of a tortoise's head, which dominated the whole scene.
Within the curve of the hills, there seemed to be a huge depression as
of a deep round basin--possibly a lake, and probably, dry like the
desert they had crossed--enclosed all round by precipitous heights.

It was dusk when the camp had been fixed, and the sunset behind the
Tortoise's back had left an afterglow of lurid splendour. Presently, a
full moon rose almost before the short twilight had ended, and cast
long pale rays and patches of black shadow over the valley and on the
mountain side. As Hansen and Anne gazed at the mysterious shape of the
Tortoise, they were struck by a curious phenomenon. Directly below the
huge head with its cavernous eye-sockets, its protruding underlip, and
the long narrow slit forming the reptile's mouth, there was a deep
hollow, triangular in shape and pallidly luminous. The light in the
hollow was stationary, never changing its area, but increasing in
brilliance and then fading like phosphorescent gleams upon a tropical
sea. As the moon rose in the heavens, this intermittent effulgence
waned, brightening again when the orb was veiled by passing clouds.

Hansen wondered whether the effect could be due to a massing of
glow--worms on one spot, but decided that this was not possible; then
he asked himself if it could be caused by the moon's reflection upon
some rock--bound pool. This too, however, seemed unlikely, as they
would certainly, from higher levels, have noticed any such mountain
tarn. Kombo, returning from an effectual search for food, put an end
to their speculations, as he too espied the glimmering patch of light.

"Gunida Ulàla! Gunida Ulàla!" he shouted in deadly terror, and fled
to the refuge of the camp-fire. There presently, they found him
shaking in a fresh access of superstitious dread.

"Missa Anne! Massa Hansen!" cried the black boy. "Ba'al you stop
long--a this place. Debil-debil sit down here. That altogether like-it
what old Medicine Man tell Maianbar black fellow. Mine very much
afraid that Debil-debil catch Massa, suppose he go too close-up mouth
belonging to Tortoise. I been tell you before, poison come out of that
fellow mouth belonging to Tortoise. That make bong--altogether dead--
white man, black man, kangaroo, 'possum, snake--altogether everything.
You see, ba'al you been find-im bandicoot; ba'al you been shoot-im
bird; ba'al you been see-im black fellow. I believe Debil-debil been
frighten that fellow. Ole Medicine Man been tell the truth. Ba'al can
live close-up Gunida Ulàla. Ah! Yucca--Yucca! Eeoogh! Eeoogh! Plenty
this poor fellow Black frightened long-a Debil-debil."

Then Kombo wailed the Blacks' wail, which is a fearsome and
unpleasant expression of emotion. Again, not all Cloud-Daughter's
assurances of her potency against Debil-debil would quiet his wailing.
By-and-by, it subsided by reason of sheer physical inability to make
more noise, for Kombo had fasted long and was weary; and, moreover, he
was overcome with holy fear and deadly uncertainty as to whether he
should petition the Christian deity, or his own native gods. Voice
failed him, and he could only whisper entreaties that Hansen would
turn back even at risk of being eaten by the Maianbars, in preference
to facing annihilation from the fire of the Crocodile and the breath
of the Tortoise. But presently he lost power to entreat even in a
whisper, and, yielding to a more compelling force than terror, his
eyes drooped; he rolled himself in his blankets, and forgot his woes
in sleep.

The other two were exhausted also, though they had better staying
power than the black boy. It was as Kombo pointed out. For the last
twenty-four hours no game had fallen to Hansen's gun, and Kombo had
looked in vain for yopolo, grubs, or snakes. They had fared poorly on
berries--a scanty supply--roots, and the remains of their last supper
of fish. A sorry meal was now set forth of roasted bulbs, and before
long, Anne and Hansen, like the black boy, were slumbering peacefully
in the shelter of a rock.

Food, and not archaeological remains, was next day the chief object
of their explorations. Before starting, however, they tried to locate
Gunida Ulàla, and made out to their satisfaction that it was a certain
blue-looking cleft beneath the Tortoise's head, which they had marked
through the field--glasses from the mountain behind. They could not
see how far it extended, for the opening was partially hidden by a
projecting ridge of basalt that shelved outward, and seemed almost to
roof in the upper end of the gap. It was from this opening, in shape
an irregular triangle, that they imagined the phosphorescent light had
emanated. Only a small streak of the inner walls of the gap was
visible through Hansen's field-glasses, and this had the smooth
polished look of lapis lazuli. They had noticed that peculiarity even
more clearly from the greater distance of the eastern range, which
seemed strange, considering how close they now were. But then they had
viewed it from a much greater height, and with no near intervening
projections. Hansen again remarked to Anne that this blue appearance
was probably caused by the action of volcanic fires. Yet this hardly
accounted for the faint effulgence they had seen, and for its waning
and increasing as the moon's light swelled and was dimmed, nor for the
total disappearance of the phenomenon by day. Hansen promised himself
considerable scientific interest in its investigation. This, however,
was not the time for scientific investigation. Man's most primitive
instinct was clamouring, and for this day they could be nothing but
hunters of game. All the morning, they traversed the semi-circle of
the range, following its undulations of ridge and gully. But the spurs
barring the valley northward; were desolate and barren, except for a
few berries and some bushes of the Blacks' narcotic plant called
pituri, which Kombo gathered with glee.

They were now almost directly under the great rock, shaped like a
tortoise's head, which reared itself at the back of a basalt ridge
that they had begun to ascend. The ridge dipped, and beyond, the land
rose again in wooded slopes to the base of the grey bulging body of
the mountain that gave so curious a suggestion of a tortoise's shell.
Suddenly a low "G--r--rr--! Yumbu--Yumbu!" from Kombo called Hansen to
attention, and he beheld, poised on a crag some distance above, an
animal of the goat species, but with striped markings, larger than a
chamois; and, as far as he was aware, unknown to Australian
naturalists. This fact, apart from the desire for a meat dinner, fired
him with determination to shoot it. He raised his gun, but as he did
so, the beast sped along the summit of the ridge and was lost to
sight. The goat had bounded downward towards the rift, which ended to
the left in that triangular blue patch where had shone the
phosphorescent illumination of the previous evening. Hansen darted
swiftly and stealthily through the bushes, mounting with alertness,
and keeping the gap to his left. For a second the goat showed,
outlined on the edge of a cliff, then bounded forward, and disappeared
down the face of the ravine.

The hunter pursued his quarry, swerving to the side of the gully and
then disappearing also, as he swung himself by means of saplings and
undergrowth to a lower level. Anne, who had become an almost more
adroit climber than her companion, followed him closely. Hansen had
very little hope of bagging the goat, but thought that he might get
another glimpse of it, and at least try a second shot.

The two, striking diagonally upward, found themselves--Anne several
yards below Hansen--on the brink of a shelving precipice,
comparatively easy of descent to a practised mountaineer. Beneath, lay
a narrow gorge wide at the base, ending in a cavern that resembled an
open mouth, over which curled shining lips of stone. These lips, of
which the outside was basalt, seemed to be lined interiorly with
something like lapis lazuli--a polished blue marble, streaked and
flecked in dark and light lines and splotches. The floor of this
cavern was, at the entrance, almost entirely white. It rose in a sort
of crest, graduating and spreading inwards and outwards, like the
foamy summit of a wave as it breaks on the sea-shore. All down the
gorge, the white accumulation spread out in splashes like a drift of
chalk or gypsum. For the moment, neither Anne nor Hansen realised the
true nature of the accumulation, for the goat had reappeared on a
shelf of rock overhanging the bottom of the gorge at the height of
about fifty feet. The animal steadied itself for a moment on the
brink, but Hansen's second shot struck wide of the mark. The goat
leaped after the concussion, gained a lower footing, made some zig-zag
steps along the ledge, then dropped into the very mouth of the cavern
and was lost to view. Though it had bounded as if unscathed, Hansen
could hardly believe that he had again missed his aim, for craning
forward he saw the goat touch the white ridge at the opening of the
cavern with forefeet extended, and springing towards the interior of
the mouth, quiver; and then, as though overwhelmed by a galvanic
shock, fall on the blue floor of the cave. He waited for it to give
signs of life, but there were none. There it lay, with, as far as he
could tell, no trace of a gun-shot wound to account for its apparent
lifelessness.

Hansen threw himself down upon the abutting shelf from which the goat
had sprung, aiding his descent by the projecting ledges of rocks, and
the shrubs at which he was able to catch. He ran along the shelf for
some few paces, following the course of the animal. He would have
tried to scale the fifty foot precipice between where he stood and the
blue mouth of the cavern on which lay the body of the goat, had he not
been arrested by a cry from Anne and a warning screech uttered
simultaneously by Kombo. Then, as he gazed more intelligently and
closely into the bed of the gorge and the interior of the cavern, a
slow horror seized him.

"Stop!" called Anne imperatively; "you must not go any farther. Don't
you see that the place is full of bones?"

And Kombo cried the native warning, "Kollè mal! Massa, look out!
Kvangin! Kvangin! (Evil Spirit). That place, Gunida Ulàla, where
Debil--debil sit down and make altogether bong. You see! Bones
belonging to white man, black man, kangaroo, bandicoot; altogether
everything that come long-a mouth. Suppose Massa go there, Debil-debil
make him bong like-it all the rest. Come back, Massa Hansen. Ba'al
mine want-im Massa go bong."

Now Hansen perceived that part of the gorge and the blue mouth were
indeed a charnel-house--a valley of dry bones such as that of the
prophet's vision, only that here there was no spirit to stir them into
life. The white heaps and patches were not gypsum or chalk as he had
at first imagined, but bones of animals, birds, reptiles, possibly of
humans, all destroyed no doubt by the poisonous breath of the
Tortoise, in which particular the tradition of the Maianbar men was
justified. The mouth of the Tortoise was indeed Gunida Ulàla, the
Place of Death. From that surf-like crest at the cavern's opening, the
wind playing amid the putrid remains of rotting carcases, had
scattered bones and dust along, till where, as the gorge widened, the
white specks gradually ceased. Hansen realised that there must indeed
be something deadly--a gaseous exhalation possibly--in the cave
itself, which had destroyed the goat as it had destroyed all other
life coming within its influence. From the height at which he stood,
there was no perceptible effluvium, nor did he even feel giddy nor in
any way oppressed. This puzzled him, since vapour ascends, and the
death of the goat testified to the cave's noxious qualities. Was it
possible that death was caused by contact with the shining blue
surface of the marble interior, which, as he looked into the furthest
recess of the cleft, seemed to emit a pale glimmer? The outer wall
gave out, he fancied, a somewhat dull sheen. Over all, lay a sinister
suggestion which he had never before come across in his experience of
mountain regions in other parts of the globe. Could it in fact be
possible that this strange blue marble was in itself a deathstone?

There were no means at hand of solving the question. The goat lay
many feet below, and he had no cord to make a lasso by which he could
have drawn it up without incurring risk to himself. How he wished that
they had brought across the desert one of those long withes of
creepers called by the Blacks kàmin, and which, serving as a rope,
enable them to climb the straight stems of palms and other scrub
trees. The chamois made no movement, and there seemed little doubt
that it was dead. He gazed regretfully at the carcase. The species, as
far as he knew, was unclassified in Australian zoology, and he would
have given much to secure it. He thought that he might perhaps find a
withe of creeping palm in the scrub, at the foot of the Tortoise Rock,
by means of which he might draw up the animal. With this thought in
his mind, he went reluctantly back again to where Anne was standing,
pale but excited. It was as much want of food, as mental perturbation
that caused her to tremble. She went forward, and impulsively put her
hands in his for a moment, as she exclaimed:

"Oh! I am so thankful you are safe. If you had gone down! Oh! if it
had killed you!" She shuddered.

"I'm all right, dear comrade," he answered. "You may trust me not to
run any risks--for your sake."

She withdrew her hands, but with his words, comfort had stolen into
her heart.

"I was not thinking of myself," she stammered. "But it is true--what
should I do--oh! what should I do if anything happened to you? Eric,"
she went on more steadily, "Kombo is right. There is no doubt that we
have stumbled on Gunida Ulàla--the Place of Death. That old Maianbar
Medicine Man knew what he was talking about. There's always some
foundation for these Blacks' legends. Oh! Eric, let us get away from
here as quickly as possible. We can climb this ridge higher up; and
Kombo says he has seen a thick bit of scrub close under the Tortoise's
Head, where he thinks there's water, and where we may find a scrub
turkey's nest, or perhaps a kangaroo rat. Come, let us go."

"I'd like first to have a try at the goat," said Hansen. "If we could
fish it up we should get a good dinner at least, and the skin of a new
specimen into the bargain."

"Oh! no, no!" she pleaded. "Leave the thing where it lies. How do we
know that it is not poisoned by the breath of the Tortoise, as Kombo
would say? I couldn't eat it, if you did pull it up out of that
horrible cave. Besides, if we climb higher up the hills, we shall most
likely come across other goats. It seems fairly easy going as far as
the Shell--I can't help calling that rocky hump the Shell, it is so
exactly like a turtle's back. Eric, there must be some meaning in it
all. Look at the head, how it seems to poke forward--and the queer
little eyes, and the nose! Oh! it's uncanny; but I'm sure it must some
time or other have been carved by men--civilised men, not savages."

"Yes, I'm sure of that too," he answered. "The whole place fills me
with a longing to explore. I believe, Anne, that we have come upon the
home of the Red Men, and that we are on the verge of tremendous
discoveries. Don't tremble, my child, you must not be afraid."

"I don't feel afraid of the Red Men," she answered, "but I can't stay
any longer in the Place of Death Oh! Nalla yan, Nalla yan--which is
what Kombo has been imploring for the last ten minutes."

She was still trembling. He had never in their wanderings seen Anne
so unnerved. Kombo too was shaking, and his face showed livid under
its black skin. The boy was kneeling, and again gabbling faltering
repetitions of the Lord's Prayer, in feeble hope of thus exorcising
the demon. He had got as far as "Gib us dis day," but broke off, his
practical mind seizing a hitherto unconsidered point.

"Mine no understand, Missa Anne. Ba'al mine think-it Big Massa long-a
hebben have flour like-it white man. Ba'al mine believe that fellow
God make-im damper." At which Anne laughed in spite of herself. But
Kombo was in no mood for levity, and gravely went on with his
devotions. He stumbled hopelessly over the forgiveness of his
trespasses, again appealing to Anne in frantic perplexity.

"Ba'al mine know that fellow treppass, Missa Anne. Mine been lose him
altogether. Bujeri you pialla that big Massa long-a hebben. Big Massa
listen to Missa Anne--ba'al he listen to Kombo."

So at the boy's petition, Anne knelt on the rock beside Kombo and
very reverently made her own and his supplication in the simple and
sublime words of the Master who first spoke them in Galilee. And Kombo
was soothed, and rose at her bidding to follow her, thankful to escape
from the Place of Death. Hansen took Anne's hand in his, and they
mounted together like two children, hastening over the rocks and
through the stunted herbage, but scarcely speaking till they had
gained the patch of scrub below the rock carapace and the towering
monolith, which, now that they looked up at it, scarred as it was and
worn by time and weather, seemed less defined in outline than it had
appeared from a greater distance. The scrub was moist and
comparatively cool. There were bottle-trees in it, and native plums
and scrub vegetation, also palms; while in places, the ground was
carpeted with a low-growing plant, bearing bright red blossoms--the
same that Hansen had gathered at the entrance of the valley. They
found a little stream trickling between banks of fern; it had its
source in a fissure in the basalt wall that rose overhead to the
height of about a hundred feet and then rounded backward, forming the
Tortoise hump of almost naked rock. The wall was jagged at its upper
edge, much as might be in miniature the striated margin of an ancient
turtle shell. It was seamed with clefts and burrowed with holes, while
here and there at the base, there were projections of the cliff
forming natural buttresses. Between these rock buttresses lay cave-
like shelters, strewn with boulders that had fallen from the face of
the cliff, and with rain-worn niches and ledges. Anne seated herself
on a ledge, her back to the mountain, too wearied even to help Hansen
in collecting sticks for the fire he now set himself to light. When he
had done this, he took a billy to fill it at the stream, while Kombo
marched forth, carrying his pointed stick, in search of a mound-
builder's nest, or a layer of big ants' eggs beneath the bark of a
decayed tree. He had hopes, too, of finding among the orchids and
parasitic ferns, that native delicacy, the pouched mouse; and Anne
watched him take up here and there a handful of earth or rotting
vegetation and smell it, then start off with a reassuring "Y--ck! Y--
ck!" having ascertained that there was a chance of his quest being
successful. She felt that it would indeed be pleasant to eat a full
meal again, for one might have fancied that a upas blight lay upon
these mountain fastnesses. Except for the goat, many hours had passed
since they had seen a sign of animal life. There was no rustle of
birds' wings, nor stealthy sound of reptile, nor any of the soft cries
and gurglings common in the scrub.

After blowing up the fire, and setting the billy to boil, Hansen
shouldered his gun; and bidding Anne not to be afraid, as he would not
go beyond sound of her voice should she call, crept along the side of
the precipice in the direction of the Tortoise's head. He hoped that
he might sight a rock wallabi, which would furnish them with meat.

He had not gone far when he came upon a tunnel in the mountain which
struck him as not entirely natural. It was a hole some six feet high
by about a yard broad, that seemed, when he peered into it, to descend
into the interior of the hump, and in which, as he explored it from
the opening, he seemed to discern the outline of rude steps. Greatly
excited, he stepped a few paces within the aperture, having leaned his
gun outside against the rock. As he moved on, he found that the hole
got higher and that he could stand in it upright, though presently it
narrowed so that he could not square his elbows. His fancy had not
deceived him; there were certainly rude steps leading downward several
feet, and beyond, he felt, rather than saw--for a faint current of air
met his face--that a long tunnel stretched into impenetrable
blackness. The sides of the passage were, as far as he could grope
with his hands, of smooth rock, and he could tell that it went for
some distance, by the reverberation of his voice when he raised it in
a Coo-ee, though the Coo-ee gave back a broken echo, showing that
there were obstructions in the way.

He went a little further along the tunnel, which was clear of débris;
this strengthening his belief that it was used for some practical
purpose. At last, however, he was stopped by a mass of rock. Groping
with his hands along the rough surface of the rock, he found an
opening again on either side leading into further blackness. He sought
vainly for matches. But he had already recollected leaving the box
with his pouch beside Anne, when he had taken off his belt to lighten
himself before starting out with his gun. Though his nerves tingled
with excitement at the discovery he had made, and he longed to
continue his explorations even in darkness, he knew that this would be
unwise, for he was already out of reach of Anne's voice, should she
call. Should evil befall him, she would be left alone with the black
boy, and without a clue to his whereabouts, though he reflected that
they must soon learn the direction he had taken from the position of
his gun and the sight of the hole. But this passage, too, he thought,
might lead to a place of death. Were he to proceed, it might be at the
risk of being overcome with some poisonous exhalation such as had
killed the goat, and which he would not for the world that Anne, in
her search for him, should brave. Reluctantly, therefore, he retraced
his steps.

Anne was in the camp where he had left her, but she had stretched
herself upon the rocks in an attitude of utter weariness, and he saw
that she had fallen asleep. He gazed tenderly at the strangely-clad
figure, so small and girlish in its garments of fibre and feathers,
and at the little pinched face, wan and marked by privation and
fatigue. His heart swelled in a gush of emotion. Faithful comrade!
Could ever stalwart man have been sturdier, braver, or truer mate? How
cheerfully she had tramped on by his side; how uncomplainingly she had
borne hardships, how dauntlessly she had faced terrors that would have
subdued any spirit less finely tempered and indomitable! The moisture
rose to Hansen's eyes as he looked at her. Had he had any right to
bring her into this fearsome region? Ought he not to have taken her
back to the coast, and there, washing his hands of the responsibility
of her fate, have delivered her over to her lawful protector? He might
then have returned unencumbered to pursue his journey, no doubt to his
own greater advantage, and to that of the learned Society that
employed him. Yet how sorely lacking in zest and savour would his
explorations have been without this dear companion, who must now, if
ever they returned to civilisation, share the honours of a discovery
which would convulse the scientific world. And had she not refused to
go back? Had she not implored him not to leave her in the clutches of
Elias Bedo? No; his duty was clear; at any cost, he would serve and
save her in so far as lay in his power. He would fight for her against
her enemy, even though that enemy were her own husband. It should not
be his fault if she were given over again into slavery. But how did he
know that Elias Bedo was not even now close upon their track with a
little army of troopers behind him? Well, if this were so, it behoved
him--Hansen--to find as soon as might be a place of safety, and was it
not possible that he had half an hour ago stumbled upon such a refuge?
Thinking, however, over the position, it had sometimes seemed
surprising that Elias Bedo should care to encounter danger in pursuit
of a wife who had clearly shown that she hated him; for it was certain
that he intended to get her back if that were possible, or he would
not have come so far in search of her. On Anne's showing, he could not
be deeply attached to his wife, so there must be some stronger motive
actuating him than baulked love or desire for revenge. Then there came
again into Hansen's mind the story he had heard of Anne's supposed
lineage and inheritance of an ancient barony and of great wealth, and
it struck him that here was motive to a man of the stamp of Elias
Bedo. He had hardly considered whether the story was a true one--there
had been so much else to occupy his mind. Now, studying Anne's high-
bred face, and thinking of the courage which had sustained her, and of
the grit and resource she had displayed, he could well believe that
she came of some grand old race, and that there ran in her veins the
blood of heroes. "Bon sang ne peut mentir," he repeated to himself,
and inwardly recited some other saws of like meaning as he replenished
the fire, refilled the billy which had boiled away, and raked a
glowing bed of ashes ready for the cooking of whatsoever food Kombo
might bring.

Anne was still sleeping when the black boy reappeared, his eyes
gleaming, his dilly-bag full of spoils. Hansen checked his triumphant
shout, "Yai! Yai! Mungàlu mogra" (I have brought fish), motioning him
to make no noise, but to lay down quietly the fruit of his foraging
expedition. Whereat Kombo emptied his dilly, and the white man's
hungry mouth watered at the sight of three released crawfish
slithering among the stones. Kombo related that he had come upon a
pool in the little river dammed by rocks in which mud crabs abounded.
He declared that they might camp here for weeks, and not starve.
Evidently the poisoned breath of the Tortoise did not affect its
brother crustaceans. Besides the crabs, Kombo had found two pouched
mice, and a handle of beetles' larvae, as well as some edible roots.
Truly, this was fare not to be flouted by gods, let alone starving
humans, although they had to it neither salt nor seasoning, nor any
beverage but spring water with which to wash it down.



Chapter XXI--Ave Baiamè!



WHEN Anne awoke, the crawfish were boiled, and appetisingly torn
asunder; the larvae spluttered on the ashes; the pouched mice gave
forth a savoury odour, and some roots, resembling parsnips, smoked on
a plate of fresh cut bark. Outside, from Kombo's fire, which he had
made on the other side of the buttress, came grunts and ejaculations
in the aboriginal tongue, expressive of intense delectation. Kombo had
been, as he would have put it, "nai-al kandu,"--extremely hungry.
Nevertheless, his first care had been to dry, as expeditiously as
possible, some shoots of the pituri he had gathered--the Blacks'
opium. He did this in front of the fire, though, properly speaking,
the process should have been longer, and carried out by the heat of
the sun or in warm sand. But Kombo yearned for the drug which he knew
would plunge him into a state of beatitude, and make him forget his
fears. In their wanderings he had often searched for it, and had been
bitterly disappointed at not finding the plant, which only grows in
certain districts, and is so prized by the natives, that a man
carrying it, though he belongs to a hostile tribe, is treated as a
sacred messenger. Now Kombo realised that even if he should fall into
the clutches of King Multuggerah, his possession of the pituri, and
his knowledge of where the plant might be found, would give him an
unassailable position in the Maianbar camp.

As soon as he had satisfied his first pangs of hunger, he carefully
prepared the ashes of a certain wood he had found in the scrub, and
having mixed them with the pituri--thus freeing its alkaloid
properties--he chewed the mixture into a paste, when it was ready for
use, and might be kept for any length of time. But Kombo had the full
intention of making an expedition later, on his own account, and
securing a quantity of the invaluable drug.

Presently Anne opened her eyes, and raised herself, staring about her
bewilderedly. During sleep, her features had been contracted as if she
were in pain and puzzlement. She was puzzled still, but the look of
pain faded.

"Where am I? Oh! I have been dreaming. Eric, I have had such a
horrible dream. I thought the Blacks were all round me again, as they
were outside the cave at Kooloola, and one of them threatened me with
his nulla-nulla. And he seemed to turn from a black man into a red
man, and then to change again, and I saw that he was my husband."

"You are safe from your husband, at any rate," said Hansen; and yet
as he spoke, doubt came over him. Might not Anne's dream be prophetic?

Why should not Elias Bedo, as well as they, have crossed the strip of
desert?

"Eat, little comrade, eat!" he said. "That was the nightmare of
exhaustion. Here is a beautiful meal, and you need it badly. So do I,
for that matter; and as for Kombo, he is enjoying himself finely.
After we have fed, I have got something to tell you."

"Nothing bad?" she exclaimed. "You said I was safe."

"No, nothing bad, but something highly interesting. I feel just now
like Columbus when he sighted America, the discoverer, not of a new
continent, but of a lost civilisation. But eat, little woman." And he
set her the example by breaking a craw-fish's claw with a stone and
handing it to her; then attacking one himself in like fashion.

Anne cried out in surprise and joy.

"Where did you get them? I thought it was carpet snake, and was
wondering if I was hungry enough to manage snake. Oh! how good this
is! It reminds me of old times when Etta and Kombo and I used to fish
in muddy holes in the paddock for lobsters, and boil them for tea. I
remember we used to think the fresh-water lobsters which we caught
ourselves, much better than the crabs that the Blacks used to bring us
from the sea-shore. I don't know which was the best fun--fishing for
lobsters in the paddock, or knocking oysters off the rocks on the
beach, and cooking them over a sea--weed fire. If we only had some
quart-pot tea!" she sighed. "I wonder when we shall taste tea again?"

Nevertheless, they ate with gusto. The craws, as Anne called them,
were delicious. The beetles' larvae when roasted was not unlike slices
of omelet, but had a woody, aromatic flavour; the roots made a good
substitute for bread. It was a long time since they had fared so
sumptuously. When they were filled, Hansen told his tale of the tunnel
he had found, and of his suspicions that it had been, if it were not
now, put to human uses. He wanted Anne to go with him at once and
explore the passage, and was a little vexed that she seemed somewhat
unconcerned. But his heart melted at the signs of weariness on her
face when she declared herself too tired to move again that afternoon,
and begged that, for a few hours at least, they might rest and enjoy
themselves. She suggested that they should build gunyas against the
wall of rock, and make a comfortable camp for the night. On the
morrow, she said, they would talk about exploring the passage; she
hadn't the nerve for it now, and she echoed his thought--how did they
know that it might not be another death trap, like the blue mouth of
Gunida Ulàla, where the striped goat had perished? She had not yet got
over her fright, and wanted to forget for the present that they were
in a land of mystery. Hansen had to confess that he, too, was tired,
and they decided to defer the expedition. It did not matter, he
thought, since now he felt assured that they had at last reached the
kingdom of the Red Men. He took out his pipe, and filled it with the
few pinches of tobacco remaining in his pouch, which he had been
saving, having jestingly declared some time back, that he would smoke
his last pipe under shadow of the Tortoise. They were truly under its
shadow here, for the sun was declining westward, and neared the
bulging top of the rock carapace. A pleasant langour of repletion
stole over Hansen, and for some time both were silent, while he puffed
lazily, leaning back against the rock in luxurious anticipation of the
wonders before them. Kombo, on the other side of the buttress, was
silent too, for in the joy of a full stomach, and under the influence
of pituri, he slept blissfully beside his camp fire, and dreamed not
of Debil-debil nor of mythical monsters. All nature seemed hushed.
There was no sound but the trickle of the brook, and a very faint
murmuring in the leaves of the palms and scrub trees. At this altitude
it was not disagreeably hot.

The picture was a pretty one. The fire, which had burned down, sent
up dreamy curls of smoke. Hansen savoured every puff of his pipe as
he, too, blew cloudy rings into the quiet air. His back was set
against an angle of the buttress, and he looked with lazy admiration
at Anne, who had throned herself upon a ledge a little above him, her
feet upon a rock, her face turned towards the scrub, as she softly
hummed snatches of song. She had thrown off her cap; and her brown
hair, thick and curly, grown by this time to the base of her throat,
framed her face, which had now regained its original fairness. Her
delicately cut features, her sensitive mouth, and large clear brown
eyes, seemed, in her wanderings and hardships, to have acquired a
spirituality of expression not so noticeable hitherto. She began to
sing, more loudly and continuously, bits of old ballads, such as
Hansen liked to hear of nights by the camp-fire.

"That's jolly, Anne," he said. "I quite agree with you. We'll rest
and be thankful for to-night, and start with new spirit to-morrow.
Sing on, little friend. It does me good to listen to you. Let us have
something soothing and triumphant too, for this day should be
memorable to both of us. If we have not actually entered the
undiscovered country, at least we are upon the verge of it."

Anne gave a little shiver.

"Are you not afraid, Eric?"

"Of what, my comrade?"

"Are you not afraid of what you may find in this undiscovered
country of yours--more places of death--savages--horrors? I have the
sense of something strange and deadly. I seem to feel it in the air."

He bent forward, and, putting out his hand with impulsive affection,
took hers, and held it close for a moment. He would have carried it to
his lips, but checked himself. Never was Red Cross Knight more
chivalrous in the treatment of captive maiden, than was Hansen in his
manner to his comrade. Her eyes met his in a quick glance, and were
averted scrubward.

"I don't want to be a kill-joy," she said, "but I cannot help the
feeling I have had ever since we came among these mountains."

"And what is that?" he asked.

"It's what I told you--a sense of foreboding and danger. You know
what the old Maianbar Medicine Man said of these red people. He made
the Blacks dread them so that they will not come near the place. How
do we know that the Red Men may not be in ambush at this moment,
waiting to murder us?"

"I don't think that's likely," he answered. "Of course, little woman,
nothing is more natural than that you should feel as you do. It would
be strange if you weren't nervous, brave as you are; but because
you're frightened, it doesn't follow that there are any live red men,
or that they will murder us if there are. I will tell you the
conclusion I have arrived at, for my brain has not been idle this last
day or two, and everything we have seen, or rather have not seen,
makes me sure it is a right one. The desolation of the country; the
mass of bones--animals' bones--at the mouth of the blue cavern; the
forgotten temple; the old lava streams and the formation of the
rocks--all confirm my theory. It appears to me certain that in
prehistoric times, as far at least as Australia is concerned, this
part of the world was peopled by a highly civilised race which,
improbable as it may seem to you, had some connection with the old
civilisation of Central America and Peru."

She started and turned. "How could that be? The two places are an
ocean apart."

"Yes, but that ocean, or a great portion of it, may once have been
land. We all know that the configuration of the globe has changed more
than once--is always changing. It is beginning to be realised that the
world is much older than even the Egyptologists have maintained, and
many scientists have believed. The general opinion is, that a vast
continent once spread in the South Pacific, of which the innumerable
islands that dot the ocean from Australia to near Chili are the
highest remaining points. And even supposing there were no land
passage," he went on, waxing warm in the interest of his theme, "we
know that those ancient Americans were navigators, for it has been
shown by the excavations in the buried cities of Yucatan that they
knew the world was round. Therefore they must have understood the
compass. In the oldest of the Peruvian sacred books, too, there is
mention of a people who came in ships from the great sea and the
islands in the east."

Anne gave a sympathetic exclamation. She did not understand much of
what Hansen was talking about, but felt sure that he was wonderfully
clever, and was quite disposed to accept without question any theory
he might advance.

"Go on. Do tell me more," she said.

"It's a big subject," he answered, "and, naturally, nobody knows
much about the matter. But it's proved by the ruins that have been
found on the Pacific Islands, that they were once the seat of a great
civilisation. Pyramids, towers, mounds that show sites of great
cities, the stone-lined canals in Strong Island and Lele--these are
well-known to South Sea navigators, but they have never been
scientifically explored. I have often thought, Anne, what a rich
virgin field lies there--what untold treasure may be buried in the
Ladrones, the Marquesas, the Gilbert groups, and many others of the
South Sea Islands."

"Have you seen these places?" she asked.

"No, but I know a seaman who has been over the ruins of the temple
at Metallanine, and who has seen the ancient harbour and canals and
the great watergates that still remain below what was once a citadel.
Well! A nation must be pretty civilised to build canals and water-
gates."

"But it may not have been so long ago as you think," said Anne.

"Who can say? Certainly, there was a great Malayan empire holding
sway in these seas, which is within the historic period, and it has
left its traces in the Islands. But the ruins I speak of are not
Malayan; they are like no ruins in the world but those of Central
America. The similarity between the shape of the Pyramids in the South
Seas and those of ancient Mexico would go some way to prove a common
origin. I myself have had some proof of the connection in the signs
upon that old altar we found on the hill. I am much mistaken if I have
not seen the same hieroglyphics on the monuments at Uxmal and Chichen-
Itza. But I'm always boring you, dear little comrade, with
archaeological lectures."

"No, no," she cried; "I'm very stupid and ignorant, but I love to
hear you talk."

"Well, anyhow, you see my point--though please let me protest that
there never was a more intelligent or delightful listener to a chap
who's a shingle loose, as you Australians say, on old ruins and dead
civilisations. I believe that in ages beyond the record of man,
Australia may have been colonised by some of the Mayan race, and that
we have now come upon the traces of that civilisation. I have told you
that the tortoise was a sacred emblem of antiquity among the Chinese,
the Mexicans, and the East Indians. Here is one of the places where it
was worshipped."

Anne's eyes were full of wonder and interest.

"And the worshippers," she said. "Why have we not found them?"

"Because--as the lava drift and the volcanic evidences make clear--
there has been some convulsion of nature which has destroyed the
vestiges of former inhabitants. It must have been a cataclysm in which
fire and water took part, for undoubtedly the desert between the
ranges was once an inland sea. I have an idea that the sides of these
hills, and perhaps part of the valley, were the site of a populous
city. The valley may have been an inlet of the lake, which again may
have had communication with the sea. Who knows, Anne, but that ships
once plied along a great water-way flowing through that very desert
pass in the mountains by which I crossed the first range? I am certain
that its sandy bed was upheaved, for there are fossil shells in it.
Very likely, too, the scrub which we found impenetrable, covers dead
towns and monuments of a people that no longer exist."

"It all sounds very romantic and astonishing, and I like to hear you
talk," repeated Anne. "You make everything seem quite possible. And do
you think that the red men, which the Maianbar's old Karraji talked
about, are the remains of that people, or do you think they are all
dead and gone?"

"I cannot tell. The remnant of them may have migrated further west
into the unexplored centre of Australia, or their dwellings may be
hidden by the very mountain against which we are leaning. There don't
seem any left on this side of the Tortoise. That old temple has long
been deserted, and there isn't a sign of human habitations along the
sides of the hills. But according to the Medicine Man's traditions--
which bring us to comparatively recent time--there was a flourishing
community of Red Men living about the Tortoise Mountain within memory
of the Maianbar tribe. Perhaps there may have been another later
eruption--the legends of the fire-spitting Crocodile rather suggest
it--which annihilated the rest of the colony."

"How strange it seems," she said, thoughtfully, "that God should
allow a race to be born, and become so great, only to die and leave no
trace!"

"That's one of the problems of the world's history, Anne--how the
different nations which have inhabited the globe have each sunk to
nothingness after rising from barbarism, waxing mighty, and then
falling into decadence. The life of the nation is but as the life of
the man; it has its infancy, its manhood, and its dwindling old age.
Who knows! To-morrow we may find the secret of the Red Men's fate
unravelled at the other end of the tunnel I discovered. I have a
presentiment that wonders await us there. To-day, however, let us eat,
sleep, and be thankful to the destiny which has brought us so far in
safety. Sing me a song of thanksgiving, little comrade."

"Shall it be the Ave Baiamè?" she asked. "That seems most appropriate
to the occasion."

He nodded. The girl rose, from an instinct of reverence as well as
from force of habit, for she had always stood at the door of her gunya
in the camp of the Maianbars, when, morn and eve, she had invoked the
Blacks' deity. Now, with head upraised, the eyes agaze into a world of
their own beyond the topmost branches of the forest trees, whose
leaves and twigs swayed gently against the blue, Anne lifted her
beautiful voice in the song of praise and pleading, at this moment so
truly echoed by her own heart, and by the heart of the man who
listened. Her music drowned that which Nature made, in the murmuring
of brook and branches beyond their rock retreat. Closed in on either
side by the projections of the mountains, the two would scarcely have
been visible to an intruder, except in an approach from the front.
Even so, the man was almost hidden in an angle of boulder and
precipice, while the girl, though raised on the ledge above him, and
so, more open to view, was entirely abstracted in her song and in her
thoughts of gratitude for their safe passing of the perils that had
threatened them. Had there been any auditors besides Hansen and
Kombo--the latter of whom, screened by a thick buttress of rock, lay
steeped in happy visions of his Elysian hunting grounds--she would
have been quite unconscious of their proximity.



Chapter XXII--The Red Men



NEVERTHELESS, Anne had an audience, and one that increased by
driblets. While she and Hansen had been talking about the traces of an
ancient civilisation still existent in the Pacific Ocean, two men of
strange appearance had crept stealthily, and almost on all-fours, from
the mountain's side to the ridge of rock screening their camp.
Presently two heads reared themselves over the natural rampart.
Strange looking heads they were, surmounted by flat caps of undyed
wool or linen, in each of which stood up a tuft of feathers; the faces
of a curious type--long, with high cheek-bones; the foreheads high,
slightly retreating, and having a compressed appearance; the features
thin, but powerfully moulded; the eyes of hazel or blue, almond-shaped
and extremely piercing, beneath strongly curved brows; the hair wiry,
straight, and of a dark chestnut colour; the skin reddish-brown.

Before Anne's song was quite finished, about ten of these people had
assembled, and others were moving quietly but swiftly from the
direction of the monolith shaped like a tortoise's head. The foremost
of these, a fine--looking man, whose short cloak--worn over a jerkin
of tanned leather, and crest of parrots' feathers--seemed to indicate
him as a person of more importance than the rest, stood breast high
against the rock rampart, and gazed with intense wonder and curiosity
at the white stranger. He, as well as the others, held poised a sort
of javelin of flint set in a long haft of wood; but none of them
seemed to have any murderous intention, or they had forgotten it if
they had, so rapt were they in the girl's music, so spell--bound by
the picture she made. Never had they seen a white woman, nor one so
small, and yet beautiful.

Anne stood, so far as they could see, alone on the platform of rock,
her head erect, her eyes shining with emotion and enthusiasm, her arms
slightly outstretched, the awe-inspiring chant pouring from her lips
with unusual power and sweetness. Though the words were in a tongue
unknown to them, the Red Men, peculiarly susceptible to devotional
rhythm, recognised the song as an invocation to some deity. They had
no notion of the meaning of what she sang. They could not account for
her presence. To them it seemed of the nature of a miracle, and they
were unable to decide among themselves what this surprising visitation
might portend. But they had vague fancies of a supernatural fulfilment
of prophecy, and for this reason the head hunter had hurriedly sent
back a scout to summon one of their party--an authority on such
matters--who was lagging behind them.

Meanwhile, the men waited, making no movement that might attract
Anne's attention; and when for a few moments, silence followed the Ave
Baiamè, they stooped, hiding their heads and whispering to each other
of a strange coincidence that had struck them. For it happened that
the morrow was the yearly anniversary of a Festival at which the
prophecy, they now remembered, was always publicly chanted to the
people.

Now, at Hansen's gesture of approval and murmured request, Anne
again lifted her voice. This time she sang `Home, Sweet Home.' As the
last words died on her lips, she turned her head, and a cry of wonder
and alarm escaped her. At her cry, Hansen bounded to his feet, and
turned in the direction of her startled gaze. There, in the open end
of the semi-circular recess, he beheld an unexpected sight.

An assemblage of some twenty persons was drawn up in rank. Heading
it, stood two striking figures, evidently men of sacerdotal dignity,
one of them younger than the other. They had the same large-boned,
narrow--browed, and powerful cast of face as the hunters who had first
appeared, but were of more majestic carriage and aspect, with grave,
compelling eyes, the elder having a long white beard and white hair.
Both were crowned with a three-cornered white cap, in shape somewhat
resembling a bishop's mitre. They wore mantles almost touching the
ground, of a yellowish stuff, looking like linen, and with a raised
yellow border which was seen later to be made of the feathers of
cockatoos' crests. The mantle fell away from an under vestment
reaching to the knees, below which were short leggings, and shoes of
roughly tanned leather. The mantle of each was fastened at the breast
with a clasp in the form of a tortoise, made of gold and ornamented
with opals. Behind them, ranged the circle of warriors or hunters--it
was difficult to tell which. These all carried the short spears set in
hafts apparently of gold, but were otherwise unarmed. They wore
jerkins of some coarse material, which might have been of hemp or
undressed flax, the hems fringed with fur or feathers, and leather
leggings reaching to above the knee. They seemed to have no
bloodthirsty inclinations, though each man held his spear levelled. On
the faces of all lay a curious expression of fatality, of stony
acquiescence in limitations decreed by destiny--not so much of
melancholy, as of unconscious resignation. Hansen observed this, and
though he had his gun in readiness, he made no sign of hostile
demonstration. He gave a courteous inclination as the two priests or
elders advanced, but they took small notice of him. Their piercing
eyes were fixed full on Anne, and it was to her they tendered what
Hansen interpreted as an act of homage. The priests first, then each
man following them, extended the right arm, and drawing in the left,
placed it across the breast, touching the right shoulder. The Elders
bent their heads, the hunters prostrated themselves. Then the Elders
spoke some words in a strange language, which yet to Hansen had
familiar inflexions. The address was rhythmic, rising and falling in
sing-song cadence, with a sort of refrain that sounded like an
invocation. This the warriors took up and repeated, with fresh
prostrations at each stanza. A word, of which he knew the meaning,
struck upon Hansen's ear, and explained the familiarity of certain
vocables. The word was a revelation, and set all his faculties on the
alert. He had been unconsciously prepared for the revelation, yet this
confirmation of his previously formed theory was so startling that he
was almost overwhelmed by it. For the priests spoke a corrupt dialect
of the ancient Mayan tongue, which is still in use among the Quichés
and other tribes of Central America, and which Hansen had studied from
the Indians and from the grammar composed by a Spanish bishop of
Mexico immediately after the Conquest. The priests called themselves
"Hu Aca Tehua"--Sacred guardians of the Aca people. They addressed
Anne as "Zuhua Kak,"--Virgin of the Flame. They hailed her as "Ix
Naaca Katuna"--She who should be for ever exalted; as "Zaac Naa"--
White Mother; as "Chaac Zuhaa"--Daughter of Fire and Flood; as
Priestess, and Servant of the Tortoise God.

Hansen's knowledge of the old Mayan tongue gave him a fairly correct
interpretation of this address. He mentally construed the phrases,
allowing for perversion of the original, in which the derivatives were
retained but the terminations slightly altered. Doubtless, he
reflected, there was corruption of the old vernacular in its Quiché
rendering from which his knowledge was mainly gained, and it was
possible that the Red Men's version might be the more academic of the
two. In his mind was no manner of doubt. Here, they had come across a
colony of the ancient Mayan race, whose centre of civilisation had in
ages past been the peninsula of Yucatan--that civilisation whose
origin has been lost in the mists of time, but to whose magnificence,
abundant testimony remains in the sculptured façades and the earth-
grown temples of Uxmal, Kabah and Palenque--a civilisation that pre-
dated the Aztec empire and the dynasty of the Sun, of which Montezuma
and the ill-fated Atahualpha were the last representatives.

To fall upon these traces of dead-time glory, here in Australia, the
oldest and also the newest of the world's continents, was at once an
astounding and yet a comprehensible experience. In the wilds of
Australia, as in no other corner of the globe, could that colony have
settled itself, flourished and dwindled into decay, unknown to nations
that had by turns inhabited the earth. That it should be reserved for
him--an obscure explorer--to make this stupendous discovery, was a
fact that almost robbed Hansen of his power of coherent reasoning. Yet
in the medley of thoughts that rushed through his brain, he had a
whimsical realisation of the irony of fate which had compelled poor
Anne, from her flight into the Bush up till now, to play the part of
divinity.

The Elders stood in a reverential attitude; the huntsmen continued to
prostrate themselves, all waiting for a sign. Anne gazed bewilderedly
from the strange faces, with their piercing eyes fixed upon her, to
Hansen, who, master of himself again, lowered his gun, saluted her
respectfully, and said in grave, measured tones, the sound of which to
uncomprehending ears gave an effect of deferential petitioning.

"These men are well inclined. They take you for a goddess. I
understand something of their language. It is as I supposed: they are
an off-shoot of the ancient Mexicans--the Mayans of whom we were
talking--settled here heaven knows how long back. Play the part of
Cloud-Daughter. Make appropriate gestures, but do not speak, except to
me. I shall do my best to interpret. Where I can't, I shall make a
shot, and trust to luck. I've been in tighter places than this before
now. Only trust me, Anne, and feel assured that there is no cause for
alarm. Any show of fear might be fatal. Just keep calm, my comrade.
Sing your replies to any question that they may seem to put to you, in
recitative, or as you choose. It doesn't matter, since they will
suppose your language that of the stars. This will impress them more
than anything, and I will translate in the way that seems wisest.
Trust me," he repeated, his voice ringing with passionate sincerity.
"You know that they'll have to kill me before they harm you. But
there's no danger of that."

The girl, falling into the spirit of his instructions, waved her hand
to him, thus seeming to signify gracious approval of his words. She
stood up straight, giving no sign of alarm, and unblenchingly regarded
the Elders, who once more made a reverential obeisance.

At that moment, Kombo, awakening from his sleep, and utterly scared
at the sight of the Red Men, burst through the circle of the Elders
and hunters and flung himself upon the rock where his mistress stood.

"Yuro Kateena!" he cried. "Yuro Kateena! Pialla Mormodelik," and he
pointed to the sky. The presence of the Red Men revived in his mind
traditions of his tribe, and Kombo in thought flew for protection to
his native gods.

The gesture and the cry appealed to the Red Men as a new proof of the
stranger's divinity.

"Yuro Kateena!--Kateena--Mormodelik!" the chief Elder repeated. His
brows knit, and a puzzled expression crossed his face. Then a light
seemed to break upon him; it was evident that he dimly understood the
meaning of the words, though they had long been unfamiliar to him.
This was not surprising, on the theory that there had once been
intercourse between the Maianbars and the Red Race; and no doubt some
of the aboriginal words, especially those applying to the nature
deities, had been handed down from the far back Medicine Man, who had
first penetrated the fastnesses of the Tortoise worshippers.

The chief Elder spoke to his colleague some words in Mayan, which
Hansen knew as signifying "Child of the Stars!" Again the Elders
hailed Anne as "Chaac Zuhua!"--Daughter of Flame and Flood; and,
extending their hands, showed by their gestures that they wished to
lead her with them into the interior of the mountain. They had taken
but little notice of Hansen, whom it was clear that they imagined to
be merely an attendant of the goddess; but now he interposed
commandingly, stretching out a protecting arm over the girl, while he
summoned all his resources in regard to the Mayan tongue. Considerably
to his own astonishment, words came to him glibly, as though some
unseen influence prompted them.

"Not so, oh, men of a once mighty nation, now fallen and abased," he
said, daringly. "It is for Her who is exalted, to command, for me to
interpret, and for such as thee to obey. She who rose from the Shadow
Land beneath, to be throned among the stars, and hath now descended to
earth from the heaven that is above, knows not the speech of men, but
the language of the gods only, which I, their servant, have also
learned. Therefore, oh! Hu Aca Tehua,--which I interpret as guardians
of the Aca people,--whatsoever petition it may be your desire to
tender, I will expound it, and return the answer."

Hansen, whose speech had halted slightly at the start, gained
increasing confidence as he saw the impression he produced. The Elders
frowned in angry amazement at first; then, as they listened, their
wrathful wonder gave place to awe.

"Thy words are bold in the utterance, and strange and somewhat
unpleasing as coming from one not of our race," replied the foremost
of the two, haughtily. "First, we would know who has instructed thee
in the language of our people, of which this black slave and those of
his kind in the forest around, are wholly ignorant; and secondly, who
has given thee authority to be an interpreter between us and the
messenger of our gods? It may go ill with thee, if thou art vaunting
thyself unduly."

"Truly it is ye, not I, who shall suffer the ill, if ye flout the
chosen of your Great Ones," answered Hansen, with assumed bravado.
"According to thy ignorance will I answer thee, oh Guardian of the
Aca! The world is big and old, venerable friend," he went on, with a
courage and assurance that further impressed the Elders. "Generations
of men have come and gone, and the graves of dead cities have given up
their records to new-born nations, while this last handful of a
perished people has been rotting away among the gum-trees. As for my
authority, are not our presence among you and my speech in the Mayan
tongue proofs that the Mayan gods have not forsaken ye? More, I cannot
say, save that I am but the Interpreter. Here"--and he pointed to
Anne--"Here is the messenger, come to redeem the ancient promise, that
a priestess and deliverer should be sent among you."

Hansen made his shot at a venture, knowing that in all religious
mythologies that have ever been, there occurs a prophecy of the re--
incarnating or coming again of a divinity. In this case, he hit the
mark closer than he had expected. The Elders consulted each other with
their eyes, and softly uttered some sing-song words, the meaning of
which Hansen did not grasp. Then there came from the mouth of the
hunters a sort of answering chant, a few lines only, which rose and
fell in barbaric cadence, wild and solemn, and quite unlike any music
Anne or Hansen had ever heard. The girl realised from the gestures of
the Red Men that she herself was the object of the chant, and in
obedience to Hansen's signal gave an antistrophe in a few bars of
recitative from an Italian opera. The Red Men acclaimed again, though
they did not understand what she sang, and the chief Elder put his
clasped hands to his forehead impressively.

"We are ready to believe, Stranger, and to do homage to the gods'
messenger, for it is true as thou sayest--we have an ancient prophecy
declaring that a priestess shall walk dry-shod where the sea once
flowed, and coming into our City of Refuge, shall do service in the
Temple of Aak, and bring prosperity to his children. Though," added
the Elder, doubtfully, "there is in the prophecy something of the
nature of a warning, which it is possible may apply to thee."

"And what is that warning, good friend?" asked Hansen.

"That, thou mayest perhaps learn later. It is not clear enough to be
of moment," said the Elder. "Prove to us now thy knowledge of our
gods."

"Of what god shall I speak to thee?" said Hansen. "Shall it be of the
Nine Lords of the Night, who hold the gates of the senses, while man
is wrapped in sleep? Shall it be of Viracocha Zazil, Lord of the Dawn?
Or of Tohil and Huracan, Ruler of the Winds, and Wielder of
Thunderbolts? Or shall it be of the Grim Lords who are named in your
sacred tongue, Priests, Lord of the One Death, and Lord of the Seven
Deaths, to whom the Day and the Night are one, and to whom the
elements are subject? Shall it be of Xibal, Sovereign of Ximohazan,
the Valley of Oblivion, where there are neither tracks nor trails, in
which the body of man crumbles away and is forgotten, but whence the
soul of him returns in new shape to do the will of Those who are most
mighty? Say, then, Hu Aca Tehua, holy guardians of your people, have I
proved to you my knowledge of your gods? Do you receive me as
interpreting the will of Viracocha the Doer--Lord of Dawn; as servant
of Aak, who is Intercessor of the Sun, and Supporter of earth and
heaven? Say, Priests, are my words in accordance or not with your
ancient faith?"

"Thou speakest well, Stranger, and Interpreter as thou hast called
thyself. Verily, it would seem that thou too art a messenger from the
great gods, for thou tellest glibly the sacred names, which none in
these mountains, save the remnant of that once great people of Aak,
have spoken since the Day of Humiliation and Terror--that day when our
nation was given over to the wrath of Kàn, the Great Serpent--four-
footed, which sent out fire and ashes from his mouth, darkening the
face of our Lord the Sun. Then did the deeps burst their boundaries,
and rose and fell and were swallowed for ever into the bowels of the
earth. Then was our city of old time, and all that dwelt therein,
destroyed by the power of that same four-footed Serpent, whose
vengeance drove Aak--our Lord and Prince--in the beginning, from his
home beyond the far seas. We see, too, that thou art instructed in the
doctrine that I, Naquah the Elder, Kaboc my colleague, and the five
other Elders, also the Priestess and people, have learned from the
writings of Those who went before. For thou dost speak of Viracocha,
Builder of Forms, Minister of the Supreme One, Lord of the Lesser
Light, to whom be praise. And true it is that this mortal body of man
must descend into the Valley of Eternal Oblivion, into the realms of
Xibal; and most certain, likewise, that it shall not for ever die,
but, like the grain of corn put under the earth, shall arise and live
again and bear fruit. Nevertheless, I, Naquah, have not seen nor heard
of the spirit of any man that we have held converse with, returning
after death, reclothed in body, to be known by his former kindred.
Surely, me-seems, such a spirit would have come back to dwell with its
own people; yet with us this has not been, and our hearts have grown
faint in waiting for our Deliverer. Once, were we many and mighty, but
now are our numbers few, and as the tale of suns goes by, fewer still
do they become. In old time the wives bare children in plenty, but now
are they often barren, and from generation to generation it has been
handed down to us that our strength has continued to decrease. Well,
it may be that the gods have seen our diminishment and the curse that
lies upon us, and have sent this maiden, according to the promise of
old, to lead the Children of Aak into a new land over which the great
Serpent may not cast his breath, nor extend his claws, so thus shall
our nation once more build cities and multiply and prosper. But of the
fulfilment of that promise we can have no certainty, until the Supreme
One gives the Sign, through His Minister and Doer, Viracocha, to
convey His Word to Aak the Intercessor, and to be a command to the Aca
people.

"Then shall it be seen if the Brightness of Him Whose Name is
unutterable, Whose vesture is the Sun, shall strike into the Holy
Place, proclaiming that of a truth the Priestess, who was fore-
ordained, hath been chosen from on High, and standeth in the flesh for
Aak to accept as his servant, and the Aca to obey as their queen."

The Elder paused for a moment, and gazed earnestly into the face of
Anne. Clear it was that he was deeply impressed, yet not wholly
satisfied. "Myself, I know not," he said; "and concerning the will of
the gods, my heart quakes within me, for this maiden is small, and
though not ill--favoured, she hath but a child's stature, and may not
find grace in the sight of Aak, being unlike the maidens of the Aca
who attend the Zuhua Zak--Chief Virgin of the Flame--whose emblem is
the Eye of Viracocha, and whose song is well-pleasing to Aak."

To the best of his ability, Hansen translated the speech of the
Elder, assuring Anne that she had nothing to fear, though it was with
some trepidation that he inquired in what the duties of a priestess of
Aak consisted. Horrible visions of the Aztec rites presented
themselves to his imagination; and he had made up his mind that were
there any question of human sacrifice, they would all at once make a
bolt for it, reflecting that his gun and Anne's revolver, with Kombo's
quick wits to aid them, might be a match against the long-robed
priests and the score of lightly armed warriors. But Naquah's reply to
his question, which was delivered in flowery language and at
considerable length, made him feel more easy. He understood sufficient
of it to assure himself that this Mayan off-shoot practised no bloody
rites, and that the only propitiatory offerings required by Aak, were
green herbage and spring water. He gleaned, also, that the god's chief
delight was in the music made by the high priestess and the other
Virgins of the Flame, whose office it was to tend the sacred fire
kindled by "Our Lord the Sun" once a year, and to purify the water
which seemed to have a significant part in the religious observances
of the people. Aak the Intercessor, and Viracocha of the Dawn,
secondary deities to our Lord the Sun, were apparently peaceful
divinities, taking pleasure in the fruits of the earth, and demanding
not hearts nor entrails of human or animal victims.

This Hansen explained to Anne, satisfying at the same time Kombo's
ejaculatory queries, for the black boy clung close to his mistress's
skirt, and the aboriginal wails of "Yucca! Yucca! Eeoogh! Eeoogh!"
(woe! woe! alas! alas!) sounded unceasingly. But the friendly
demeanour of the Red Men gradually soothed Kombo's excited nerves,
especially as he found that the strangers called down no consuming
fire, and that the Thunder of the Tortoise had been but a figment of
the Medicine Man's imagination. Presently, it was proposed by Naquah
that the messengers of the gods should be conducted to the abode of
the people of Aca, there to be given in charge of the Elders, and the
High Priestess of the Flame. So once again poor Anne resigned herself
to the part destiny allotted her, taking comfort in the thought that
the service of Aak and the companionship of the Red Men seemed at
least to offer less alarming possibilities than her residence among
the Maianbars, with old Buli as her conductor to the Deep Tank, and
the chance when she arrived there of being eaten by Multuggerrah the
King. She saw, too, that Hansen was all alert with curiosity and
interest, and that he could hardly restrain his impatience to see the
dwelling-place of the Aca, though he maintained an attitude of
dignified courtesy during the long speeches of Naquah, and the
offering of gifts by the hunters, who, in token of homage, laid at the
strangers' feet the supply of food they had brought with them,
doubtless intended as light refreshment during a fishing expedition,
for they carried, as well as their short spears, what seemed to be
barbed tackle and fishing-nets. The food was mostly fruits of various
kinds, some of which were quite unknown to Anne, and thin cakes made
of maize. Kombo's mouth watered at sight of these, and they were
appetizing to the two white people, though dignity forbade them to
eat. No scruples, however, restrained Kombo, who, after cautiously
examining one of the maize cakes and testing it between his teeth, ate
with avidity.

"I believe that bujeri fellow Red Man," he observed. "Mine think-it
old Medicine Man tell plenty lies to frighten black fellow. I believe
all gammon long-a Kelan Yamina and Mirrein Debil-debil. Ba'al Debil-
debil got-im flour; ba'al Debil-debil make-im damper. My word! This
bujeri damper! I believe that fellow Red Man very kind to Missa Anne.
Mine no think-it Massa Bedo come look out for Missa Anne inside
Tortoise Mountain; he no find-im road. But suppose that fellow come,
then mine plenty talk to Red Men and altogether fight Massa Bedo and
make him go bong. You no hear, Missa Anne? Bujeri damper! I believe
Red Men plenty brother belonging to you."

Having come to this satisfactory conclusion, Kombo, being a
philosopher, set his mind at ease and took stock of his surroundings,
while he walked behind Anne and Hansen, munching his corn-cake with
great gusto. He tried to talk to the hunters, but soon discovered that
they understood neither Blacks' language nor the aboriginal pidgin
English, and that they considered him quite unworthy of attention. But
his keen eyes noted every stick and stone and feature of the mountain
as they walked along towards the tunnel, the two Elders preceding
their captives, and the hunters, as advance and rear-guard, closing
the procession. In this order, but in single file, they entered the
Heart of Aak.

Part II



Chapter XXIII--In the Heart of Aak



AT first, the darkness of the tunnel was dense as pitch. They came to
the block of stone with the openings on either side, which Hansen
rightly conjectured to be a mass of the mountain that had fallen and
interrupted the passage. Then, after following one of the forks a
short distance, they found themselves in a wider space, broad and high
enough for two to walk comfortably abreast, and which was dimly
illuminated from an unseen opening. A cool current of air flowed past
them, and they could hear the rushing sound of water. As Hansen's eyes
grew more accustomed to the dusk, he discovered that there was a small
cascade where the other fork of the tunnel also entered this larger
space, and that they were now walking along a causeway with a low
parapet on one side, and a stream running at the depth of a few feet
over a smooth bed of rock below it. No doubt the builders of the
tunnel had taken advantage of a subterranean channel bored by a
river--perhaps that very one which they had last seen above ground on
the other side of the desert; but it was clear also that the greater
part of the work was due to the labour of man. Herculean labour it
must have been, without blasting powder or modern mechanical
contrivances, and Hansen found himself marvelling how the masses of
rock had been quarried and disposed of, and speculating, as many
another explorer of historic remains has done, whether we are so much
ahead of our forefathers as we imagine, and whether they may not have
possessed secrets of science, lost, and as yet, far from being re-
discovered. So excited and interested was he, that he called together
all his knowledge of the Mayan vocabulary and grammar, and questioned
Naquah as to how and when this extraordinary tunnel had been
constructed. But the Elder either could not, or would not, give him
any definite information. It had always been there, he said. It had
existed since there had been any record of the Aca. The mountain had
been a sacred place from the beginning. Hansen gleaned a few facts
with difficulty. The Great Builders had chosen it. They had known how
to cleave the rock, and to lift stones upright that were beyond the
power of many men. The secret of their magic had perished with them.
There had been one left from the destroying power of the Serpent. It
was he who had gathered into the Heart of Aak the remnant of the
Faithful who were saved in that far-off day of terror. He had written
the record, and delivered his magic to his son, who in turn had given
it to his son, and so on for generations. But in later times, long
after he was dead, the Serpent had again waxed furious, and had once
more breathed out ashes and blackness. Thus it happened that while
digging for certain graven pillars which had been buried in the valley
below the temple on the hill, a second cataclysm had taken place, and
in it, the last of the Wise Men, the last of the Great Builders, had
perished, and had taken his magic with him. This had been many suns
back, and from that time the wisdom of the Ancestors had been no more
written; there was none to tell it from father to first-born, and
again from first-born to first-born. Thus the Aca had built no more,
but had been content to dwell in their sure refuge in the Heart of
Aak, where never since, had the Serpent assailed them.

It was not from Naquah that all this information was extracted. The
Chief Elder grew irritated by Hansen's poor management, as he
considered it, of the Mayan tongue, which was scarcely surprising, for
the speech of the Aca differed somewhat from the language Hansen had
learned in Yucatan, and, moreover, he was stiff in the handling of it
for want of practice, and, unless spurred by danger or excitement, had
some ado in remembering the vocabulary. Thus, Naquah soon relapsed
into dignified silence, and Hansen had recourse to Kapoc, who was
younger and more communicative. Kapoc went on to say that the natural
channel had been widened, and the causeway made by the Builders--the
Great Builders, as in a tone of awe he called them--they who had made
the city. This, according to tradition, had been a wonder of cities,
and had spread to the edge of the water, and along the sides of the
hills--a city of temples and palaces, and pyramids and many carvings,
all of which had been first swept by the waters, and then swallowed up
when the earth had opened. Of the country surrounding the city, only
the mountains of the Tortoise, and the Crocodile--or, as the Aca named
it, the Four-footed Serpent--had been left unscathed. Also the remains
of the great temple, the encasing of rock, and the sacred stones which
the flood had not swept away. In the time before the cataclysm, said
Kapoc, the Aca had been a prosperous and powerful nation, and their
ships had sailed where now was land, eastward to the far seas. "How
long ago," Hansen asked, "had the cataclysm happened?" He knew not,
nay, for generations there had never been any wise men of the Aca who
could say. The count of time was lost; the sculptured records of the
ancient people were buried deep where no man could dig them; and there
was nought but a certain sacred record that the first Wise Man, who
was saved, had made--that Wise Man who had led the few by secret ways
within the bosom of Aak.

All this time they had been following the course of the underground
river, now descending by rude steps cut in the rock, or by a gentle
incline, now by a level path which yet was anything but straight, for
it turned and curved, leading through a labyrinth of corridors at
right angles, parallel with each other, and branching in different
directions so numerous and intricate, that it would have been almost
impossible, without a guide, to make a way back to the opening. The
place reminded Hansen of a subterranean labyrinth in Central America
which he had once visited. The light continued dim, but was sufficient
to enable them to pick their steps. Suddenly, however, they were again
plunged in darkness for a few minutes; then the glare of torches ahead
showed them a lofty circular hall, supported by rude pillars, in the
centre of which was a large shallow basin of water, and round it stood
a small company of men, holding aloft flaming brands. These men, who
had evidently been sent to meet the returning party, were not dressed
like the hunters in tunics and hide leggings, but wore a shapeless
garment of yellowish white stuff, resembling the under vestments of
the Elders, from which Hansen assumed that they belonged to the
priestly order, and were no doubt servers or acolytes.

The torches threw flickering gleams on the water in the basin, and
over the walls and floor of this place, showing dark objects moving on
the ground, of different sizes and uncouth appearance. These turned
out to be turtles or tortoises of various sizes crawling about the
edge of the basin. Ann gave an involuntary shriek as her feet came in
contact with one of these. She now saw that this rock chamber was the
home of a number of these creatures, some almost gigantic in size,
others still in their infancy. The elder Naquah stopped, scrutinized a
family of them, and, pointing to one of the smallest, gave some
directions at which the torch-bearers salaamed, and one stooped and
turned the creature on his back, while another assisted him to place
it in a flat basket in which they carried it away. Kombo was charmed
at sight of the tortoises.

"Bujeri fellow turtle, Missa Anne," he cried, for Kombo had tasted
turtle soup, and the prospect of a supper of turtle fat would have
reconciled him to much devilry. He was beginning to realise that
Debil-debils who made corn-cakes and provided roads through mountains
which should form a barrier between his beloved Missa Anne and the
pursuit of Elias Bedo, could not be such bad Debil-debils after all.
He would have caught a tortoise on his own account, had not the torch-
bearers rushed upon him and held him back with menacing gestures, nor
did they loose their hold till the Hall of Tortoises was left some
little way behind. Hansen asked Kapoc for what purpose the young
tortoise was destined, and was answered oracularly that by it Aak
would signify his inclinations. The Dane had heard of the ancient
method of divination by means of the markings on a tortoise's back--a
method still practised in parts of the East--and knowing also that the
word Aak in Mayan signifies turtle, concluded that the sacred reptile
had something to do with that venerable worship.

Daylight now showed through a wide archway before them, and, passing
beneath the arch, they stood in what looked like an enormous
amphitheatre, partly natural, and partly hollowed artificially in the
mountain-side. Day was waning, and it was the rosy light of late
afternoon which fell into the arena, through huge openings in an outer
shell of rock closing in its south--western side, and through which a
stretch of undulating cultivated land was visible. Apparently, they
had completely penetrated the great hump of basalt, on the eastern
side of which the wanderers had encamped. The top of this vast circle
lay open to the sky; and, except in the outer wall and where side
passages seemed to have been excavated into the heart of the mountain,
enormous precipices towered many hundreds of feet. What gave the
appearance of an amphitheatre was, that up to a considerable height
the precipices shelved in terraces and balconies, and were honeycombed
with large cells, evidently the dwelling-places of the tribe. The
inner walls of these cells, in the recesses of which lights glimmered,
glowed with colours--being painted, or hung with bright-hued
tapestry--and stretched far back into impenetrable gloom. On the
outside were windows and doors cut in the rock. Steps led up to these
abodes, and here and there, a white--clad figure looked down from
overhead. The inhabitants of this rock city seemed, for the most part,
however, to have gathered in the clear space in the centre. This
apparently served as a market-place, there being open stalls set about
its sides spread with merchandise, and braziers here and there on
which maize cakes, nuts, and plaintains were cooking, giving forth an
appetising smell.

The crowd was not a large one--perhaps a hundred in all; and Hansen
reflected that if it represented even a third of the numerical
strength of the Aca, Naquah had good reason to complain that the wives
did not bear as the fruitful vine, and that the population had
dwindled. This no doubt was due to inter-breeding through centuries,
of the same stock, for there was no trace of aboriginal admixture.
Notwithstanding, the people did not give, as far as physique went, the
suggestion of degeneration. They were all of the same type as the
hunters who had surprised the wanderers' camp--large, loose-limbed, of
the high-cheek-boned, strong-featured, narrow, and somewhat melancholy
cast of countenance which Hansen associated with that of the Shawnee
and other tribes of American Indians, though when analysed the faces
of the Aca were entirely different from theirs. These men were unlike
any others that Hansen had ever seen. They wore mostly the tunic and
leggings of the hunters, their upper garments of coarse stuff
occasionally dyed brown, blue, or dull red. Many wore a sort of mantle
knotted at the breast and hanging below the middle, which was usually
painted, or worked in startling patterns and brilliant colouring, and
fringed with feathers or the tails of small animals. The women were
hardly inferior in point of stature to the men. Anne seemed a pigmy in
comparison with them; and so far as could be seen in the fast fading
daylight, they were handsome, with fine eyes, and a quantity of
reddish-brown hair that harmonised with their reddish complexions.
They were, however, fairer than the men, probably from living more
closely in their rock dwelling, and being necessarily less exposed to
the air and sun. They were dressed in clinging robes--the poorer ones
in coarse, shapeless garments; those who were evidently of a better
class, in finer draperies, and these wore mantles much longer and more
flowing than the cloaks of the men, dyed also in brilliant and
fantastic designs, and fringed with feather trimmings.

The little crowd parted and congregated again in two long lines as
Naquah and Kapoc advanced, preceded by the torch-bearers--the torches
being, it appeared, a sign of sacerdotal rank. The Elders had Anne and
Hansen between them, while Kombo walked behind. Kombo's interest in
the rock-city, the booths and braziers, and above all, the Aca women,
was uncontrollable and farcical in its expression. He grinned and
ogled, and sniffing the roasted nuts, rubbed what he would have called
his "binji," uttering ejaculations indicative of pleasure. But the
ladies of the Aca regarded him scornfully as one of the black, outside
race, and showed scant curiosity concerning him, so absorbed were they
in the white man and woman. Hansen they admired, and he knew
sufficient Mayan to understand their outspoken commendation of his
fairness and his build. They did not conceal their opinion that the
man was both strong and beautiful, but the woman they declared to be
of little account, and so small as to be only fit for a child's doll.
Whence, they asked, had the strangers come, and how had they gained
admission into the Heart of Aak, the Citadel of the Saved--for it was
by a name conveying this meaning that the rock town was called? The
hunters scattered among their women-folk, and the lines of people
broke into knots, while the men recounted their tale. But they were
recalled by the voice of Naquah, as he and Kapoc stepped forward,
commanding silence. Then Naquah spoke, and Hansen without much
difficulty seized the gist of his address.

"Children of Aak," said the Elder,--"In the Hall of Tortoises, Hotan
the hunter, returning, found us and told us of the wonder that had
befallen. So, following him, we went, and, at the foot of the Great
Shell--the roof of Aak's refuge--we found this woman who stood singing
in a strange tongue a song of praise to the gods. With her were this
man and the black slave who has served them on their way thither. In
our ancient language, that of the land of Mayab, whence came our
forefathers of old, did the man address us, claiming to be the
maiden's protector, and a messenger from our most high gods. True it
is that he knows the sacred names, and can speak of the doctrine They
have delivered to us. It would appear also that among the inferior
race which inhabits the forest, the maiden's divinity is established,
since she is hailed by the black slave, who hath guided them across
the desert, as Lady of the Clouds, and Sister of the Stars. But whence
otherwise she has come, and what her earthly origin, I know not, for
she understands not the tongue of the Aca, only--so the white man, her
protector, declareth--that of the Spirits of Space. This too, is a
thing unaccountable to me. Nevertheless, who shall dare pass judgment
on the ways of the gods? And moreover, the man is acquainted with that
old-time prophecy which was graven on the fallen stones, and given to
us in the writing of our Saviour, the Great Ancestor, so that it hath
been handed down in the Temple, from Elder to Elder, ever since there
has been knowledge of hidden matters. Ye know the Prophecy--for is it
not sung on each returning of the month and the Day of Humiliation and
Terror, by the mouth of the Zuhua Kak, at command of the Intercessor,
between the people and our Lord the Sun? Ye know how that prophecy
tells of a priestess that shall, in the fulness of ages, walk dry-shod
over the bed of the sea, and lead forth to new life and hope the
forsaken Children of Aak. Whether this maiden, who in looks is no more
than a child, be in very truth that god-sent priestess, is not for me
to declare, though it doth appear to me that strange and small as arc
her stature and the fashion of her face, her countenance beareth the
stamp of the gods.

"This is my counsel, People of the Aca, to be delivered to the five
Elders:--it is, that to-morrow the maiden be presented in the temple,
when, by the mouth of the Zuhua Kak, of the Virgins of the Flame, the
Elders, and the people, penance shall be said before the Symbol of
Xibal, Lord of Death, and afterwards supplication beneath the Disc of
Life to Him whose raiment is the Sun, and to Viracocha, the Doer, Lord
of Dawn, that our nation and our dwelling-place be no more destroyed
by the Bursting Fires and Great Waters. Then shall the maiden stand
within the sacred circle and await the Sign of our Lord of the Sun.
And if it be so that He Whose Name be not spoken, Whose utterance is
the Red Beam, shall shed upon her the light of His Glory, and make
manifest in her the Supreme Will--then shall the mantle of the Zuhua
Kak be placed upon her, and the sacred Eye be set on her brow, and she
shall be taken into the sight of Aak the Intercessor, and shall sing
in his ears her wondrous song, heard by me--Naquah, and by Kapoc the
Elder and the hunters of our company--which resembles no song of woman
that ever before moved the souls of men. And if her song be pleasant
in the ears of Aak, and he shall accept her as his priestess,
henceforth shall she render service in the temple, making obeisance
before the Throne of the Radiant One."



Chapter XXIV--Keorah



A BRIEF silence followed, and then came a one-throated cry:

"Keorah, Zuhua Kak! Keorah, Zuhua Kak!" And at that moment there
sounded a clear ringing voice, proud and scornful in its intonation.

"I, Keorah, Zuhua Kak, High Virgin of the Flame and the Flood, answer
to your call, People of the Aca."

At the sound of the voice, Anne and Hansen raised their heads in the
direction whence it came. On the side of the amphitheatre facing
eastward, high above them, was a wide balcony, its base and roof
supported by rudely sculptured pillars hewn from the rock. Standing in
a statuesque attitude on the balcony was the most beautiful woman
either had ever beheld.

Behind, and at the sides of this woman, six other women were grouped,
each holding aloft a flaming brand or tall lamp--it was difficult to
tell which--all of them robed in white. They were younger and fairer,
it seemed, than the women of their race, with long, reddish hair
falling unbound, save by a white fillet that was held on the forehead
by a jewelled ornament. Hansen took in their presence in a swift,
comprehensive glance, which returning, was enchained by the one
excelling them all who was in their midst.

The rock city was now almost in darkness. The rosy afterglow that had
greeted the strangers had faded. The short Australian twilight was
deepening into night, and the lights above and below, and glimmering
from the depths of the cave-dwellings, shone redly in the gloom,
giving a most weird effect to the vast place. Adding to this
weirdness, the full moon, now risen, hung like a great electric arc
above the circular opening in the mountain, and lent its radiance to
the face of the woman on whom the attention of all was centred--
Keorah, Zuhua Kak.

Most commanding of mien was the High Priestess of Aak. Young too, of
bounteous classic proportions; her bosoms full, her neck rising like a
column above her white robes, that were girdled at the waist with a
glittering zone. A long mantle, bordered with raised bands of rose,
fell round her shoulders, the ends held together at her breast by a
jewelled clasp. A band, with plume of pink feathers, circled her
forehead, and in front of it was a great opal, which, when the torch
rays struck it, sent out answering flames. Her eyes were large, and of
a deep blue, and they shone brilliantly beneath level, strongly marked
brows, giving out gleams something like the gleams of the opal above
them. These eyes, lowered upon the crowd, met the eyes of Hansen, and
lingered upon his face. As they did so, the fierce fire in them died,
and her look of angry defiance melted. The masses of her red-gold hair
fell forward as she stooped over the balcony, making a splendid veil,
out of which the opal on her brow and the wonderful eyes glowed
softly. Her gaze was seductive, and a feeling of mesmeric attraction
overpowered Hansen. For a moment, he seemed to lose the sense of space
and time, even of the unwontedness of scene and situation. The High
Priestess' eyes drew him against his will; he became conscious only of
her. Anne's voice recalled him to the present, thrilling sharply in
his ear.

"Eric," she said, "I am frightened. Who is that woman, and why does
she look at us so strangely? Oh! what do these people want with me? I
see them pointing, and I cannot understand what they say. Tell me, for
I don't think I shall be able to bear it much longer. I'm obeying you,
Eric. You told me not to speak or to rebel, and I have been watching,
and trying to do as you wished. But, oh! I'd rather almost be with the
Maianbars--for I could understand and talk to them--than with this
mysterious Red Race."

Hansen turned from the gaze of the Priestess to meet Anne's pathetic
eyes looking appealingly from her little white face, so child-like,
and now so weary.

"Dear little comrade," he whispered, reassuring her with a sudden
inborn strength and tenderness, "be brave, as you have been all along.
Trust in God--and in me." He put his hand upon her shoulder, and his
touch gave her new confidence. "Believe that I will let nothing harm
you while I live to be your protector. I know how to deal with these
people, and, by-and-by, I will explain everything that you don't
understand. I'll teach you what I know of their language. Be certain,
however, that they are a harmless, peaceable race, and mean good to
you and not ill. That woman is, I gather, High Priestess of the god
Aak--Aak means in the Mayan tongue, tortoise or turtle--a simple,
innocent kind of fetish, who, it seems, only requires sacrifices of
grass and water, and somebody to sing to him. I learn that to--morrow
is the anniversary of some sort of religious festival, having to do
with a prophecy about a priestess who was to walk over the desert and
bring luck to this queer set of heathens. They have an idea that you
are this priestess, and it is to be decided somehow in the temple to-
morrow. I assure you there is nothing in it to make you nervous. All
that you have to do is to sing, and the worst that can happen will be,
that they'll turn us adrift again. But I must say, that I think it
would be to the advantage of science if we could stop and study them
for a bit. Only go on playing your part as I have told you, and stick
to your revolver, whatever happens."

"But I cannot help their taking it from me, if they want to do so.
And if I am to supplant that woman--she frightens me more than all the
rest of them! Oh, Eric, I am so tired of being a goddess. I did hope
there was an end of that, when we got away from the Maianbars.
"
"It is better to be a goddess than to be eaten," said Hansen, trying
to speak jestingly. "We must make the best of things, my dear--for the
present, at any rate. There's always the chance of escape. Stay, the
woman is speaking. I will translate for you what she says."

"Naquah! Kapoc! The five Elders await you in the Council-Chamber,"
the High Priestess' voice rang out. "Go, tell them what has come to
pass, and consult with each other, if ye will, as to the prophecy of
which we have heard much this day. Concerning its fulfilment, neither
I, nor thou, Naquah, have aught to declare. Is it for us poor mortals
to question the decree of Him whose Name may not be uttered--whose
minister is Viracocha the Doer, and His Intercessor Aak--whose is the
Red Flame and His Vestment the Sun. Now, touching the prophecy--
thrice, as ye all know, on the return of our great day of prayer and
abasement, when unveiled are the faces of Death and Life--thrice has
our Lord the Sun withheld His holy beam--and this for no fault of
ours, but that all might come to pass as was written of old. So it may
well be that the priestess fore-ordained, from beyond the water's bed
and the far sea, has now, in the fullness of time, come among us. To-
morrow, therefore, shall it be seen, in presence of the people,
whether she be illumined by the glory of the Red Flame, and singled
out by that Holy Sign, and if afterwards the favour of Aak be
vouchsafed to her. To-morrow, then, if the sign be given, will I,
Keorah, Zuhua Kak, yield to her, who is chosen of the gods, my sacred
mantle and the star upon my head, which is the Eye of Viracocha that
closeth not in slumber. Then, clad with the emblems of holy office,
this maiden messenger from the great Ones will prostrate herself
before the Discs of Death and of Life, and sing the wondrous song some
of ye have already heard, to delight the Ear of Aak our Lord. Gladly
will I, who have served the gods, and have been obeyed by the people,
do reverence to the Will of the Supreme, and, loosed from my
Priestess' vows, will I henceforth take my place among the daughters
of men. Faithfully have I striven to fulfil my office, and,
peradventure, I shall receive my reward. It may be that as my heart
desireth, so shall the gods do unto me. And with the thought of this I
am content. Yet there is a word I would say unto ye, Elders and People
of the Aca. Forget not the warning that was graven on the ancient
stone, and written by him who saved us in the Fire and the Flood.
Divide not Beauty and Fair Strength, nor suffer them to be
constrained, lest evil befall the Children of Aak, and the Curse of
the Serpent be not lifted from you. Therefore entreat the Lord Aak,
and supplicate Viracocha--the wise and the far-seeing--for right
judgment and clear vision; and abasing yourselves, cry aloud, `Guide
us, Aak the Intercessor. Give us wisdom, Viracocha, Dweller in
radiance, Builder, and Mighty Doer. Thou who hearest and dost perform,
Who art stronger than Death, and defiest the Grave, Lord of the Four
Winds, and Light of the Dawn!'"

The strange chant uprose, Keorah's voice leading, and all the people
crying, "Guide us, Aak! Enlighten us, Viracocha, Lord of the Strong
Hand, Chief over the Night, Darkness, Death and the Waters. Hear us,
Viracocha!"

When the invocation had ceased, there was silence, and all prostrated
themselves. Then Naquah stepped a little nearer to the balcony, and
desired to know what were the High Priestess' wishes in regard to the
lodgment of these strangers.

"Give them to eat, and clothe them," commanded the High Priestess,
"for truly it seems to me they are weary with travel, and their
garments are earth-stained in a way unfitting for the messengers of
the gods. Let them have of our best. To the child-maiden give robes of
linen--this shall be the care of my virgins. And to the man who is
Beautiful Strength, do not furnish priests' vestments, but manly
habiliments such as are worn by the noblest and most valorous among
you. Let the maiden be brought at once into the Virgins' House for
refreshment and rest until the hour of our vigil be past. Then will I
myself see that she is clad and prepared for the Festival of Death and
Life on which to-morrow's dawn shall rise, and for presentation to our
gods. For the man of Beauty and Strength, thou, Hotan the hunter, art
responsible. Lead him to thy dwelling, feast him and do him honour,
awaiting the counsel of the Elders, and my pleasure concerning him.
And now, peradventure, it is the last time that I, Keorah, Zuhua Kak,
charge you in virtue of my office, for before moonrise to-morrow,
another may reign in my stead. Nay! I mourn not, nor do ye mourn if it
be the Supreme Will that I descent to the level of ordinary womanhood;
for bethink ye that the lower life has joys which to the Priestess are
forbidden, and it may be that these shall be my recompense. Ill would
it beseem me, then, to show ingratitude to the gods if, for the
dignity and honour of the priestess-ship, they give me in exchange
those simple and yet sweeter joys of which I have not dared to dream.
To-morrow, then, our Lord shall make known his will, to which I, with
you, will bow. We shall meet in the temple. Till that time, my bidding
be done."

She moved back, and disappeared through the arch behind, the band of
virgins parting for her to pass, then with torches uplifted, they
followed her within.

A hoarse murmur, partly of dissatisfaction, partly of excitement and
surprise, swept through the crowd. It was not clear whether the Aca
people regretted or desired the dethronement of Keorah, their present
Zuhua Kak.

It seemed strange to them, as it also did to Hansen, that she should
herself refer to the prospect with such remarkable equanimity, even
giving a suggestion that release from her vows might not be wholly
unwelcome. While she was speaking, he felt the spell of her eyes still
upon him, and as he looked up and met their gaze, the heart of the
woman leaping beneath the priestly band that reined it, became evident
to him. A thrill of understanding ran like fire through his blood, and
flashed upon his face, bringing a glow to Keorah's as she spoke her
last words. When she turned, the spell seemed broken, and Hansen
steadied his reeling senses, and responded warmly to the pressure of
Anne's little cold hand, which slid trustfully into his, while the
shouts of the populace were raised to Viracocha and Aak. He hurriedly
interpreted to her the speech of the High Priestess, and again bade
her be of good courage. But there was little time for talk. The hunter
Hotan--he who had been foremost of the band outside the mountain--now
approached, and with a deep obeisance pointed to the street, if it
could be called so, that opened at a right angle with the balcony on
which the Priestess had stood, signifying that Hansen must accompany
him thither. At the same time, three of the linen-clad torch-bearers,
Naquah's attendants, led poor bewildered Anne to a flight of steps cut
in the rock at the right of the Priestess's balcony, and thence
through a low arch into the dwelling of the Virgins of the Flame.

Kombo followed his mistress to the small portico at the head of the
staircase. He was not permitted to go further in spite of his signs
and protestations, and his mistress's dumb entreaties. Men, even black
slaves, were not admitted into this nunnery. On the threshold of the
inner doorway, the acolytes made reverence, turned, and descended into
the street. But Kombo unslung his blanket, put down the tin billy and
pint-pots, the tomahawk and pointed stick that he carried, and
disposing of his properties in a corner, made it clear that not for
all the Virgins nor the acolytes did he intend to budge.

"All right, Missa Anne, mine make it camp like-it this place," he
announced, cheerfully. And in truth, to Kombo, after his recent perils
and privations, this sheltered porch, with the busy market-place below
and all its array of lamps and braziers, with the chance of corn-cakes
and roast plantains being handed up to him, presented a most desirable
resting-place. He frowned on the acolytes at last when they persisted
too long in trying to make him go.

"Ba'al mine yan," said he. "Mine no go long-a you. Mine sit down
close--up Yuro Kateena. You look out. I believe that fellow Cloud-
Daughter pialla Mormodelik, suppose you take Kombo." And he pointed
first to Anne, then heavenward, then to himself, at which the acolytes
prostrated once more, and hurried down quickly, being more than ever
convinced of the divinity of the small stranger.

The Virgins met Anne with more curiosity than reverence, for till Aak
and Viracocha confirmed her pretensions, they could not be sure that
she was really the priestess who was to bring prosperity to the people
of the Aca.

There were three of these maidens waiting to receive her, young,
handsome, tall and stately, and curiously attractive with their long
peculiarly expressioned faces, their russet hair, and graceful robes.
All wore on their breasts what was evidently an insignia of the order,
a tortoise in gold set with opals; and Anne noticed in wonder that
what she had imagined to be a metal clasp on the left shoulder of each
of them, was in reality a small living tortoise fastened by a chain.
The little creatures appeared to be semi-comatose, but occasionally a
weird wee head protruded itself, and showed two blinking pin-point
eyes.

The Virgins led her through two ante-chambers lighted by oil lamps
oddly shaped, like frogs and birds, made in earthenware. The walls of
these rooms were painted in hieroglyphs or small barbaric-looking
designs, and the floor was covered with a sort of matting. There were
low stools of wood set about, and projecting from the walls, were
several altar-like tables. Beyond was a larger apartment almost
circular in shape, with cells branching from it. In this, the stone
walls were rudely sculptured; opossum rugs and kangaroo skins strewed
the floor, and a table in the centre was spread with a linen cloth on
which were fruits, cakes, and earthenware bowls, some containing a
mess of maize porridge, others a foamy brown liquid, which Anne
discovered to be chocolate. In this room stood three more priestesses,
making the number six. One of these was evidently more important than
the others, and this lady advancing, greeted Anne with the same
salutation that the hunters and Elders had made--crossing the left arm
over the breast, with the left hand touching the right shoulder. She
motioned Anne to a seat at the head of the table next herself, and
after a grace incomprehensible to her guest and the pouring of a
libation of chocolate into a hollow in the floor, the meal began with
a bowl of porridge placed before each. Other dishes followed, simple
but palatable. There were hot cakes of different kinds made of Indian
corn, dipped in a sauce of chilies and tomatoes, fried beans, and
plantains cooked in various fashions, together with chocolate which,
though oily and flavoured with spice, seemed to Anne, unaccustomed now
to anything but water, a most delicious beverage. The Virgins talked
among themselves, but their talk was of course not understood by Anne.
She was beginning, however, to pick up already one or two Mayan words,
and one of the priestesses found amusement in making her say the
English equivalent of the names of the dishes, and in endeavouring to
imitate the pronunciation of what they believed to be the language of
the gods.

Anne's spirits rose. There was certainly nothing alarming, so far, in
the aspect and manners of this simple community of women like herself.
She ate and was strengthened, and almost felt herself to be amongst
friends. But she was glad that the High Priestess was not present, for
Keorah, Zuhua Kak, had inspired her with a superstitious terror. She
hoped, however, that it would wear off on closer acquaintance. At any
rate, it was clear that these under-priestesses were amiably disposed
to her. By-and-by, the eldest of the Virgins rose and motioned her to
follow through a corridor cut in the rock. This passage appeared to
end in a sleeping chamber, for the room they came to, held a raised
couch covered with a feather rug; while in a semi-circular recess was
a large basin scooped in the rock floor, let into the ground, and
filled with bubbling water. The Virgin pointed to this and then to the
couch, giving Anne to understand that she might bathe and sleep. Then
she left her alone, and drawing a curtain over the doorway, Anne
undressed and stepped into the bath, which was tepid, most
exhilarating, and evidently a natural spring with some peculiarly
invigorating mineral qualities. Afterwards, she wrapped herself in a
linen garment placed in readiness on the couch, and, creeping under
the feather blanket, was soon enjoying the most luxurious sleep she
had known for many days.



Chapter XXV--"By the Shining Blue Death-Stone"



ANNE was awakened by a sound of monotonous chanting that seemed to
come from a curtained arch at the head of her couch. She rose, and
peering through an opening in the heavily embroidered mats, discovered
that these divided her from a kind of chapel in which the seven
Priestesses of the Flame were engaged in praying. She concluded that
one, slightly in advance of the rest, was the High Priestess, but it
was impossible to distinguish any one in particular, for each was
shrouded in a mantle of black, with a deep hood that overshadowed the
features. All were kneeling with heads bowed, and the object of their
devotion appeared to be a tripod on a slightly raised dais at one end
of the chapel, from the basin of which issued a pale blue
illumination. This ghastly light could not be described as a flame,
for it was perfectly stationary except for a certain intermittency in
its degrees of radiance. It waxed and waned like the throbbings of a
pulse, and at once, Anne was reminded of a like effect which she and
Eric had seen in that triangular patch of phosphorescence on the
mountain's side at the spot they had afterwards identified as the
Place of Death. The tripod, too, was triangular in shape.

But for this strange blue light, the chapel was in complete
darkness; and as far as Anne could see, no other altar, nor any
statue, nor picture accounted for the nuns' reverential attitude. They
beat their breasts, and grovelled in extreme abasement before the
tripod, while their voices were raised in a monotonous chant,
meaningless to Anne as Abracadabra, in which she could only clearly
make out certain phrases that recurred over and over again like the
burden of an incantation:--

"Holi! Huqui! Xibal Xibalba!

Holi! Huqui! Xibal Xibalba!"

It was not till some time afterwards that she learned their
interpretation:--

"We call thee! We beseech thee!

Xibal, Lord of the Dead!"

Anne crept back to her couch, and waited for an hour or more, as she
fancied, while the chant droned on. Then she must have gone to sleep
again, for suddenly, without preparation, she knew that the singing
had ceased, and became conscious of the glare of lights where darkness
had been. Looking towards the curtained doorway by which she had
entered from the corridor, Anne now saw Keorah, the High Priestess,
standing with two of her Virgins, one on each side of her, holding
lighted lamps; while within the chamber, at the head and foot of her
couch, were the four other Virgins of the Flame--foremost among them
she who had received her at the banquet, bearing robes of white linen.
Another held a veil of gossamer material, while the remaining two
carried bottles containing unguents and essences.

Anne, dazed with sleep, stared vacantly around her. The High
Priestess gave a command in her own tongue to the Virgins, and signed
Anne to rise. The girl did so, and stood before Keorah. They made an
interesting picture, these two rivals, if that could be called rivalry
in which one had declared herself willing to yield, and the other
desired not to take.

Unevenly matched they seemed: Anne comparatively diminutive--even
insignificant; the insignificance redeemed only by the unconscious
dignity of her expression; unformed, childlike, shrinking, with the
linen garment provided by the priestesses drawn closely round her thin
shoulders, her short hair ruffled over her brow, her delicately
featured face, worn and pale to the whiteness of milk; her spirit,
appealing yet indomitable, shining from the large dark eyes, that
seemed as the eyes of another breed of woman, in contrast with the
glittering almond-shaped orbs of the Priestess. So she stood, a
pathetic yet forceful figure. Keorah towered above Anne, majestic in
her proportions, magnificent in colouring and array, her red hair
framing the strange, long, fascinating face, with its gleaming blue
eyes and crimson mouth. Upon her forehead, the Eye of Viracocha shone
dully beneath her pink feather head-dress, and her mantle of office
with its curious feather border and designs--an eye and heart, a hand
and a cross, embroidered in shades of red and blue--swept in ample
folds round her splendid form, and was held in place by the jewelled
tortoise at her breast.

Was the High Priestess so willing after all to exchange for human
joys the privileges of her exalted position? There was nothing of the
womanly submissiveness of her address to the people to be read now in
her bearing and expression. It was as the upholder of saccrdotal
authority that she came into the presence of this usurper of her
rights.

She eyed Anne silently from head to foot. It seemed to the girl that
Keorah was appraising her own points of vantage, and measuring weapons
with the scanty armoury of her foe. But there was no possibility of
words between them. Anne did not understand Keorah's language, and
both women were too proud to descend to the common medium of signs.
Thus they stood facing each other for a minute or two, neither
uttering a sound.

Keorah, addressing her Virgins, broke the silence. It was not till
later that Anne understood what she said.

"Time shortens. Dress the maid in fine white robes, as befits a
suppliant of the gods. Veil her so that in the hour of abasement
Xibal, Lord of Death, may not blight her by his baleful ray. Place
upon her the black mantle without which none dare approach the Blue
Stone. Then lead her last in my following, and let her kneel in the
Circle of Virgins beneath the Disc of Death, till the moment when she
must stand in the appointed place before the altar of Viracocha, Lord
of Dawn, and receive the verdict of the most high god."

The Chief of the Virgins now came forward, attended by those
carrying perfumes, with which Anne was first anointed. Then they
combed out and sprayed with essence her short curls; contemptuous, as
she clearly saw, of the meagreness of her adornment in this respect,
compared with their own masses of red-gold hair--in which, however,
all were inferior to the High Priestess herself.

They bound a narrow white fillet upon Anne's forehead, then dressed
her in the loose linen robe carried by the eldest Virgin, leaving it
ungirdled, save by a thin cord of twisted strands of flax. Then they
threw the muslin veil upon her head, letting it fall in front, and
fastening it with bone pins at the shoulders; and over all, they put
the long black mantle, with a large hood which completely covered her
head and form.

After having thus apparelled her, and at a word from Keorah, who led
the way, the Virgins conducted Anne into the chapel and left her
standing at a little distance from the raised tripod, with its strange
basin of phosphorescent light, while, in a sort of robing recess
opening off the chapel, each donned a shrouding black cloak and hood
similar to that worn by Anne, except that while hers was quite plain,
those of the Virgins had a design in the centre of the back, none
alike, but varying, doubtless, according to the rank held by its
wearer. Keorah's mantle was more elaborately embroidered than those of
the others, and she was robed with considerable ceremony by three of
her attendants. Finally, she was given a long staff tipped with the
same phosphorescent substance as that enclosed by the curved edge of
the tripod, which glimmered palely in the half darkness of the chapel.
This staff the priestesses handled reverently and with great care,
presenting it on bended knee, while they chanted the words of the
refrain, "Holi! Huqui! Xibal Xibalba!"

Now the nuns moved in procession, singing as they went, Keorah
heading the band, alone. Her eyes were fixed on the staff, which she
held upright a little way from her; and she led in a clear high-
pitched, but somewhat thin, mezzo-soprano, the invocational hymn.

Anne was at first jarred by the strains, with their long monotonous
cadences and strange harmonies, composed, it seemed to her, on a
different musical scale from that common in Europe. Nevertheless,
curious as was the diapason, she found the music affecting her after a
few minutes almost to fascination.

After Keorah, the other six priestesses walked in pairs, the last two
having Anne between them, and all of them, except the High Priestess,
carrying torches. They went along winding passages hewn in the
mountain, Keorah's staff shining like a dim star in the darkness at
any point where the abutting rock momentarily intercepted the light of
the torches. For it seemed a peculiarity of the phosphorescent stone,
that it was absolutely dull in sunlight, and only emitted its full
radiance in total darkness, though by lamp-light it was not entirely
eclipsed.

Anne's dulled senses and exhausted nerves had been quickened and
recuperated by food and sleep. She felt more herself again; her
spirits had risen, and her brain was alert, taking in everything
around her with curiosity, interest, and a feeling of awakening awe.
Yet though keenly alive, she had still the sensation of living in an
intensely real dream. The nuns walked on, chanting for perhaps ten
minutes, then halted before an archway draped with heavy feather-
embroidered curtains. Here, the torches were extinguished, only the
ghastly blue flame of Keorah's death-stone staff shining in the
blackness. The two foremost virgins drew the curtains apart. Keorah
passed through, the others followed, and Anne now found herself in a
vast shadowy hall, standing in a kind of chancel raised several steps
above the body of the building, from which it was partly divided by a
row of slender pillars. The chancel was illuminated only by a
triangular object set in the wall, somewhat higher than a tall man's
head, and protected by a stone balustrade reaching from the ground to
within a few inches of its lower edge. This triangular object emitted
a pale blue light, swelling and diminishing with wave-like
regularity--the light which Anne already associated with that of the
mysterious Death-Stone of Gunida Ulàla--the same light as that of the
tripod in the Priestess' chapel, and of the staff Keorah bore.

At this end of the temple there was no other illumination; but far
away in the blackness beyond, showing the vast extent of this rock-
hewn hall, a few torches glimmered feebly. All else was shadow. The
gloom seemed even denser within the weird radius of the Death-Stone,
where, to right and left, with an empty space between, was gathered a
concourse of black shrouded figures, all bowed towards the ground, and
wailing the same monotonous chant that Anne had heard in the chapel,
with its ever-recurring burden, "Holi! Huqui! Xibal Xibalba!"

The doorway by which the procession of priestesses had entered was
near the triangle of the Death-Stone. Before it, forming a line round
the protecting balustrade, were the Seven Elders, who called
themselves Hu Aca Tehua--Sacred Guardians of the Aca people. Naquah
stood in the centre of the line; but as Keorah advanced, it parted,
and the Elders re--formed in two rows, one on each side of the
triangle, thus giving place in the centre to her and her maidens.
Keorah immediately prostrated herself, the others following her
example, they kneeling in a semi-circle with Anne in the middle, so
that as she knelt in line with them, she was behind the figure of the
High Priestess, and in front of the Death-Stone.

Anne dimly perceived that there was now some elaborate ritual in
which the Elders assisted, connected with the placing of the staff
Keorah had carried inside the stone balustrade. There, it glowed like
a corpse candle below the witch-like flame aloft. All that Anne could
see of Keorah and the Virgins on either side of the High Priestess,
was the shapeless outlines of their concealing cloaks and hoods; but
of the Elders who who were in profile to her, she could discern, by
the blue light of the Death-Stone, cadaverous features, and in four of
them, long grey beards, the other three, of whom one was Kapoc, being
apparently younger. Of the congregation, Anne could only catch, as her
eyes roved sideways over her shoulders, partial glimpses; and in the
uniform mass of black, it was impossible for her to conjecture the
whereabouts of Hansen. She wondered whether he were present, and what
had become of Kombo, who in face of the Death--Stone, must be a prey
to the direst terror. But even these speculations regarding her only
protectors relaxed their hold upon her attention as the service
proceeded in motet and antiphon, Keorah's voice leading, the Elders
and Virgins returning the phrase, which again was echoed in muffled
tone by the bowed congregation. Anne had not prostrated herself after
the manner of the Virgins upon either side of her, each of whom kept
upon her arm a warning and detaining hand. She kneeled upright, a
small stiff figure, staring about her, at first as best she could,
beneath her overhanging hood, then with her gaze becoming gradually
fixed in the direction of the Death-Stone in front of her. She tried
not to look at it, but a feeling as though she were being mesmerized
was gradually overpowering her. For, in the position in which she was
placed, the blue light seemed to converge upon her, sweeping over the
heads of the Virgins and Elders, and enveloping her head and shoulders
as the ray passed and spread, growing wider till it was merged in the
further darkness of the temple. And now, as the chant went on, an
increasing sense of awe stole over Anne; she became more and more
controlled by the pageant and its atmospheric conditions, and by
something stronger and more compelling--the spirit, perchance, of this
barbaric worship at which she was assisting. She felt herself at the
feet of Xibal, Ruler of the Shades, and her heart went out in the
supplicatory expressions of his ritual. All seemed grimly appropriate,
terrifically real--the darkness of the temple, the black shrouds of
the devotees, the absence of any altar or propitiatory offering
beneath the bare triangular symbol--for what offering short of life
itself can be acceptable to the Lord of Death? Everything impressed
the novice painfully, and carried her beyond herself. Nothing but a
curious upbounding of her heart within her as the thought of her
companions crossed her mind, seemed left of the original blithesome
Anne. Yet she was not afraid, nor did she even feel herself a lonely
stranger in the midst of an adverse crowd, alien to herself though it
was, in nature and in faith, but rather the momentary centre of primal
elements, for which she had always in her bush wanderings been vaguely
conscious. There were powers, she knew, which had in the beginning
created order out of chaos, and who presided still over the
appointments they had made, and the Faiths which served them. To their
mighty aid, Anne trusted, lifting, amid her strange surroundings, her
wordless petition for courage and support, with the appealing voices
of the Aca. Involuntarily, then, she covered her head and bent her
body in reverence, while the Hymn to Xibal rose and fell in ear-
piercing cadences. At the time the strange, and, as they seemed to
her, uncouth phrases, conveyed no meaning to her mind, but later on,
she learned the interpretation of them.

HYMN TO XIBAL.

(Lord of Death.)

God of Shadows! Breath of Night!
Wielder of the dreadful might.
Quencher of our life and light.
Hear us, oh! Xibalba.

We are kneeling at thy throne.
By the shining blue Death-Stone;
List! the Aca make their moan
Unto thee, Xibalba.

Thou who hast so strong a hand.
That the face of all the land
Darkened is at thy command.
Spare us, Lord Xibalba.

Thou who leapest in the waves.
Thou who lurkest in the caves.
Thou who diggest deep our graves.
Slay us not, Xibalba.

Thou who makest ghosts of men;
Who may call, we know not when.
Man or maid from mortal ken,--
Hush thee, Lord Xibalba.

Thou who drawest in the breath.
Who art Lord of every death.
List to what the Aca saith;--
Rest thee now, Xibalba.

Sing we softly unto thee
Prayer and praise on bended knee.
That thy people may go free;
Waken not, Xibalba!

Sleep, Xibalba, sleep in peace!
Here, thy worship shall not cease
If thou lettest us increase;
We are thine, Xibalba.

When thou wakest, men must weep.
Therefore lull thee into sleep.
While thy slaves their vigil keep
Tremblingly, Xibalba.

We at length shall long for rest.
And creep, thankful, to thy breast.
Knowing that what is, is best;
Life or Death, Xibalba.

Which the greater mystery
Matters not; for we shall see
All that was, or that will be.
When we wake, Xibalba.

Though the night be dark and drear.
Yet the morning shall appear
Which shall make all meanings clear.
Even thine, Xibalba.

When our journeyings are past.
In one vision strange and vast
We shall understand at last
Death and Life, Xibalba.

Therefore sleep, oh! sleep in peace.
For thy worship shall not cease
Till we win from thee release

Eternally, Xibalba. Now in the half mesmeric condition in which
the blue light of the Death--Stone and the weird music had plunged
her, Anne became aware that the final invocation, repeated three times
in strains growing gradually fainter, was dying in a last long echo
through the vast hall, and with its expiring sigh, absolute silence
reigned in the temple. The Virgins and the Elders were mute, with
bowed forms, before the Death-Stone; the worshippers remained
soundless and prostrate. Not a movement, not a breath fluttered the
black, shrouded mass. The silence was deep and profound as the silence
of the grave--the grave, no longer empty of life and given over to
corruption, but filled with the spirit that is in itself all-being.
Thus did the silence which spread through the place seem to Anne. How
long it lasted she did not know. The awesome stillness, and the sense
of an overpowering Presence that pervaded it, were to her the only
realities of time and place. She was aroused at last by a faint stir,
and a sound as of a long in-drawn sigh, telling her that the tension
was relaxed. The priestesses kneeling on either side of her, pressed
their hands again upon her arms, and, as they rose swiftly and
noiselessly to their feet, she rose also. They turned, and Anne turned
with them, facing the opposite end of the temple, where, in the far
distance, she perceived a faint glimmering light coming, as she at
first fancied, through a round window.

The nuns leading her, she descended the steps into the nave of the
temple, which she now traversed along a broad clear space, between the
rows of kneeling black-robed worshippers. Immediately after she and
her conductors had passed, the people in each row rose and reversed
their positions. Now in the rear, she heard music sounding again, not
this time that of human voices, but the muffled clash of cymbals, and
the rhythmic beat of some peculiar kind of drum, which gave back a
curious hollow rumbling, and blended with the subdued tramp of feet
upon the stone pavement. Anne dared not look behind her; she was too
spell-bound to show curiosity, but she guessed that the Priestesses
and Elders and others of the congregation were following her towards
the glimmering round, which grew larger as she approached it, while
the faint light it shed expanded and became clearer. A beautiful
silvery radiance seemed struggling out of moving shadows like that of
a full moon lightly veiled by clouds. She now saw that this end of the
temple was also a sort of chancel, approached by steps, and partly
screened by a row of pillars set at a considerable distance apart. The
round window, as she had at first fancied it to be, was placed high--
but not so high as the Death-Stone triangle opposite--in what appeared
the terminal wall of the temple. But now she saw that it was not a
window. It looked more like a disc of burnished metal, from the
surface of which there leaped up pale little flames and white points
of light, among which were brilliant, coloured specks, that shifted
and changed like the multi-tinted fires in an opal. It was, in fact,
an immense shield encrusted with opals of peculiar brilliancy.



Chapter XXVI--The Red Ray



PRESENTLY, they mounted the three deep steps leading to this second
chancel, which she dimly perceived to be cut longitudinally by two
rows of massive pillars showing cavernous recesses on either side. But
the light was so faint, and the veil hanging over her eyes so impeded
her vision, that Anne could form no definite conception of the place.

Suddenly, she was brought to a standstill upon a circular piece of
pavement that showed light upon the dark stone flooring a few feet
distant from, and slightly sideways to, the luminous disc. With swift,
silent movements the two priestesses divested her of her shrouding
mantle and hood, and threw back the veil which had covered her face,
and which now hung from her shoulders over the simple robe of white
linen in which they had dressed her for the ceremony. She saw that the
priestesses had likewise taken off their outer black garments, and
wore only the white dress of their order, and the gold tortoise
studded with opals which clasped it on the breast.

Now that her veil was lifted, Anne could see more clearly in the
milky light, which was like the early radiance of a summer dawn.
Lifting her eyes, she was able to trace the moulding and projections
in the high vaulted roof of the temple, which, though cut in the solid
mountain, was elaborately carved in curious figures and hieroglyphs. A
pale shaft of light gleamed down through a deep circular aperture in
the ceiling directly over her, and she saw that the little tunnel
slanted at such an angle, that the column of light issuing from it,
struck directly the centre of the disc and accounted for the
glimmering radiance which the burnished plate gave out, and which
intensified as the dawn lightened. But there was not yet a beam of
sunshine to kindle the milky luminosity of the disc. And now Anne saw
that these were indeed opal fires, and that the great circular shield
was literally a mass of these precious stones closely encrusting it,
with one enormous opal of special purity in the exact centre. It
seemed to Anne that on this stone the light was focussed.

Full of wonder and admiration, the girl lowered her dazed eyes to
the body of the temple. Where, a little while ago, all had been
blackness, there now showed a mass of white and colour. The dark
coverings were shed, and the whole congregation stood clad in festal
array facing the opal disc, and with backs turned to the Death-Stone,
the blue light of which grew duller and duller as the dawn-light
increased.

The clash and beat of cymbals and drums played in the rear by a band
of acolytes, marked the advance up the broad open space of a
procession of the Virgins and Elders, who were following Anne from the
Triangle of Death to the Disc of Life. Keorah, at its head, walked
alone with stately tread, her arms outstretched, bearing no longer the
Staff of Death, but the golden Globe of Life, emblem of the Sun. Her
russet hair fell over her shoulders upon her gorgeous mantle of
office, and the Eye of Viracocha shone upon her forehead.

Very slowly, very solemnly, the procession came, moving to the
rhythm of the cymbals and the drum's hollow beat, till, at a distance
of three or four yards from the spot where Anne was stationed, Keorah
halted. Then drums and cymbals ceased. The Virgins and the Elders
stood motionless. The people fell on their knees again in silence.
Three times the High Priestess raised and lowered the holy emblem she
bore, in salutation to the Lord of Life. Then her shrill, sweet voice
rang out in the opening phrases of a chant of which as before, the
Virgins took up alternate stanzas. This hymn was less monotonous and
dismal in character than the one they had sung before the Emblem of
Death; but Anne, as she listened, not understanding the words,
realized that it was of deep and solemn significance. It was, in fact,
the prophecy of which the Priestess and the Elders had already spoken.
Roughly translated into rhyme by Hansen later, it ran thus:--

THE PROPHECY.

When the night of our darkness is over at last.
When the light of the morning shall rise and appear.
When the time of our travail is finished and past.
Then the Daughter of Dawn, our Deliv'rer, draws near.
Viracocha shall send her, and guide her fair feet
Dry shod o'er the plain where the great seas have been;
And the People of Aca her coming shall greet.
Who shall serve as their Priestess, and rule as their Queen.
Fair Strength is her Sceptre, and Beauty her Crown:
By their mystical might, by the Sign that is true.
She shall lead forth the Aca in ancient renown.
From flame and from flood to a land that is new.
Then seek ye her smile; of her frown be afraid.
Lest alone ye are left in bereavement to mourn.
Hail! Hail to the Priestess, the Wonderful Maid.


To the Chosen of Aak, and the Daughter of Dawn.  Anne listened
intently, studying the expression of the chief singer in the hope that
she might gain some clue to the meaning of the song. Keorah's long,
oddly attractive face, with its peaked chin and strange eyes,
enchained her attention for a time; then her gaze wandered to the
shaft of light as it descended in a diagonal course from the opening
overhead. Its beams did not touch the Priestess; but as they travelled
towards the opal disc, Anne felt that her own head fell within their
radius, and had the sensation of being bathed in light. It was as
though a grey veil had fallen from Heaven upon her, a veil lit up
momentarily by a myriad dancing sparks. As the brightness intensified,
she became aware that the silvery column had faint flecks of gold, and
knew that the sun must have risen, and was travelling in the heavens
to a point where it would strike the opening, and pierce to the heart
of the great Disc. She watched the column of light as it spread and
deepened, with a child-like interest, wondering what it portended, and
why it happened that she had been so placed as to directly intercept
the blue ray of the Death-Stone and the glorious beam of the Giver of
Life.

And now, caught by the phrasing of the chant, she looked again
towards the singers, and the scene in the temple becoming gradually
more broadly illuminated, she was conscious with a shock of surprise
that all eyes were fixed upon her in an interest and anticipation, the
sincerity of which was unmistakable. For the first time she realised
that she herself was the centre of action and drama, and that upon
her, and upon the great irradiated disc with which she was connected
by that broad band of silvery light, all the thoughts and desires of
the multitude were concentrated. Her mind scarcely took in what it all
meant. Hansen had told her of the prophecy, and she had had a vague
understanding of important issues at stake, of some ceremony and
ordeal upon which her future would depend. But she had not expected
that in this barbaric rite, as she had supposed it, there would come
to her any deep religious awe, any sense of the working of unseen
spiritual agencies. Yet this was what now came over her. The
impression of something solemn and super-natural which had for the
time overwhelmed her while she knelt before the Death-Stone, and which
had passed away during her progress towards the Disc of Life, now
returned with double force, and she stood as one in a dream, to whom
has been vouch-safed a revelation from on high. Again, she was
recalled to the scene in the temple by the dying down of the music, as
it had been so far rendered in alternate stanzas by the Zuhua Kak and
the Virgins of the Flame. The hymn closed with an invocation to the
Deity, delivered first in another key by Keorah, and then chorussed by
the whole assemblage. It was the Hallelujah to Viracocha, with which
later, Anne became fully familiar.

"Uol Viracocha!"  (Hail Viracocha!) "Oyoya Ku"   (Thou art the Lord)
"Zazil Huaca"  (Thou Breath of Dawn) "Lahuna Ku"  (Thou Lord of the
Universe)

"Uol Viracocha!"  And with a mighty shout, the congregation
thundered once more.

"Uol Viracocha!"

Following upon the one-throated acclamation came silence--silence
profound and all-embracing as that which had come after the Death-
Stone chant--silence quick with possibility, a-thrill with long-
deferred hope, on the very verge of fulfilment.

Anne's eyes went to the great disc, which now seemed to have become a
circle of changing fire. The opal in its middle gleamed with a superb
white light, and trembling in its heart was a small deep spark of red.
Now she saw that a ray of pure sunlight had been caught and been
imprisoned in the opening overhead. Just then the beam flashed down,
almost blinding her with its glory. It moved direct to the centre of
the disc, and there it kindled into flame the red spark which leaped
up to meet it, till that which had been as a drop of rose-red blood
became like the heart of a rose. Swiftly, tremulously, as the glow of
sunrise spreads in the sky, the effulgence deepened and expanded till
the dusky head and the pale shining face of Anne was lit up by the
heavenly fire. Hushed were the eager people as they gazed, hushed were
the Virgins and Elders, while Anne stood motionless amid the roseate
light which lingered caressingly about her till the whole of the
slender girlish form was bathed in unearthly brilliance. For several
seconds did this illumination last, and then the magical rose-red
radiance vanished, leaving only the silver light of morning, through
which filtered the golden rays of the early sun.

A low murmur broke among the throng, gaining in volume till it seemed
to shake the rock out of which the temple was cut. It was no
invocation, chant, or acclamation of the gods, but the voicing of a
people's emotion.

"Viracocha has spoken. It is the Sign! The prophecy is fulfilled.
Behold our Priestess--the heaven-sent one. Daughter of the Dawn!
Sister of the Stars. Beloved of the Highest. Server of Aak. Ix Nacan
Katuna (May she be exalted). Chaac Zuhua Nakul! (White maiden for ever
worshipped!") they cried, one and another, in many different keys, all
stirred completely out of the characteristic apathy of the race. They
waved their right arms towards the small erect form of the girl, whose
pale face grew paler, and her dark eyes wider, as she realised the
meaning of the gesture, and the act of homage which was implied, when
simultaneously, each extended right arm was drawn back across the
breast to the left shoulder, and everybody was bent in obeisance to
her. She felt frightened, and yet an odd thrill of triumph went
through her. She was glad that she had so successfully passed the
ordeal; glad that she was chosen by the gods and by the people.

The hunter Hotan stepped forward and spoke the High Priestess' name,
indicating that she also should do reverence to her newly-elected
successor. Keorah's eyes blazed for a moment. She laughed harshly,
drawing up her tall form, and rearing her stately head; then ignoring
Anne, she turned and made a formal act of submission to Naquah, who
stood at the group of Elders. The people applauded. There was a shout
of "Hu Aca Tehua." Then Naquah, as spokesman of the Sacred Guardians,
addressed Keorah.

"Thou hast seen the Sign, my daughter. Thou hast beheld the Red Ray
descend upon the head of this stranger maiden. Thou knowest that the
ancient prophecy is now made manifest, and that She for whom we have
long waited has come among us. This is by the Will of Him the
Unnameable, Who kindled the Eternal Fire, Who set the Wheel of Life
revolving, Whose Doer is Viracocha, and His Intercesssor Aak.

"Not in wrath hast thou been set down, my daughter, from thy high
place, but perchance in honour, that through thee and thy seed may the
nation be blest. Since if thou who art surely Beauty dost mate thee
with Fair Strength, from the twain of ye may spring a new race who
perchance will give back to the people their ancient renown. I call
upon thee, therefore, Keorah, who wast Zuhua Kak, to yield up the
Sacred Emblems of thine office to her who has been chosen by the gods
to serve in thy stead."

Again the High Priestess made formal submission.

"I hear thee, Naquah, and most willingly do I obey."

So saying, she passed out of the half-circle of Virgins and Elders
into the vacant space which intervened between it and Anne, but halted
half way and turned, facing the crowd with superb disdain.

"Hear me, ye people of the Aca! Did ye think that Our Lord of Dawn,
and Aak the Intercessor, have withheld counsel from their servant? Of
a surety it was revealed to me before the Flame descended, making
known His Will, Who is Ku of the unutterable Name, and Whose vesture
is the Sun. Of a surety, I say, was it shown to me that the priestess
fore-ordained had come amongst ye. Was it for me to declare before the
appointed time that which had been given unto me? Nevertheless, did
these eyes behold and this tongue bear witness when I said to ye that
gladly would I deliver the sacred symbols to her upon whom the sign
should rest. For this did I cause the maiden to be placed within the
Circle of Life, where, by the decree anciently graved, no woman born
of the Aca may set her feet, save the High Priestess only--knowing as
I knew full well, that this day should the Red Ray descend, and the
Glory of our Lord the Sun be made manifest upon his chosen one.
Therefore"--and she turned with outstretched arms towards the Disc of
Life, and as she uttered the words of homage, raised and lowered the
golden orb she carried as she had done before, in the act of
salutation,--"Therefore, I, Keorah, Woman of the Aak, do give thanks
to thee, oh! Moulder of Forms, Builder of the Universe, who doest the
will of the Supreme, and art for ever to be obeyed by these thy
children and thy servants. Worshipping, we beseech thee, Lord
Viracocha."

Now she walked with stately gliding tread across the bare space, and
standing before Anne, who was watching her with wondering eyes, she
gave into the girl's trembling hands the golden globe, symbol of her
own sacerdotal sovereignty. Then, loosening her gorgeous mantle of
office, she laid it deftly on Anne's shoulders, whence it fell
spreading on the ground, and quite enveloping the slender form.
Afterwards, and always with the same quick, rhythmic movements, Keorah
took the opal star from her forehead, and fastened it in the linen
fillet that bound back Anne's short curls. There, reflecting a fuller
ray of sunshine that suddenly struck and flashed back from the central
opal of the disc, the Eye of Viracocha, as it was called, gave forth a
brilliant beam of ruby fire from Anne's pale brow. Whereat the High
Priestess bowed her head, and the Virgins, the Elders, and the
congregation prostrated themselves anew, acclaiming yet louder the
priestess marked out by the gods.

When the clamour had died down, Keorah, her eyes fixed upon the Disc,
continued her prayer:--

"Oh! Viracocha Zazil, Lord of the Lower Light, thou who wast created
in the beginning, and shalt exist unto the end; powerful and pitiful;
who preservest our life and strength! Thou who art in the sky and in
the earth, in the clouds and in the depths, hear the voice of thy
servant, and grant this petition--the last which I shall make in the
name of those gathered here.

"We beseech thee, oh Viracocha, on behalf of the maiden whom thou
hast sent as thy messenger, to declare thy will to these thy people.
Quicken, we pray thee, with thy spirit, the soul of her who is now thy
priestess, to whom I have delivered this, the Emblem of thy
greatness." She touched the golden ball as she spoke. "Clothe her in
the garment of thy wisdom, even as I, thy server, have covered her
with the vestment of my holy office. Lighten her eyes by the flame of
thy glory, and kindle in her heart thy heavenly fire, even as thou
hast kindled it in this jewel which thou didst fashion in the deeps of
the earth, to be while the universe endures as an emblem of That which
is unspeakable. Hear us, Viracocha!"

And the Hosanna echoed once more through the temple:--

"Uol Viracocha! Oyoya Ku; Zazil Huraca, Lahuna Ku: Uol Viracocha!"



Chapter XXVII--The Judgment of Aak



DEEPLY impressed by the solemnity of the scene, grasping imperfectly
the meaning of Keorah's gestures, and her own investiture with the
priestess' dignities, though of her words she understood scarcely
anything, Anne stood dazed, wishful to comport herself befittingly,
but wholly uncertain of what might now be expected of her.

From the people she heard a cry of "Aak!"--a vague tumultuous murmur,
the exact drift of which was of course unintelligible to her. It was
rendered by Naquah the Elder in a short address to Keorah, who bowed
her head, and made a sign to Anne, which the girl interpreted as a
command to her to move into the presence of the god. Horrible thoughts
of something she had read concerning the Aztec rites occurred to her.
She wondered if it could be possible that she was to be led out for
sacrifice to the god Aak. A frightened cry escaped her, but was
stifled. At least, whatever destiny might be in store for her, she
would confront it bravely.

She looked round and down the temple, like a trapped and helpless
child, who yet will not show that it is afraid. Oh! she thought
anxiously, if only Eric were near to give her courage and to tell her
what it all meant. There was a rift in the half circle of Virgins and
Elders. The nuns were advancing up the chancel, the Elders following
them. And now she saw that in the crowd below some stir was taking
place--a break in the ranks, and a man pressing forward, while those
behind tried to hold him back. This was a man dressed richly in the
Aca costume, with a short feather-trimmed cloak and a head-dress of
feathers. Anne did not realise till their eyes met, that the man was
Hansen, whom Hotan had apparelled, according to the orders of Keorah,
in the best his wardrobe furnished.

Anne's alarm changed to gladness. She stretched out her hands with
the golden ball between them, signing him to approach. The men who
were holding him back desisted from their efforts, but still kept
their hold upon him, evidently considering that he had no right to
advance beyond the line of pillars, into the space reserved for the
priestly officials. Yet, according to the law of the order, when the
High Priestess commanded she must be obeyed, and Anne was now
practically speaking, High Priestess. For the ratification of her
appointment, there remained only that she should be presented to and
approved by Aak. For this the multitude waited, but there was little
doubt in their minds as to the issue. The difficulty was settled by
Keorah, who, becoming aware of the commotion, and also seeing Hansen,
beckoned to him and bade him approach alone. As he did so, she
motioned to him to stand at the rear of the Virgins, slightly before
the Elders who had formed themselves into two lines between which he
passed.

"Our Priestess needs instruction in the Aca tongue," said Keorah.
"Till she has learned sufficient for the duties our Law requires of
her, thy services as interpreter will be welcome. Wait and follow us
in the order in which thou standest."

So saying, she stepped to Anne's left side, and, laying her hand on
the girl's arm, pointed to a wide archway, elaborately sculptured,
between the pillars, on the left of the Disc. Within, was a recess
that seemed to be less dark and to stretch much further back than the
corresponding ones nearer to her on the right. Anne saw, too, that the
opening had a stone fretwork screen, and she wondered if this could be
the sanctuary of Aak.

The small procession re-formed, while the populace in the body of the
temple remained, pressing as closely as possible to the chancel steps
with heads craned forward, so as to get as advantageous a view as
possible of the presentation to Aak. The two Virgins who had conducted
Anne walked in front, carrying lighted tapers which had been brought
to them by one of the acolytes in waiting at the side of the Chancel.
Next came Keorah leading Anne, and followed by the other four Virgins;
next, Hansen, prepared to act as interpreter, and watching Anne with
deep interest and anxiety as she walked very erect, an imposing little
figure, with the golden globe in her hands and her mantle sweeping the
pavement. Last, came the seven Elders.

Thus, they crossed the Chancel, all bending low before the Disc of
Life as they passed, till Keorah stopped about a couple of yards from
the screen of fretwork. Anne now saw that it had wide apertures, and
that the tracery was entirely covered with raised hieroglyphic
figures; also that the frame of the arch was extremely massive, and
was elaborately sculptured in bold relief.

Keorah motioned to Anne that she must kneel, and she herself and all
her following, devoutly bent the knee, except the two foremost
priestesses, who advanced with their tapers close to the screen, and
proceeded to light a series of earthenware lamps placed in niches at
different heights behind the arch. At first, Anne's attention was
entirely occupied with the carvings--some grotesque in design, some of
great beauty, which showed strikingly against the softly diffused
light of the oil-lamps. Then she became aware of a monstrous shape
behind the screen--something huge, dark, indefinable of outline, which
made her forget everything else, so that she would have risen from her
knees had not Keorah's firm hand held her down, and she could only
stare wonder-stricken through the wide apertures of the fretwork into
the further dimness of the cavern. The enormous shape seemed to shake
slightly, as, one by one, the lamps flickered and flamed, but it did
not rise. Very slowly it stirred, and when the light became clearer,
Anne descried an immense and ponderous oval, and fancied that she saw
something like a head bend from side to side at one end of the great
mass, which she now made out to be a gigantic, land turtle.

Hansen, peering between the kneeling Virgins--who, joined by the
taper-bearers, had ranged themselves behind Keorah and Anne in two
segments of a half circle with a space between--could hardly repress
an exclamation of astonishment and delight. Here he beheld a living
specimen of one of the antediluvian turtles, the fossil remains of
which are to be found with those of the Icthyosarus and the
Plesiosaurus in the great cretacean graveyard of Central Australia,
that mighty ocean of the Mesozoic age. He longed for the Thing to come
closer, but the monster remained motionless. Now Keorah pressed Anne's
wrist, and said something in her ear, which the girl did not
understand, nor the imperative gesture which accompanied the words.
Keorah impatiently looked over her shoulder, and signed Hansen to
approach.

As he came up between the kneeling maidens, Keorah spoke to him in
low rapid tones, desiring that he would convey her directions to Anne.
Kneeling on one knee behind the two, he whispered to his comrade
rather more lengthily than Keorah's communication demanded.

"She says that you must sing to the great god Aak. Don't be
frightened; he's quite harmless. Mercy on us--what a monster! From the
look of his shell I should think he was born before the Flood. Little
friend, you've done magnificently, and you're safe now. This is the
end of the ordeal. Aak will accept you. Turtles are extremely
sensitive to music." Anne's eyes spoke her gratitude and her joy at
the sound of Hansen's voice again. But voice of her own she had none:
it died in her throat. Keorah spoke again in authoritative tones.
Hansen translated.

"She says that you are to hail the great god Aak as your Lord and
Master, and to beseech him to signify his approval of you as his new
priestess. You can't do better than copy her manner when she gave that
prayer to Viracocha. It was very fine. I never expected that we should
come across anything like this when I told you that we should find
wonders at the other end of the tunnel."

Somehow, Hansen's exhortation, and his praise of Keorah's declamatory
powers did not inspirit Anne as he had intended. She felt out of tune
with the situation, and at her wits' end to know what she should sing
that would be pleasing to Aak, the Tortoise-god.

"The Ave Baiamè," Hansen suggested. "Only--stay, let me think of a
Mayan word that will scan, and give the right meaning. Ah! I have one!
Itzàla. It means supporter of the earth. Ave Itzàla."

"Itzàla!" Keorah repeated the word suspiciously. He had to explain.

Evidently, Itzàla had no place in the Pantheon of the Red Men. She
nodded acquiescently. Seeing her comrade's anxiety, and conscious of
Keorah's cold bright eyes reading her face and darting glances first
at her and then at Hansen, Anne found voice. Her notes were tremulous
at starting, the "Itzàla" quavered, but as she went on, her voice
gained volume and dramatic force. Notwithstanding, it was a spiritless
performance, and neither Keorah, nor apparently Aak, as satisfied. The
monstrous shape was scarcely agitated. Undoubtedly, the god gave no
significant sign of approbation.

Keorah bent backward, and remonstrated in low sharp accents with the
interpreter. He nodded, and again whispered to Anne.

"She says that is not enough. Aak is accustomed to loud singing and
to violent gesticulation. You should raise your arms and act the
suppliant. Screech. Do anything to pierce the Pachyderm senses. I know
the creatures. They are vulnerable especially to sound, and they are
curiously capable of attachment to humans. Little friend, throw
yourself into the business. So much depends--for all of us--for
science--on your success."

His words fired the girl to enthusiasm. Her dramatic instinct came to
her help. She lifted her arms and swayed her lithe body in harmonious
gesticulations. Her voice leaped to a higher key, to more ear-rending
intonations. "Ave Itzàla," in the latest of its time-worn invocatory
changes, would have melted the traditional rock. Anne's eyes grew
larger and brighter as they strained into the cavernous depths of
Aak's sanctuary.

She succeeded in making an impression. The great curved back of
Leviathan shook like a world in convulsion. Slowy, slowly, the Thing
upheaved itself. The ponderous mass rose higher, and gradually higher.
Elephantine projections revealed themselves beneath, showing clubbed
feet on short limbs uncouthly bent, which balanced the bulk with
difficulty. Anne sang on as one inspired. She straightened her throat,
letting her voice out to its full compass. She threw herself
thoroughly into the part, forgetting that it was but a tortoise which
she was straining every nerve to captivate.

Now the reptile's head, which had been partially indrawn, was
protruded, thrust well out from under the mountain of shell, the
slender horns, like those of an enormous snail, protruding; the face
grotesque, yet strangely human, like that of a shrivelled old man in
his dotage, with its sunken nostrils, its deep-set beady eyes, and
heavy wrinkled lids. The thick creases of the throat smoothed as the
telescopic neck lengthened itself. With restless movements the head
darted blunderingly from side to side as the huge mass swayed, while
the great feet slithered through the sand with which the floor of the
cavern was thickly strewed.

So with its head facing the screen, its brilliant eyes flashing, as
it seemed to the girl, answering glances to her own gaze, its small
nostrils emitting a thin vapour, the Tortoise-god approached his new
priestess. Placing one great foot heavily and carefully before the
other, it came till it was within a few inches of the fret-work. Here
it sank again, an inert mass, upon the sand, only its head moving, a
smile of senile satisfaction upon its face. The eyes blinked
ecstatically; the neck was thrust still further forward in Anne's
direction.

With her heart beating high against the linen garment she wore, Anne
sang on. In her soul was a strange blend of loathing, yet of
fascination for the creature before her, and of pity for the ignorance
of its worshippers. Was it possible that Keorah could believe this
thing to be a god? She glanced sideways at the beautiful face with the
inscrutable eyes that told her nothing. The High Priestess' gaze was
fixed upon her, and Keorah's lips made a faint sound of approval. It
seemed wonderful to Anne that Keorah should be glad to resign her
place and power among the Aca people, though not so wonderful,
perhaps, that she should be willing for another to supplant her in the
favour of the beast. It must become monotonous, thought Anne, this
singing to Aak--this travesty of worship. For a moment, Anne's soul
quaked within her. Was she doomed to be hence--forth cooped up with
the Tortoise, while Keorah enjoyed life, light, and freedom? If so, no
wonder that Keorah was glad to escape. But she remembered Keorah's
appearance on the balcony, how her word had been law, and how the
people and the Elders had treated her almost as a queen. Then she--
Anne--who was now Priestess, was to rule in Keorah's stead, and a
burning desire came over her to master the situation, to show herself
no mere puppet of circumstance, but a keenwitted ruler able to
dominate events, and to turn her sovereignty to her own and Eric
Hansen's advantage.

While these thoughts passed through her mind, her voice swelled
louder in the concluding bars of her song; and the Tortoise, charmed
by the melody, stretched his neck still further, and placed his nose
upon the ledge of a piece of carving on the screen so near to Anne
that his breath, rising in a little cloud from the dilated nostrils,
stirred the feather trimmings of her cloak. The glittering eyes gazed
into her face; then slowly, the creased lids closed over them, and the
Tortoise remained motionless in a rapture of enjoyment. Horrible as
was the shrivelled face on its snaky neck coming out of the great
body, there was something even pathetic in the monster's abject
subjugation by the voice of this small, proud, frightened girl.

As the last strains of the Ave died away, the breathless suspense of
the crowd which waited below in the temple, found vent in a long low
murmur, gathering in sound like the break of a wave on the shore. It
was now for Keorah to inform the people that Aak had unmistakably
signified his approval of the new priestess. She had drawn slightly to
the rear, and was kneeling beside Hansen, watching him from between
her narrowed eyelids. He seemed unaware of the scrutiny, so intently
was his attention fixed upon the Tortoise and upon the result of the
ordeal. Yet he felt in a subconscious way the magnetic influence she
exercised over him and chafed against it, sensing emotional
disturbance in her which must work for ill. In truth, Keorah's heart
had been beating as wildly as that of Anne, though for a different
reason. The nerve tension in her had been extreme. For her, too, the
issue was momentous, although not in the manner that might have been
supposed. She had been rejected, set aside in favour of a stranger,
but she was by no means crestfallen. Rather did she seem the victor
than vanquished.

She rose to her feet, and the other worshippers did so likewise. All
made an obeisance to the Tortoise, which, at the conclusion of the
song, had drawn in its head and was again lying, an inert mass, upon
the floor of the cavern.

Naquah, at a few rapid words spoken by Keorah, motioned to Anne to
come forward in the procession which now began to move. Keorah swept
in advance of it to the edge of the chancel steps, and stood for a
moment or two without speaking--a most striking figure in her plain
linen robes with no mantle but her splendid hair; no jewels but those
on the zone which clasped her waist. Nevertheless, she seemed more
beautiful in her simple attire than in all her former panoply. And,
unaccountable though it appeared, Keorah's face wore an irrepressible
look of elation, and there was a ring of triumph in her voice, as she
cried out three times:--"Manel! Manel! It is done. At the Will of
Viracocha, the Flame burned. Aak beheld the Sign, and bowed before it.
The gods have chosen their Priestess. Behold the Zuhua Kak!"



Chapter XXVIII--Ix Naacan Katuna



THE new Priestess of Aak had, for the present at least, done all that
was required of her in regard of the Tortoise-god, and for the
remainder of the day was released from duty. She had been initiated in
her office by Keorah, who afterwards, formally renounced her
sacerdotal functions. Then the late High Priestess quitted the temple
by the public entrance and went to her own house inherited from her
father, there to retire into private life so far as might be possible
in the case of one who was secularly, the richest and most important
lady in the Aca community. For it had till now been the custom that
she who was chosen among the Virgins of the Flame to be High
Priestess, should be an orphan belonging to the wealthy and ruling
class. Keorah, therefore, was a woman of distinction and property, and
her apartments in the nunnery, where Anne was now to be installed, had
been occupied merely officially, her actual residence being one of the
largest of the cave dwellings which looked out upon the market-place,
and was connected by a private corridor with that in which other six
Virgins lived.

Thus Anne, some little time after her presentation as the Zuhua Kak,
was returning from the temple, escorted by the maidens bearing their
lighted torches, along the passage she had traversed a few hours
before, behind Keorah and the Staff of Death. Neither this mysterious
symbol nor the golden Globe of Life was carried in the returning
procession. Each was laid in its appointed place beneath the
triangular Death-Stone and the opal Disc. Anne was now parted from
Hansen. He had tried to remain near her on plea of acting as
interpreter, but Keorah, in a last exercise of authority, had
dismissed him under charge of Hotan, when the crowd dispersed on
conclusion of the religious ceremony, to prepare for the games and
banquet which were always part of this annual festival of the Aca.

Anne felt very much the loneliness of her position, but she was still
eager and interested. She greatly regretted that she had not Hansen's
knowledge of Mayan, so as to be able to talk with the nuns and
understand what was going on around her. Her only friend seemed the
young priestess who, on the previous evening, had taught her a few
Mayan words, and laughed over their English equivalents. There was a
natural sympathy between herself and this girl, who was bright and
attractive. Her name, Anne learned, was Semaara--signifying arrow--and
she was very pretty, with merry grey eyes and a dimple at the corner
of her rosy lips. She reminded Anne a little of her own sister Etta.

The procession halted before a wide stone archway hung with feather--
embroidered curtains. Two of the maidens drew these apart, and all six
ranging themselves, made obeisance, and indicated that the Zuhua Kak
should pass between them into the abode which was now her own. Anne
found herself in a large, low room, hollowed out of the rock, and with
a great opening in front which gave upon a balcony--the same balcony
whence Keorah had spoken to the people on the previous afternoon. She
at once grasped the fact that these were the High Priestess' quarters,
and was not ill-pleased with their aspect. From the larger room,
opened an inner one, evidently a sleeping chamber, the curtains of
which were also drawn aside by the Virgins. This appeared to be
sumptuously furnished in barbaric fashion; so, too, the room in which
she stood. The stone floor was strewn with rugs of skin and feathers,
the walls were partly painted in bold designs, partly hung with
feather tapestry. There were divans with fine skins and handsome
cushions; sideboards jutting from the rock walls, and sculptured and
adorned with lamps and utensils in a metal Anne imagined to be gold;
some stools there were, too, and small tables, on one of which to
Anne's delight, stood a large earthenware bowl filled with tastefully
arranged flowers. Dishes of fruit and cakes were laid upon a side
table; and when she saw them, Anne realised that she was hungry, and
might have echoed Kombo's formula "Niai Kandu," invariably uttered at
the end of a march. Semaara saw her glance and laughed, saying
something to one of the other nuns, who clapped her hands loudly.
Whereat, a tall maiden clad in a scanty gown of rough linen, appeared,
and after receiving her orders, went out again, returning presently
with a dish of pasties which were made of some kind of meat--kid, Anne
thought--wrapped in maize dough, fried and flavoured with chilies--
exceedingly appetizing, as the new High Priestess found when she
tasted them. Meanwhile, with much ceremony, Semaara had divested Anne
of the Zuhua Kak's gorgeous mantle, had brought water in a pottery
basin, and a fringed towel, and washed the Priestess' feet, shoeing
them with delicate sandals. The novelty of being so waited on
delighted poor Anne after her long wanderings and rough sojournings
among the blacks; while to be clad in cool fresh garments of linen in
contrast with her cast-off fibre petticoats and shreds of
underclothing, was joy beyond compare. It was extremely pleasant to
have a meal set before her that had not been cooked over a camp fire,
and to which she had the seasoning of pounded rock salt. She found the
various condiments in which the Acans seemed to indulge, as well as
their culinary methods, excellent, and she greatly enjoyed a drink
which Semaara poured from a metal jug--an effervescing mixture that
was slightly alcoholic. On the whole, Anne began to think that her lot
as High Priestess of the Aca would prove fairly endurable.

The other priestesses did not eat with her, but attended to her
wants, busying themselves otherwise in the arrangement of her chamber.
Anne found them stiff and silent, till she discovered that it was not
etiquette for them to speak till addressed by her. She then tried by
signs to encourage them to talk, but without much success. The eldest
Virgin, who had received Anne on her arrival in the house, and whose
name was Ishtal, seemed rather a formidable person, much more sedate
than the rest. Anne had the impression that this woman resented the
deposition of Keorah, and was scandalized at her own unavoidable
outrages of Acan decorum. Semaara was certainly the one whom Anne
liked best, and who, she proposed to herself, should teach her the
Acan language. Already she was learning the names of different objects
in the room.

Presently the maidens all retired, leaving Anne alone to rest for an
hour. Coming back about noon, they re-robed her in the gorgeous mantle
which the poor Priestess would gladly have left behind, it was so
cumbersome, and ill-suited to her little figure. But Ishtal was aghast
at the suggestion, and Anne gathered that the mantle was an outward
sign of the dignity she had to maintain. She was also decked in a
head-dress of rose-coloured feathers, in the front of which was
fastened the sacred opal.

Now they passed through the outer room, and descended the rock-hewn
staircase. Down in the market-place a well-dressed crowd was gathered,
and hilarity of a subdued kind prevailed--the Aca were not apparently
a frolicsome race. At sight of the new High Priestess all became on
the alert, but there was less curiosity than might have been supposed.
The procession of Virgins crossed the space, Anne as Zuhua Kak,
according to etiquette, walking alone, with the other maidens
immediately behind. She was uncertain what to do or where to go, and
violated custom again by calling Semaara to her side.

From Semaara she gleaned by means of signs something of what was
going on, and what was expected of her. Thus she dimly ascertained
that outside the temple and the nunnery--from which abode men were
excluded--the High Priestess was more or less her own mistress, and by
no means debarred from secular amusements, though compelled always to
keep up a certain state and dignity. Now she discovered that games and
feats of skill were to be performed beyond the walls of the city, and
that to this entertainment she and her maidens, as well as the crowd
were bound. Anne, though a little bewildered, was pleased at the
prospect, for now she saw an opportunity of talking to Hansen, and
getting him to explain to her the exact significance of the temple
rites, and the extent of her power, which she was beginning to think
might be considerable. She also wanted to know what had become of
Kombo.

The black boy himself answered that question. At the corner of the
temple street he darted from beside a booth, where he had been
regaling himself on maize cakes and fried plantains, given him at the
expense of a small crowd which was amused at his antics. The
Priestess' procession had now been joined by the seven Elders and
their attendant acolytes, who formed a sort of guard round the Virgins
of the Flame. Bursting through them, Kombo, a ragged Bacchanalian
figure--for it had not been considered necessary to provide him with
fresh garments--accosted his mistress.

"Yai! Yai! Missa Anne!" he cried out. "Where you been sit down all
night? What for you no look out for Kombo? Mine been stop long-a
verandah. Ba'al mine sleep. Plenty tugra (cold) this fellow. Ba'al
mine been have-im supper--ba'al breakfast. Ba'al mine find-im Massa
Hansen. Mine want-im go long-a church, like-it Red Man, but that
fellow make Kombo yan (go away). Cobbon woolla (much talk). Plenty
angry long-a Kombo. Ba'al me pidney. Mine no understand. Missa Anne,
you tell Red Man that Kombo brother belonging to you."

Then a sudden sense of incongruity seemed to strike Kombo. He
stopped, uttered long-drawn ejaculations, and stared in wonder and
delight at Anne's magnificent array.

"My word! Bujeri you, Yuro Kateena! Bujeri dress belonging to you!
Where you got-im that fellow? Tsck! Tsck! What that big stone with
fire inside, like-it crown? I b'lieve you Queen same as big Missus
long-a water. Yai! Bujeri feather! Bujeri blanket!" and Kombo
stretched out a black sacriligious hand and stroked Anne's mantle of
office. Whereat the Priestesses exclaimed, but tittered the while, and
the Elders, frowning, spoke angrily in their own language.

Anne mollified them by a gentle smile and a bar or two of
recitative--which produced obeisances from the seven Guardians and the
acolytes--then waved Kombo a little to one side. But as she did so,
she murmured--

"You been see Massa Hansen, Kombo?"

"Yoai," (yes), replied the black boy. "You look out, Missa Anne. I
b'lieve big Red Mary want-im that fellow for Benjamin belonging to
her." Which was Kombo's manner of reporting that Keorah had begun the
wooing of Hansen.

"My word! He got-im bujeri blanket too! Poor fellow me!" went on
Kombo discontentedly. "Ba'al mine got-im blanket--ba'al coat--ba'al
trouser!" He gazed down ruefully at his naked legs over which hung the
tattered remains of his grey flannel shirt. "Mine want-im blanket;
mine want-im Red Mary like-it, Massa Hansen."

Kombo's gestures were eloquent; his need of clothes evident.

Anne signed to Semaara, who gave an order in which Anne recognised
the words Zuhua Kak, and knew that it purported to come from herself.
A booth-keeper, dressed in the dun coloured linen and short cloak worn
by middle-class Acans, ran forward with a bundle of garments from his
stall, such as were supplied to the common folk. Kombo speedily
grasped the situation, and chose the brightest coloured of the
tunics--a dull red one, which he put on forthwith amid the amused
comments of the Acans. The tunic descended to Kombo's knees, and
pleased him vastly, but the short cloak was not to his liking. He
wanted a mantle like those worn by Anne and the Elders; and when one
made of coarse linen with a feather fringe was at last provided for
him, he donned it with supreme satisfaction, folding it round him, and
strutting proudly as the camp blacks used to do when they were
presented with red and blue blankets on the Queen's birthday. The
booth-keeper brought him a bowl of water to wash himself in, and a
flat red cap, like those worn by the huntsmen. He then took his place
calmly in the High Priestess's procession, Anne signifying by
commanding gestures that he was her slave and must attend her. She now
saw that her word would be considered law, though it was clear that
the Elders did not approve of Kombo as her body servant, and that the
Virgins were a little shocked. Ishtal looked severe, but Semaara
laughed as Kombo openly ogled the young priestesses, and made
diffident overtures to one whom he specially admired, but who rebuffed
him with haughty astonishment. Presently, the great natural portals in
the rock wall of the city were passed, and the country on the north-
western side of the Tortoise Hump opened out before Anne's view. It
seemed to her like an immense garden enclosed by walls of basalt,
which must have been a thousand feet in height. Nothing could be
imagined more different than this cultivated earth-basin; from the
barren fastnesses, the desert tract, and the valley of desolation
which they had traversed on the other side of the Acan territory. For
some way beyond the overhanging rock carapace of the Tortoise, the
ground spread in a broad level terrace, part of which was artificially
raised. Then the land dipped gradually to a round plain, like the
bottom of a platter, which was covered with fields and farms. The
inaccessible precipice walled it on all sides, except for a narrow
gap, that seemed to have been cut by Nature's hand to admit the
passage of a river which watered the plain, and here boiling up in
impassable rapids flowed between the cleft barrier out into the
country beyond. It was the same river that had forced its subterranean
way beneath the desert sands, and had reappeared in the heart of Aak.
Now it emerged into daylight a little way from the great head of the
Tortoise, where, falling down miniature precipices and over beds of
water-worn stones, it wandered through fields of Indian corn, hemp,
flax, and vegetables, and irrigated plantations of cocoa, bananas,
palms, and many other tropical products, including a species of aloe,
from which the wanderers learned later that fibre cloth and a
spirituous liquor, similar to the Mexican mescal, were obtained. On
the downs, and where the land was uncultivated, it was covered with
the natural Australian forest. Yet even this seemed unlike ordinary
bush; the gum-trees were larger and more spreading, and among them
were palms and other varieties of vegetation. Along the river banks
were belts of scrub, and in the clearings nestled wooden homesteads,
the dwellings of goatherds and farmers, for Anne distinguished many
flocks of the same species of chamois that had lured Hansen to the
Place of Death. These animals appeared to be the only ones
domesticated among the Aca, for of horses and cattle there were none
to be seen.

But such characteristic features of the place were not then fully
borne in upon Anne, as in truth she had no time for more than a
sweeping survey of this fertile champaign. Before and behind her own
procession, the crowd was pressing onward to a point on the terrace
where the mountain hollowed inward, and again gave the effect of an
amphitheatre. In the semi-circular curve banked up by the precipice,
seats had been hewn in stages up to a certain height in the rock,
while at the other end, only a low wall and abutting platform
interfered with the splendid view of plain and distant hills to the
horizon line. No more perfect situation could have been chosen for an
out-of-door theatre.

The arena was level, and strewn with fine sand. At one point in the
circle was an erection which appeared to be a judges' stand. Here,
amid a group of Acans, the chief of which was Hotan, Anne saw Hansen
seated. He looked extremely well, she thought, in his Acan dress, and
was conversing cheerfully with Hotan. It was a relief to her, though
she would hardly have confessed this to herself, that at least he was
not a captive in the train of Keorah. She expected that he would at
once descend and take his place beside her, but etiquette evidently
forbade such a proceeding, and he merely followed the example of Hotan
and his friends, who all rose and made a ceremonious obeisance,
standing while she passed.

A burst of strange music from a row of performers beneath the stand
greeted the priestesses on their entrance. It was scarcely harmonious,
and Anne eyed curiously the instruments of the musicians. These seemed
mostly of the nature of drums; some huge, and made of skin stretched
over the hollowed segment of a tree trunk, which stood between the
knees of the players, and when beaten, gave out a wild reverberating
note; others were smaller and tinkling in sound. There were also
flutes, and an instrument like the Egyptian sistrum, as well as a very
primitive kind of violin, also made from a hollow stem of a tree, with
catgut strings, the wail of which was uncanny, but not unpleasant. To
the accompaniment of this strange orchestra, an anthem was sung by the
populace all standing--a hymn specially dedicated, it seemed, to the
Zuhua Kak, this title recurring continually in the refrain with the
phrase, "Ix naacan katuna!" (May she be for ever exalted!).

The spectators spread themselves in two rows round the upper end of
the amphitheatre, the empty rock seats rising in tiers behind them,
showing that the place had been originally constructed for the
accommodation of a much greater number. In the very centre of the half
circle, a wide deep space seemed to be reserved for the people of
highest rank and importance. Here was a raised dais, approached by
rock steps, carpeted with skins and having cushioned seats. About
fifty smiling well-dressed men and women occupied the dais--the rank
and fashion, no doubt, of the Acans--who all rose and formally saluted
the Zuhua Kak and her train. From this dais, three or four more steps
led to a higher platform, in the middle of which was a stone arm-chair
projecting from the other seats--the throne of the High Priestess--and
into this Anne was inducted with considerable pomp. The Virgins ranged
themselves behind her; the Elders had their places at the sides
immediately below; and Kombo, who would have stationed himself among
the ladies beside his mistress, was sternly motioned by Naquah to
squat on the lowest step at her feet.

Anne's eyes, wandering on either side of the lower dais, were not
long in discovering Keorah. The late High Priestess was seated in a
private compartment which had its own approach by a small flight of
steps, and was surrounded by a goodly company of attendant men and
maidens. She was certainly, with the exception of Anne herself, the
most important lady present; and though she had resigned the fenced-in
state of the Zuhua Kak, it was in favour of a splendid and probably
more enjoyable dignity.

Her appearance was magnificent. Though the Eye of Viracocha no
longer blazed on her forehead, she wore a coronet of very fine opals,
and the pale yellow and bright orange plumes above it were even more
becoming than those of the sacred rose. Her mantle was a gorgeous work
of art, being like her linen robes--these not now of the virginal
white--richly embroidered in a design of variously coloured feathers,
which gave the suggestion of some wonderful tropical flower. Her hair,
unbound, rippled over her shoulder in waves of ruddy gold; her waist
was girdled with opals; and to protect her face from the sun's rays
she carried a large fan of lyre birds' feathers, set in a golden
handle.

She smiled at Anne, but there was nothing cordial about the smile.
There seemed, indeed, to be mockery in her salutation; and to Anne,
who had been amused and interested at the whole spectacle, and was
enjoying the honour paid her, this reminder of her rival's presence
came disagreeably.

Though Keorah had yielded the sacerdotal palm, it was plain that she
intended rivalry in more mundane matters, and her look seemed to say
that Anne should pay dearly for the dignities thrust upon her.
Momentarily dismayed, her girlish pleasure sharply checked, Anne stood
without movement, gazing gravely at Keorah's taunting loveliness; then
the Marley blood reasserted itself, her natural pride arose, and with
a sufficiently gracious, but decidedly condescending bend of the head,
she signified her acceptance of and response to Keorah's salute.



Chapter XXIX--Zaac Tepal



BUT now a clangour of the drums announced the commencement of the
games. The first of these was very pretty, a sort of Queen of the May
dance round a tall pole ornamented with many garlands of differently
coloured flowers, the object of the dancers, who were men and girls
fancifully attired, being to entwine and disentangle the garlands in
so deft a manner that in the last figure all remained in the hands of
one performer, to whom was adjudged the prize. After this, came games
of ball in which the women also joined. But Anne was less interested
than she might have been in the exhibition of their skill, for she was
wondering all the time when Eric would come and speak to her; and
though she scarcely liked to send for him, she had a doubt lest,
because of her semi-royal position, he would wait for her to summon
him. She made surreptitious signs to Semaara, anxious to ascertain
whether the social conventions of the Acans would permit her to do so.
But Kombo's agile wits had already jumped to the situation, and before
he could be restrained, the black boy had dashed down the rock
stairway and along the arena to the judges' stand, shouting as he
went:

"Yai! Yai! Massa Hansen! Yuro Kateena want to pialla white brother
belonging to her. You come along, Massa Hansen. You tell Missa Anne
what Red Men say. Kombo plenty stupid. Ba'al me pidney--me no
understand. My word! Plenty coola (angry) that old man Naquah long-a
me. Ba'al that fellow brother belonging to Kombo."

Kombo in his trailing blanket and Acan cap, in which he had contrived
to stick an emu's straggling feather, the expression of his face a
blend of cunning, vanity, and consternation, was a sufficiently
comical figure to draw some exclamations of amusement from the Acans;
and when he pointed to Naquah and mimicked the Sacred Guardian's
wrathful demeanour, the people laughed outright, though they lowered
their heads immediately afterwards, shocked at their own temerity.
Hansen, choking with merriment, came down from beside Hotan, and made
his way to where Anne sat enthroned. But he was not prepared for her
adroit wielding of the reins. He had expected to find her bewildered
and uncertain how to act, and he was surprised to see the winning yet
authoritative gesture by which she soothed Naquah's wounded pride, and
while rebuking Kombo, made it evident that, as her personal attendant,
she required that consideration should be shown to him.

Hansen realised with a start that this splendidly arrayed and
extremely regal little person was a different Anne from his brave but
draggled "Chummy," in fibre petticoats and opossum-skin mocassins,
who, tired, hungry, and sometimes despondent, had trudged by his side
over the ranges and across the desert. Again he told himself that the
Marley stuff was showing in her; and it pleased him to observe how her
western polish and air of stately courtesy were, unconsciously to
themselves, impressing the people among whom she had dropped so
strangely.

He uncovered and bowed, standing in a respectful attitude before her.
She motioned to Semaara to bring forward a stool, upon which he placed
himself, and they talked in low tones while the games went on, their
voices drowned by the roll of the drums and the shrieks of the flutes
and stringed instruments. Hansen was intensely interested in the
sports and manners of the people.

"Not so very far behind us, are they," he said, "for the remains of a
civilisation that was started here, perhaps, about the time that the
Phoenicians discovered tin in Cornwall, and which has never moved out
of this corner since? It's wonderful, Anne. They haven't the remotest
idea of any other country in the world beyond the traditions of an
earthly paradise from which their first progenitors were expelled
about the Adam and Eve period. I wonder if Le Plongeon is right, and
if this is the origin of the story of Cain and Abel? They keep asking
me whether you have come from that Eden, and if you are going to lead
them back there."

"I should encourage that idea," said Anne, calmly. "It will further
our chances of escape. By all means study the Children of Aak as much
as you please, Eric. Personally, I should like to find the mine from
which these opals were dug."

"I've been talking to Hotan," rejoined Hansen, "and getting him to
tell me everything he can about the history of the race. Hotan is not
a bad chap, but he has got the hump, because when we were coming along
here, Keorah--your predecessor in the priestly line--snubbed him
finely."

"Ah!" said Anne, softly.

Hansen might have augured a good deal from the tone of her voice, but
on this occasion he was singularly lacking in perception.

"That's a queer study of a woman, Chummy," he went on, "considering
that she has been evolved from what one might call barbarism. She is a
consummate woman of the world, and I don't think that Europe would
have much to teach her in the art of flirtation."

"And so you find her attractive, Eric!" laughed Anne.

"Don't you?" he counter-queried.

Anne laughed again in a way that puzzled him.

"I imagine that as a study, the lady would naturally prove more
interesting to you," she answered. "I am not a man, and so I have not
the masculine admiration of a flirtatious woman. Besides, you forget,
I don't understand the language."

"Do you mean the language of flirtation, Chummy? No; you're a deal
too simple and sincere for that!" Anne flushed.

"I meant the language of the Acan people, of course," she replied.

"That's not so difficult. I can teach you that, at all events. We
must find a way of meeting that is not in public. Unfortunately, Hotan
gives me to understand that no men are allowed in the house of the
Virgins of the Flame."

"Virgins of the Flame!" repeated Anne. "Is that what they are called?
It is a pretty title."

"That is the meaning of Zuhua Kak," he answered.

Anne crimsoned again. "But I--" she began.

"You are the chief of the Zuhua Kak, but you are a married woman--is
that what you are thinking? Well, we needn't announce the fact; it
might upset things. And we must have time to learn everything we can
about this delightfully odd race. Think of the lecture I shall give
before my college! We shall be the most famous persons in the world,
Anne, when we get back."

"We have got to get back first," she said, philosophically. "Tell me,
Eric--I want to know the exact meaning of the prophecy that relates to
me, and which evidently induced them to choose me as priestess to that
horrible tortoise."

"Horrible! It is a living specimen of the fossil Mewlania--the great
horned turtle now extinct but for this monster. Aak may not be
beautiful, but he is a stupendous fact in natural history. I have been
questioning Hotan, but there is no record of the age of Aak. They say,
`He has always been, and there is no other of his kind.' Oh! If I
could transport him bodily to Europe!"

Anne smiled at the idea of Aak dragging his gigantic bulk across the
desert and over the ranges through the scrub.

"If I am to lead the people to a new land," she said, "what is to
become of Aak?"

"I don't know. I am afraid the prophecy doesn't mention how we are to
deal with such a difficulty."

"Tell me what the prophecy says," she asked again.

"I'll translate it roughly. I've been jotting it down, and amusing
myself by trying to turn it into verse. Here it is," and he gave her
his version of Keorah's song. Anne repeated some of the lines after
him.

"Fair Strength is her sceptre, and Beauty her crown." She thought to
herself that in both these things Keorah greatly excelled her. Like
most small dark women, Anne admired the blonde Junoesque type, and
placed no store upon the fashion of her own comeliness.

"I am not beautiful," she said, and glanced involuntarily towards
Keorah, whose eyes were watching her and Hansen. An idea struck her.

"Are you `Fair Strength?" she exclaimed, suddenly.

He smiled in a slightly embarrassed manner.

"Do you know that is what they already call me. I have been
christened Zaac Tepal, meaning literally, the white, strong man."

Anne was silent, pondering his words. In her mind, she went over the
prophecy. The phrase, "She shall serve as their priestess, and rule as
their queen," gave her pause.

"Since they have made me queen," she said to herself, "I must rule as
one--if we are ever to get away from here." Aloud she repeated, "Zaac
Tepal! They give curious names, these people. Do you not hear, Eric--
they are calling it down there--they are calling for you. We ought to
have been watching the games; it is rude to talk. What is it they
want?"

Hansen listened to the hoarse roar of the crowd. Above it, shouts
arose of "Zaac Tepal!" A spokesman, standing in the arena just below
Keorah's box, was making a little speech in Mayan.

The spokesman was Hotan. He appeared defiant and excited. When he had
finished his speech, he looked towards Anne's dais, and called also
upon Zaac Tepal. Hansen rose. Then Keorah's shrill, sweet voice
sounded high, hushing the clamour. She stood in front of her box, and
addressed Hansen by his new name, evidently putting forth a
proposition that brooked no denial. Hansen made a courtly salutation,
and replied as fluently as he was able.

"They have delivered a challenge," he hurriedly explained to Anne.
"This is the High Priestess' prize, to be competed for by the two
strongest men chosen by the people. They've selected Hotan and me as
the combatants. It is a wrestling match."

"But can you wrestle, Eric?" asked Anne, anxiously. "It won't do for
you to be defeated."

"I think I may be a match for Hotan," he replied, grimly. "I know
something about it, at all events. Of course, I must accept the
challenge. Wish me well, Chummy."

He went down the steps into the arena, and Anne watched him stop on
the way and speak to Keorah. No doubt he was receiving directions from
the donor of the prize. Presently, he and Hotan disappeared. Anne
supposed that preliminaries of the contest were being arranged. The
drums blared once more. Two acolytes meanwhile approached her, bearing
banners worked in feathers, and some small metal boxes. To her
surprise she saw that they contained a kind of bean of a bright
crimson, speckled with black, which she knew very well, though every
year it is growing rarer in the Australian scrub. These beans are
hard, and bright as precious stones, and are much esteemed as
ornaments among the blacks. Semaara tried to convey to her that the
Acans used them instead of money; but Anne only understood that the
boxes containing them, also the banners, were to be presented as
prizes to the winners in the maypole dance and the game of ball. She
realised that she was to give the prizes, and presently the recipients
appeared.

Two were youths, and two, women, of the Aca, wearing the fanciful
attire of the performers in the dance and games--a combination of
feathers and flowers adorning the tunics of the men and the linen
drapery of the women. They prostrated themselves upon the steps of the
dais, and then kneeled before Anne in a reverential attitude, with
hands outstretched, the palms open. Semaara took the gifts from the
acolytes, and handed them to the High Priestess, signifying their
destination. It was an awkward moment for the poor untrained High
Priestess, who did not know the Acan formula for such occasions, and
who saw that the spectators were gazing expectant, at once curious and
dissatisfied. It flashed into Anne's mind that Keorah would have
acquitted herself admirably, and she was suddenly stimulated by the
desire to emulate her rival. She determined to resort once more to
melody, the charm of which never failed her. She sat very erect upon
her throne, a small but stately stage-queen, and as she waved each
banner over the head of its winner, and laid the box of beans on each
extended palm with slow impressive gestures, she sang a few lines of
such operatic airs as, on the spur of the emergency, occurred to her.
Her voice was strong and clear, and the music was so unlike that to
which the Acans were accustomed, that the crowd was at first startled
and then enthralled. Hansen too was startled as he listened and
watched, standing by Keorah's box. But his surprise was at this fresh
exhibition of Anne's readiness and power. He had not even an impulse
to laugh at the incongruity of many of the operatic words with the
scene, so soul-stirring was Anne's delivery of them. He caught the
infection of the multitude, and joined heartily in the "Uol, Zuhua
Kak!" (Hail! Great Virgin of the Flame!) which echoed from the rock
walls of the amphitheatre, as the winners of the prizes retired
backward from the dais, and the brief ceremony was concluded.

His own turn had now come, and, throwing off his mantle, he stood,
clad in the tight-fitting Acan jerkin, facing his opponent Hotan, in
the sand--strewn space of the arena.

It was an exciting contest; horrible, Anne thought, to witness, as
the two powerful bodies writhed and struggled, closing upon and
entwining each other like two pythons in deadly embrace. Nevertheless,
she could not turn away her eyes for a second, though her face went
white as chalk. Keorah, on the contrary, flushed with excitement and
pleasure, was watching with the fierce zest of some old-time Roman
lady who had staked her jewels on her pet gladiator.

The men were evenly matched in point of muscle, but Eric was the
better skilled of the two. So it came about that Hotan was overthrown,
and that Hansen advanced amid the shouts of the populace to receive
his guerdon from Keorah. The Acans were not wholly pleased. Hotan was
a favourite, and had been their acknowledged champion. For several
years past Keorah had clasped on his arm the golden bracelet which, by
Acan custom, was the High Priestess' prize at this special annual
festival. Therefore there was some feeling of resentment that it had
been won by a stranger, repressed only on account of the general
belief that the new Priestess and her interpreter were favoured by the
gods. Keorah, however, was scarcely applauded when her fingers placed
the armlet below Hansen's elbow.

With one knee on the ground, the Dane bent his head and kissed the
hand that had decked him. This courtesy, so common in Europe, was
quite unknown among the Acans, as it is among many so-called savage
nations to-day. Its effect upon Keorah was sudden and unexpected. As
Hansen's lips pressed her skin, he instantly felt the nerve-thrill
that ran through her. The blood rushed to her face; her wild nature
was set aflame. With difficulty she commanded herself. Looking up, he
saw the blush, and his eyes met hers. Again he was affected by their
odd fascination. She said some words in a low voice.

"It is well that we speak the same tongue, Zaac Tepal--white lord of
the strong arm. By right of this token, I may claim thy fair strength
in my service if I require it. Say, then, that we are friends."

"I am deeply honoured, Priestess," replied Hansen. "Since thou
accordest me thy friendship, the strength of my arm is assuredly
thine, though in this peaceful community, and seeing in how great
esteem thou art held, it seems to me that there will be small need of
such service."

Keorah smiled slowly, her eyes narrowing between their thick-fringed
lids, which, with the slight uplifting of her pointed chin, gave a
most attractive and yet malign expression to her long face.

"How know we what may come, Zaac Tepal?" she answered. "Since
yesterday even the order of things has greatly changed amongst the
Acan people. And thou art wrong to call me `Priestess.' Yonder sits
thy Priestess. I am no longer Zuhua Kak, but a simple woman with no
claim to honour but that of woman-hood."

"To the most beautiful of women, then, I tender my homage," said
Hansen, with thoughtless gallantry, but he almost repented the words
when he saw the flush mount anew to Keorah's cheeks. Yet he was a man,
and he felt flattered. Besides, as he looked at her, he could not help
feeling that the compliment was not an exaggeration. She was
beautiful; he really had never seen a woman with so strange a power of
fascination. And he liked her thin sweet voice, which resembled
certain high-pitched notes of a stringed instrument, and seemed to
suit so well the language she spoke.

"I thank thee, my lord stranger," she said. "It is well that thy
heart inclines thee, for according to custom of my people, the winner
of this prize,"--and she touched the bracelet on his arm,--"is
specially bound to do the giver's bidding until the Festival of the
Sun returns again. For some time past it has been Hotan's part to
render me such small services as a woman may need, but now the office
is transferred to thee. Tonight, therefore, thou shalt sit by my side,
and in our converse together we will become better friends. I would
learn somewhat of the land thou hast left, and if it irk thee not, I
would have thee talk to me of the world beyond the seas, and of the
men and women who dwell therein. For I am weary, oh! Zaac Tepal, of
the shut-in homes and the narrow thoughts of my people of the Aca.
Fain would I hear what earth holds beyond the walls of our City of
Refuge, wherein, ages back, the Great Builders imprisoned our race,
for fear of Kàn, the venomous serpent; though it seems to me," and she
laughed derisively, "that the venom of that rock monster hath long
since departed. I confess to thee that my body craves and my soul
yearns for that which it is not in the power of the Aca people to
bestow. Perchance it hath been reserved for thee to supply my need for
knowledge, and truly with rejoicing will I feed my hungry heart upon
thy wisdom."

The charmer charmed deftly, appealing to the immemorial sense of
supremacy in the animal man. Hansen, moreover, reasoned subtly that
intercourse with Keorah would further all his scientific aims, since
through her he could acquaint himself with Acan customs and history,
and thus be enabled to shape his course to advantage, besides, all the
better qualifying himself as Anne's instructor. He therefore took the
seat to which Keorah waved him, and the two were soon absorbed in
conversation, while they viewed together some feats of tumbling and
spear throwing, and an archery contest among the huntsmen.

Anne, throned in lonely state, had seen Hansen kiss Keorah's hand,
and now watched the pair as they conversed in obvious enjoyment of
each other's society. At sight of that kiss, a sharp stab had pierced
Anne. It was not caused by envy nor by wounded pride. She shrank from
analysing the feeling; she only knew that it was pain. Nevertheless,
Hansen's conduct gave her strength, for it lashed her spirit, always
daring and quick to respond. She saw how necessary it was that she
should become mistress of the situation, and determined to lose no
time in learning to speak Acan. On the spot, she began to take lessons
from Semaara, and was rapidly enlarging her vocabulary. Ishtal scowled
upon her preference for the younger Priestess, and talked aside to
Naquah and another of the more ancient Elders who was named Zel-Zie.
Anne began to suspect that Ishtal had designs upon the Priestess-ship
for herself. It seemed clear, however, that the new Zuhua Kak was
establishing herself in the favour of the people, probably because of
the strangeness of her appearance and ways. Anne was quick-witted
enough to realise that as she knew no precedents, it would be wiser to
start innovations. She resolved therefore to keep eyes and ears open,
and to strike out a line of her own; and failing Hansen's assistance,
she thought that it would be well to turn Kombo to account.

She looked round for the black boy, but he too had deserted her. As a
matter of fact, Kombo's amorous inclinations having been severely
checked by the Virgins of the Flame, he had been busy casting his eyes
over the ladies of humbler degree in search of a suitable "Red Mary."
Among Keorah's servants, he had found one who condescended to smile
upon his antics, and now he was perched like a monkey upon the edge of
the lower platform behind Keorah and Hansen, and, taking example by
his master, he was to the best of his ability paying court to the
maid.

Anne smiled, not without bitterness, but reflected philosophically
that to be lonely is the penalty of greatness. She was not sorry when
the games ended, and when, after she had presented the last banners
and boxes of red beans, the crowd began to circulate among the booths
set about the terrace on the east side of the amphitheatre, and the
Zuhua Kak's procession was reformed for an adjournment to the great
banqueting hall.



Chapter XXX--The Banquet



THE scene of the banquet was an enormous rock hall facing due west.

It was a natural cavern, as, indeed, were many of the dwellings and
passages that made the Heart of Aak a huge human burrow. This one had
been greatly enlarged by the prehistoric builders. To them were due
the sculptures and vaultings of the ceilings, and the carving into
symmetry of the great archway--the width of the cave itself which gave
upon the terrace and the plain.

By prescribed rule, the banquet began two hours before sunset: and as
the orb dipped westward, his rays filled the vast place, illuminating
dark recesses, showing up barbaric paintings and reliefs, and bathing
in a flood of yellow light the seven massive tables, which extended
inward from the great opening. The tables were placed in slightly
converging lines, and with such regard to astronomic conditions that
at this particular season of the year the person seated at the head of
the central one would exactly face the setting sun as it sank below
the horizon. This person was always the Zuhua Kak.

The banqueting hall had no doubt, in the days of Acan prosperity,
been exclusively for the priestly and aristocratic members of the
community. Now three tables at most sufficed to accommodate these, and
the remaining four tables, as well as a space on the terrace outside,
were given up to the common folk who scrambled for the leavings of
their betters. Wooden benches, with at stated distances a chair or
stool of honour, were ranged along the three centre tables, which were
covered with bright coloured cloths, and loaded with fruits, cakes,
and cold viands--the hot meats being brought in separately, smoking
from the fire.

The banqueting hall was already filled when the Zuhua Kak and her
attendants came in to the peculiar orchestral accompaniment of the
Acans, which sounded at their appearance, Anne and her maidens
marching up the cleared gangway on one side of the chief table; the
Elders and acolytes along the other.

All present rose as she entered, and she perceived that about fifteen
paces down the middle table, Hansen was stationed at the side of
Keorah. Now Anne's spirit arose--for she had plenty of grit in her--
and though she knew nothing of the customs of the Aca at this
religious feast, she determined to make her influence felt by the
people and by Keorah. She had not lived among the Australian blacks
for nothing, and was a quick judge of persons, and keen to perceive
points of vantage.

She was ushered by Naquah to the place reserved for her; her Virgins
of the Flame ranged themselves on either hand below her, and the
Elders seated themselves, according to seniority, in places of
dignity. The rest of the company, eager to attack their food, then
settled down without regard to precedence. No great ceremony, it
appeared, was observed at the Acan feasts, which were distinctly
barbaric in kind. Anne's advent occasioned a slight displacement of
the order of things, but of this she was not aware. Usually, a master
of the ceremonies was appointed, who regulated proceedings, calling
the guests' attention by striking a small drum placed before him, with
a gold baton provided for the purpose. This office had, of late, been
held by Hotan as winner of the "High Priestess' prize," and he had
always sat by Keorah's side. Now it devolved upon Hansen. Hotan,
sitting opposite, somewhat lower down the table, scowled at his
successful rival, and tried to carry off his discomfiture by an air of
bravado, and a violent flirtation with a pretty Acan woman.
Attendants, scantily clad, were bearing along great dishes of meat,
bowls of chocolate, and jugs of pulque and other intoxicating drinks
made from the pressed juice of the agave, and from certain roots and
berries extremely potent in quality. A kind of beer made from crushed
maize was being freely distributed among the common crowd, who were
jostling each other at the outer tables. Even in the more select
company, disorder prevailed, as corn-cakes, condiments provocative of
appetite, and cooked birds, were handed rudely from one to another,
and torn between the guests' fingers.

Anne's natural refinement revolted against the coarse prodigality of
the feast, and the free and easy manners of those present. It was as
though primitive instincts, excited by the games, and the suggestion
of new-given vitality conveyed in the morning's religious rites, were
unleashed, entirely altering the character and demeanour of the
people. Even the grave, dignified cast of the Acan countenances had
changed to an expression of almost brutal hilarity. For the first
time, Anne realised, that in spite of the wonderful civilisation of
the Aca, in some respects she might still be among savages.

It had been supposed that the Zuhua Kak, who had received her due
meed of honour, would now seat herself and fall in with the general
tone of license. No doubt this had been Keorah's way. Anne resolved
that it should not be hers. Therefore the guests were surprised, when,
after a noisy interval of several minutes, they perceived that she was
still standing. Very upright was the small form of their new High
Priestess, her head thrown back, her eyes sending a strongly
disapproving gaze down the long table, while the Eye of Viracocha, on
her forehead, leaped in answering flame to the reddening sun. Hansen
caught Anne's look, and was even more surprised than the rest. Keorah
saw it too, and smiled in sartirical courtesy while affecting
consideration for the stranger's ignorance of Acan customs. She
motioned Anne to seat herself and join in the banquet. But Anne took
no notice of Keorah's hint. She, on the contrary, signed commandingly
to her maidens, who, amid glances of astonishment, rose to their feet;
and then Anne, turning, beckoned to Kombo, who, though he eyed
longingly the feasting at the further tables, had not dared to disobey
his mistress's orders, that he should be at hand in case she wanted
him. She spoke sharply to him now, bidding him go and tell Hansen that
it was her intention to sing a grace before the feast proceeded, and
that she desired silence. All the company looked taken aback, not
knowing what was about to happen. There was a lull, above which
Keorah's shrill tones might be heard ordering that wine should be
brought her.

Kombo leaned over Hansen's shoulder, a grin on his face, but faint
awe in his voice.

"Massa Hansen! Missa Anne want to say grace--you know, like-it white
man with shirt outside of trouser--clergyman belonging to you. Missa
Anne say Red Man ba'al woolla (must not talk). Mine tell you, Massa
Hansen, you look out. I b'lieve Missa Anne no like that fellow Red
Mary long-a you."

Hansen laughed, but the reproach struck home. Yet he thought Anne
ought to know that it was not his fault if Keorah insisted upon
monopolising him. He got up, slightly confused, and striking the gong
before him, according to the directions he had received, made known
the High Priestess' wishes.

Keorah looked angry.

"My successor is over zealous," she remarked, contemptuously. "At
dawn we supplicate the gods. But when noon is over, we play and feast
till the setting of the Sun, when we again offer our Lord praise. Do
thou inform the new Zuhua Kak that this is the Acan custom, and bid
her deliver herself now to mirth."

But something in Anne's look told Hansen that Acan custom or no, Anne
meant to assert her dignity. He again gave the announcement, but in
his effort to collect himself, his Mayan faltered--he, too, had tasted
pulque, and the laughter and unseemly movement of the company were not
altogether stilled. Hotan came to the rescue, crying "Uol, Zuhua Kak!"
at which all eyes turned towards Anne, and noise was hushed.

Then out burst the glorious voice, in what the Acans believed was the
language of the gods. Was ever operatic Italian set to nobler use? The
grace was sung--its literal meaning small matter, yet dramatically
appropriate, as Hansen gladly owned. His heart filled with admiration
of the girl, and he joined enthusiastically in the renewed shouts led
by Hotan of "Uol, Zuhua Kak!" Anne majestically acknowledged the
salute, and took her place, the rest of the people who had risen now
reseating themselves.

Keorah's hand, oddly magnetic, touched Hansen's bare arm where her
golden bracelet clasped it. She was pledging him in her own cup--a
goblet of gold set with opals, and most curiously wrought in shape of
two serpents intertwined, their open jaws forming a double mouth.

"It is thine," she said, handing it to him, with a gracious smile,
after her lips had touched the brim. "Keep it in remembrance of thy
championship this day." He sipped. The wine was sweet and strong.
"Drink with me, Zaac Tepal," said she, "and renew the vow of service
thou hast made me. Nay! Start not. I exact no heavy dues. It is the
Zuhua Kak who binds with chains of gold. Keorah, the woman, weaves
only ropes of flowers."

As she spoke she drew from across her bosom, where it lightly hung, a
garland of orchids--pink, spotted with red and brown--shaped like some
strange insect, a species Hansen had never seen, most uncanny but very
beautiful. Lifting her finely moulded arms, rosily tawny, she threw
the wreath over his head.

"Pledge me," she said, her eyes gleaming on him intoxicatingly, and
they drank, he clinking the cups to her amusement and delight.

"It is a way of my people," he explained.

"And its meaning, white lord?"

"Friendship and fealty," he answered. The Mayan words rendered the
signification poorly, and she affected to misunderstand it, and made
him explain more elaborately, clinking and drinking again. He now saw
that the lady next to Hotan had taken off her garland also, and placed
it over the shoulders of her cavalier, and that many of the Acan men
were so decorated, by which he concluded that Keorah was merely
following an Acan custom, thus robbing her act of special
significance. Nevertheless, a guilty pang shot through Hansen. He felt
vaguely that something was not as it should be, but the strong wine
was coursing through his veins, and Keorah's voice sounded wooingly.

"What thinkest thou of the blossoms?" she interrogated, coquettishly.
"They are grown with much care, for we love flowers--we women of Aca.
Tell me, Zaac Tepal--in the feasts of thine own land have thy women a
delight in thus honouring the men who please their fancy?"

"Do I please thy fancy, Keorah?" asked Hansen, recklessly.

"That will I tell thee later, when thou hast satisfied my desire for
knowledge," answered she. "Have I not said to thee that body and brain
and soul of me yearn alike for the life and the wisdom beyond that
which is closed in the heart of Aak? But thou shalt visit me in thy
house, Zaac Tepal. There will we talk at ease, and thou shalt say
wherein I am different from the women of thine own kind. Perchance we
have each something to learn from the other, for if thou hast
knowledge of the outer world, I have power in the present. Now eat and
drink, and disport thyself contentedly. Dost thou approve of our Acan
dainties? This is boar, spiced and prepared after a fashion taught by
the Builders of old; and this--nay, thou surely knowest Iguana flesh?
But let me tell thee that since the sun last set on our Feast of Life,
these great lizards have been kept and fed on plants of special
properties under favour of the gods to whom the festival is dedicated.
Thou wilt find the meat tasty. Wilt thou not pledge me again, Zaac
Tepal? The wine is soft and mellow, and of a certainty cannot hurt
thee, seeing that it is kept apart for the Virgins of the Flame."

Keorah drank freely, and Hansen reckoned that it would be rudeness to
refuse her. And she was right in saying that the wine was soft and
mellow. Yet, in spite of her assurance, Hansen was compelled to think
that the Virgins of the Flame must possess strong heads. He felt his
own brain getting confused. He knew that his laughter was vacuous, and
had a dim consciousness that there was pain--perhaps contempt--in
Anne's grave eyes which regarded him from the end of the table. Yet
Keorah's gaze had a witch-like effect upon him. So, too, the strange
beauty of her long narrow face, and the splendour of her amber hair,
the threads of which thrilled him with an electric charm as she bent
towards him, almost leaning at times against his bare arms and
shoulder.

The hall and the assemblage swayed before him, and the revelry rang
to its height. Anne's face became a blur. The din of talk, and the
unfamiliar sound of the Mayan syllables which differed somewhat from
the language he had studied, increased the sense of bedazzlement. Most
of the people were chattering shrilly, the men and women lolling in
pairs. At the great table only the Zuhua Kak and her Virgins had
chosen no swains.

More than once, when the revelry was passing the bounds of decorum,
Anne sent some message by Kombo, a request that Hansen would make
known her wishes on certain matters--the manner of serving, a demand
for information--anything that she thought might create a diversion,
or curtail the banquet. Occasionally, one of the Elders, who
maintained their priestly dignity throughout, in quaint contrast to
the license permitted the revellers--would remind Hansen of his duties
as Master of the Ceremonies. Then the young man would spring
uncertainly to his feet, and, striking feebly with his baton, give out
a stammering announcement.

At this part of the table a little drama was going on, and though
Hansen did not seize its full import, he knew himself to be a chief
actor in it. Hotan, opposite to him, was another. The Acan was
drinking deeply, but unlike Hansen, accustomed to the beverages, he
was enabled to keep a clearer head. Hopeless of piquing Keorah, he
took no more notice of the lady seated beside him, who was forced to
content herself with her other neighbour, while Hotan directed all his
attention to the late High Priestess and her companion. The muscles of
his bare arm, on which were four of Keorah's golden armlets--signs of
championship--stood out as he clenched his hands stormily, while his
copper-red skin took a tinge of vermilion. Mad with jealousy, he threw
taunts at the white stranger, and, but for Keorah's interposition,
there must have been a quarrel between the two men. But this Acan
woman--semi-savage though she might be--was well versed in feminine
wiles. She made herself a buffer between the antagonists, turning a
thrust with the rapier edge of her wit; amusing herself now by leading
on Hotan, then by laughing at him; provoking Hotan's jealousy by her
open favour of Hansen, and again spurring Hansen to fresh
demonstrations of gallantry by pitting him against his rival.

"Is thy fair strength so great a thing after all?" she murmured.
"Lies it in thy wits, or in thine arm alone? It has been enough, I
know, to bring thee hither, and to serve thee, with the black slave's
aid, in guiding our Priestess yonder, over mountain and sea-bed to her
destined place in the Temple of Aak. By it, too, thou hast robbed
Hotan of his prize, but will it suffice thee against such woman's
weapons as I may choose to wield for one of my race against a
stranger?"

"I challenge thy weapons, Priestess," he cried, inflamed by the
mockery of her voice. "But to thee only will I yield back Hotan's
prize, since thou dost desire him again for thy champion. Test my
strength, then, in warfare of wit or muscle as seemeth good to thee."

"Said I that I desired Hotan again for my champion?" She laughed
softly. "To all women change is pleasant. But wilt thou never forget
that I am no longer Priestess? Perchance, Zaac Tepal, the contest will
be between thee and me alone, and mayhap I am testing thee already.
Drink to my success!" And again she filled the goblet she had given
him.

The banquet lasted more than an hour. As it proceeded, noise and
license increased, so that the feast seemed likely to end in an orgie.
Anne sat, stately and pale, eating little, and drinking only
chocolate. A feeling of illusion came over her. The whole scene was
like a dream, and the one thing in it that seemed real was the sun.
Now the great orb was shining a fiery ball low in heaven and right in
front of the cave. It drew Anne's eyes insensibly, seeming to lift her
soul from her body, and rekindling in her the religious enthusiasm she
had felt at the flaming forth of the Red Ray in the temple. She might
have been a Pagan stirred to Nature worship, and put back by Time to
the infancy of the world. Truly the sun appeared to her as the very
outward emblem of Deity--the immortal visible symbol of Supreme
Creative Force. Beams of glory streamed from him, which penetrated the
place, and, in the half obscurity of the cavern, deepening to a
luminous purple, filled with moving motes of brilliant light.

The rays swept down along the great tables--impalpable golden bars
that were cut short, Anne fancied, at the Zuhua Kak's chair of state.
It seemed to her that the sun was stretching forth the welcoming arms,
and thus ratifying the choice of herself as his Priestess. At this
moment there came a beating of the hollow-sounding drums, and a slow
shrieking from the primitive fiddles.

The Elders rose to their feet