Part 15 (1/2)
The messenger from the mysterious realm above regarded him keenly from head to foot, not without suspicion. Then looking him straight in the face, he said with a puzzled expression upon his countenance:
”Thou hast altered since thou hast dwelt among the English. Thy face is not that of Omar who left many moons ago with our Naya's trusted servant Makhana.”
”Yet I am still Omar,” he exclaimed, laughing. ”Thy caution is commendable, Babila, son of Safad, but as the moon groweth old so does the boy turn youth, and the youth man.”
”Thou knowest my name, 'tis true,” observed the messenger gravely. ”But where are thy royal jujus; those placed upon thy neck by the great Naya in the presence of the people?”
”I fell among enemies who burned them.”
”The curse of Zomara be upon them,” Babila said. ”Who were they?”
”The hirelings of our enemy, Samory.”
”Then some have already met with their deserts, for three thousand of them lie here in this valley,” and he pointed to the gruesome corpses scattered upon the gra.s.s. ”But hast thou no possession to a.s.sure me that thou art actually the long-absent son of our Naya?” he inquired.
”Thou carriest thy caution a little too far in this affair, Babila,” Omar answered smiling. ”True, I have lost my jujus, nevertheless I can answer thee what questions thou puttest to me regarding my youth and my life in Mo. I know that thou art determined to satisfy thyself that I am actually the Prince, ere thou admittest us to our kingdom.”
”The caution I exercise is my duty to the great Naya and my country,”
Babila answered. ”No invader nor intruder hath ever entered Mo, and none shall while I am chief custodian of its Gate. The bones of many adventurers lie here in this valley.”
”Yes, I know that well,” Omar answered good-humouredly. ”But what must I do to satisfy thee?” Then turning to me, he exclaimed in English, ”This is amusing, Scars. I am actually prevented from entering my own country because I have grown a trifle taller!”
”What sayest thou in a foreign tongue?” Babila inquired, with a quick look of suspicion.
”I commented upon the absurdity of my situation to my companion, Scarsmere, who has accompanied me from England,” Omar answered frankly.
”Scarsmere,” repeated the man from the unknown region. ”Scarsmere. And is he your friend?”
”Yea, my best friend.”
”If thou art actually Omar then his friend will a.s.suredly find welcome in Mo,” the man said with courtesy. ”But answer the questions I put to thee.
Canst thou tell me anything regarding myself?”
”Well, I think I can,” answered my friend with a laugh. ”When I was quite a young lad thou wert one of the guardians of the outer gate of our palace. Once I was threatened by a ruffianly soldier as I pa.s.sed, and thou didst strike him dead with one blow of thy sword. For thy prompt punishment of the fellow thou wert exalted by the Naya and given command over her body-guard. It was because thou didst unearth the dastardly conspiracy against her life that thou wert given the custodians.h.i.+p of the Gate of Mo.”
”True,” the man answered with a smile of satisfaction. ”In one of my age loss of memory is excusable, yet now on looking closely at thee, I see the resemblance--yea, I welcome thee home, my lord the prince.”
In an instant his manner had changed, and he became the most obedient of slaves.
”Very well,” Omar said. ”Now thou art satisfied that I am what I said we will lose no time in pa.s.sing the last barrier.”
”But these?” Babila inquired, glancing suspiciously at the black rabble forming our Dagomba following.
”They are my escort,” Omar answered. ”Every man, from Kona, the head-man, to the meanest slave, is my trusted servant, and they all deserve reward.
Each shall enter Mo and receive it at the hands of the Naya herself. This I have already promised.”
”The servants of the lord prince are welcome. The people shall _fete_ them, and make their days pa.s.s as quickly as seconds fly. If thou art desirous they shall enter and be presented to the great Naya before whose eyes all men quail,” Babila said, bowing humbly before his royal master.