Part 36 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: The king had taken fire internally.]

fled in alarm, and Combra, awakened to the conviction of the inflammability of his own condition, had rapidly decamped.

To say the truth, it was impossible to do anything; water would have proved unavailing to quench the pale blue flame that hovered over the prostrate forms, every tissue of which was so thoroughly impregnated with spirit, that combustion, though outwardly extinguished, would continue its work internally.

In a few minutes life was extinct, but the bodies continued long afterwards to burn; until, upon the spot where they had fallen, a few light ashes, some fragments of the spinal column, some fingers and some toes, covered with a thin layer of stinking soot, were all that remained of the King of Kazonnde and his ill fated minister.

CHAPTER XII.

ROYAL OBSEQUIES.

On the following morning the town of Kazonnde presented an aspect of unwonted desolation. Awe-struck at the event of the previous evening, the natives had all shut themselves up in their huts. That a monarch who was to be a.s.sumed as of divine origin should perish with one of his ministers by so horrible a death was a thing wholly unparalleled in their experience. Some of the elder part of the community remembered having taken part in certain cannibal preparations, and were aware that the cremation of a human body is no easy matter, yet here was a case in which two men had been all but utterly consumed without any extraneous application. Here was a mystery that baffled all their comprehension.

Old Alvez had also retired to the seclusion of his own residence; having been warned by Negoro that he would probably be held responsible for the occurrence, he deemed it prudent to keep in retirement. Meanwhile Negoro industriously circulated the report that the king's death had been brought about by supernatural means reserved by the great Manitoo solely for his elect, and that it was sacred fire that had proceeded from his body. The superst.i.tious natives readily received this version of the affair, and at once proceeded to honour Moene Loonga with funeral rites worthy of one thus conspicuously elevated to the rank of the G.o.ds. The ceremony (which entailed an expenditure of human blood incredible except that it is authenticated by Cameron and other African travellers) was just the opportunity that Negoro required for carrying out his designs against d.i.c.k, whom he intended to take a prominent part in it.

The natural successor to the king was the queen Moena. By inaugurating the funeral without delay and thus a.s.suming the semblance of authority, she forestalled the king of Ukusu or any other rival who might venture to dispute her sovereignty; and moreover, by taking the reins of government into her hands she avoided the fate reserved for the other wives who, had they been allowed to live, might prove somewhat troublesome to the shrew. Accordingly, with the sound of coodoo horns and marimbas, she caused a proclamation to be made in the various quarters of the town, that the obsequies of the deceased monarch would be celebrated on the next evening with all due solemnity.

The announcement met with no opposition either from the officials about the court or from the public at large. Alvez and the traders generally were quite satisfied with Moena's a.s.sumption of the supremacy, knowing that by a few presents and a little flattery they could make her sufficiently considerate for their own interests.

Preparations began at once. At the end of the chief thoroughfare flowed a deep and rapid brook, an affluent of the Coango, in the dry bed of which the royal grave was to be formed. Natives were immediately set to work to construct a dam by means of which the water should be diverted, until the burial was over, into a temporary channel across the plain; the last act in the ceremonial being to undam the stream and allow it to resume its proper course.

Negoro had formed the resolution that d.i.c.k Sands should be one of the victims to be sacrificed upon the king's tomb. Thoroughly aware as he was that the indignation which had caused the death of Harris extended in at least an equal degree to himself, the cowardly rascal would not have ventured to approach d.i.c.k under similar circ.u.mstances at the risk of meeting a similar fate; but knowing him to be a prisoner bound hand and foot, from whom there could be nothing to fear, he resolved to go to him in his dungeon-*

Not only did he delight in torturing his victims, but he derived an especial gratification from witnessing the torture.

About the middle of the day, accordingly, he made his way to the cell where d.i.c.k was detained under the strict watch of a havildar. There, bound with fetters that penetrated his very flesh, lay the poor boy; for the last four and twenty hours he had not been allowed a morsel of food, and would gladly have faced the most painful death as a welcome relief to his miseries.

But at the sight of Negoro all his energy revived; instinctively he made an effort to burst his bonds, and to get a hold upon his persecutor; but the strength of a giant would have been utterly unavailing for such a design. d.i.c.k felt that the struggle he had to make was of another kind, and forcing himself to an apparent composure, he determined to look Negoro straight in the face, but to vouchsafe no reply to anything he might say.

”I felt bound,” Negoro began, ”to come and pay my respects to my young captain, and to tell him how sorry I am that he has not the same authority here that he had on board the 'Pilgrim.' ”

Finding that d.i.c.k returned no answer, he continued,-

”You remember your old cook, captain: I have come to know what you would like to order for your breakfast.”

Here he paused to give a brutal kick at d.i.c.k's foot, and went on,-

”I have also another question to ask you, captain; can you tell me how it was that you landed here in Angola instead of upon the coast of America?”

The way in which the question was put more than ever confirmed d.i.c.k's impression that the ”Pilgrim's” course had been altered by Negoro, but he persevered in maintaining a contemptuous silence.

”It was a lucky thing for you, captain,” resumed the vindictive Portuguese, ”that you had a good seaman on board, otherwise the s.h.i.+p would have run aground on some reef in the tempest, instead of coming ash.o.r.e here in a friendly port.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Your life is in my hands!”]

Whilst he was speaking, Negoro had gradually drawn nearer to the prisoner, until their faces were almost in contact. Exasperated by d.i.c.k's calmness, his countenance a.s.sumed an expression of the utmost ferocity, and at last he burst forth in a paroxysm of rage.

”It is my turn now! I am master now! I am captain here! You are in my power now! Your life is in my hands!”

”Take it, then,” said d.i.c.k quietly; ”death has no terrors for me, and your wickedness will soon be avenged.”