Part 10 (1/2)
CHAPTER XII
THE WHITE WITCH
I descended from the litter and told the others what the old fellow had said Robertson did not want to coested to hiainst us U, as he remarked, no faith in a ruler as a woh he was so tired, acquiesced with so that his brain was more alert and that he had all the curiosity of the monkey tribe which he so much resembled in appearance, and wanted to see this queen whom Zikali revered
In the end we started, conducted by Billali and by ht showedbetween houses, or at any rate walls that had been those of houses, and along what see under what I took to be a great arch or portico, we ca pillars but unroofed, for I could see the stars above At its end we entered a building of which the dooras hung with hted with lauards with long spears stood at intervals
”Oh, Baas,” said Hans hesitatingly, ”this is the lared about hireat axe
”Be silent,” I answered ”All this mountain is a trap, therefore another does notforward between the double line of guards who stood i at the end of a long, narrow hall which, although I know little of such things, were, I noted, olden threads Before these curtains Billali motioned us to halt
After a whispered colloquy with soh the join of the curtains, he vanished between theth they opened and a tall and elegant woman with an Arab cast of countenance and clad in white robes, appeared and beckoned to us to enter She did not speak or anshen I spoke to her, which was not wonderful as afterwards I discovered that she was ato see
On the further side of the curtains was a rooht fell upon sculptured walls It looked to ht once have been the inmost court or a sanctuary of some temple, for at its head was a dais upon which once perhaps had stood the shrine or statue of a God On this dais there was now a couch and on the couch-a Goddess!
There she sat, straight and still, clothed in shi+ning white and veiled, but with her draperies so arranged that they eance of her tall form From beneath the veil, which was such as a bride wears, appeared two plaits of glossy, raven hair of great length, to the end of each of which was suspended a single large pearl On either side of her stood a tall woh the curtains, and on his knees in front, but to the right, knelt Billali
About this seated personage there was an air of singular ht pervade a queen as fancy paints her, though she had a nobler figure than any queen I ever saw depicted Mystery seemed to flow from her; it clothed her like the veil she wore, which of course heightened the effect Beauty flowed froh it was shrouded I knew that it was there, no veil or coverings could obscure it-at least, to ination Moreover she breathed out power also; one felt it in the air as one feels a thunderstorm before it breaks, and it seemed to me that this poas not quite huer to the earth
To tell the truth, although h now I felt glad that I had attempted this journey with all its perils, I was horribly afraid, so much afraid that I should have liked to turn and run away Fro I knewclothed in soft and perfect wo alien, too, and different from our human race
What a picture it all made! There she sat, quiet and stately as a perfectbeneath the white robe, showed that she was alive and breathed as others do Another thing showed it also-her eyes At first I could not see therew accustohtened as those of certain animals have power to do when they watch intently, it ceased to be a covering to thee and dark and splendid with a tinge of deep blue in the iris; alluring and yet awful in their h and beyond, to e and without effort Those eyes were like s through which light flows frolanced round to see the effect of this vision upon my companions It was most peculiar Hans had sunk to his knees; his hands were joined in the attitude of prayer and his ugly little face re from excess of air Robertson, startled out of his abstraction, stared at the royal-looking woman on the couch with his ot the for weeks, only this time they are lovely For yon's no hureat and gri on the handle of his tall axe; and he stared also, the blood pulsing against the skin that covered the hole in his head
”Watcher-by-Night,” he said toin a whisper, ”this chieftainess is not one woman, but all women Beneath those robes of hers I seeone Beyond,' of the Lily who is lost to me Do you not feel it thus, Macumazahn?”
Now that healthough aled itself in my mind I looked at the draped shape and saell, never mind whom I saw; it was not one only but several in sequence; also a woh I came to know her afterwards, too well, perhaps, or at any rate quite enough to puzzlewas that in this hallucination the personalities of these individuals seean to wonder whether they were not parts of the sa itself in sundry shapes, yet springing from one centre, as different coloured rays flow froht shi+ft and change But the fancy is too metaphysical for my poor powers to express as clearly as I would Also no doubt it was but a hallucination that had its origin, perhaps, in the th she spoke and her voice sounded like silver bells heard over water in a great calm It was low and sweet, oh! so sweet that at its first notes for a moment my senses seemed to swoon and my pulse to stop It was to me that she addressed herself
”My servant here,” and ever so slightly she turned her head towards the kneeling Billali, ”tells ht, understand the tongue in which I speak to you Is it so?”
”I understand Arabic of a kind well enough, having learned it on the East Coast and from Arabs in past years, but not such Arabic as you use, O--” and I paused
”Call , as you know, She, or Woman Or if that does not please you, callto hear the naentle blood”
I blushed at the coh, ”-Not such Arabic as you use, O-Ayesha”
”I thought that you would like the sound of the word better than that of Hiya, though afterwards I will teach you to pronounce it as you should, O-have you any other naht, which seems also to be a title?”
”Yes,” I answered ”Allan”
”-O-Allan Tellmy companions with a sweep of her slender hand, ”for they do not speak Arabic, I think Or stay, I will tell you of thehtly This one,” and she nodded towards Robertson, ”is a man bemused There comes from him a colour which I see if you cannot, and that colour betokens a desire for revenge, though I think that in his tis also, as I re, to their ruin Hue, Allan, and wine and woh of him for this time The little yellow one there is afraid of h she is so weak and gentle, men are still afraid of her just because they are so foolish that they cannot understand her To them after a million years she still remains the Unknown and to us all the Unknown is also the awful Do you remember the proverb of the Romans that says it well and briefly?”
I nodded, for it was one of the Latin tags that ht me
”Good Well, he is a little wild man, is he not, nearer to the apes from whose race our bodies coain, and said, ”There are disputes upon the point, Ayesha”
”Yes, they had begun in my day and ill discuss them later Still, I say-nearer to the ape than you or I, and therefore of interest, as the ger, and fidelity and love which in its round is all in all Do you understand, Allan, that love is all in all?”
I answered warily that it depended upon what she meant by love, to which she replied that she would explain afterwards e had leisure to talk, adding, ”What this little yellow monkey understands by it at least has served you well, or so I believe You shall tell me the tale of it some day Now of the last, this Black One Here I think is a man indeed, a warrior of warriors such as there used to be in the early world, if a savage Well, believe es are often the best Moreover, all are still savage at heart, even you and I For what is termed culture is but coat upon coat of paint laid on to hide our native colour, and often there is poison in the paint That axe of his has drunk deep, I think, though always in fair fight, and I say that it shall drink deeper yet Have I read these ht, Allan?”
”Not so ill,” I answered
”I thought it,” she said with a row dull like an unused sword Now you would rest Go-all of you To- for your safety; you are watched by my slaves and I watch my slaves Until to-morrow, then, farewell Go now, eat and sleep, as alas we allto a life we should do well to lose Billali, lead thenify that the audience was ended
At this sign Hans, who apparently was still h the curtains Robertson followed hi the great axe, cried Bayete, after which he too turned and went
”What does that word mean, Allan?” she asked
I explained that it was the salutation which the Zulu people only give to kings
”Did I not say that savages are often the best?” she exclaiave me no salute, but the Black One knohen he stands before a woman who is royal”
”He too is of royal blood in his own land,” I said
”If so, we are akin, Allan”
Then I bowed deeply to her infro very tall and co, and bowed back
After this I went to find the others on the further side of the curtains, except Hans, who had run down the long narrow hall and through the nity behind Billali and between the double line of guards, who raised their spears as we passed them, and on the further side of theterrified
”Baas,” he said to h the court of colus and faced them, but never have I been so much afraid as I am of that white witch Baas, I think that she is the devil of whom your reverend father, the Predikant, used to talk so much, or perhaps his wife”
”If so, Hans,” I answered, ”the devil is not so black as he is painted But I advise you to be careful of what you say as sheears”