Part 20 (1/2)
He led her across the tent, having noted and admired his wife's skilful bit of strategy: and Lenox instinctively took the same direction.
Quita chose the chair farthest from the Palace group; and in a few moments, she knew that her husband was standing close behind her. It was the first time he had deliberately approached her since their encounter at the ball: and the silent tribute, so characteristic of the man, elated her with a renewed sense of power over a personality immeasurably stronger than her own. It was like bringing down big game after the mild diversion of shooting pheasants. But he had spent the whole morning in the verandah with Honor Desmond; and the remembrance still rankled. Upset her equanimity as he might, the spirit of surrender was still far from her.
At his approach Desmond made a slight movement, as if to rise; but the other shook his head. It was enough to be thus close to her, to feel that speech was possible, yet not compulsory. All of which Desmond was quick to understand.
”Look, . . look . . .” Quita whispered suddenly, leaning towards him.
”They are forcing that poor brute to the edge. He has been in before.
Colonel Mayhew told me. He knows; . . . he is afraid. Oh, _mon Dieu_, how horrible! . . . He is over!”
A mighty shout from the a.s.sembled thousands, who stood ten and twenty deep along the banks, confirmed her words. The shuddering victim had been forced over the ten-foot drop; and for a few breathless moments, was lost in the green swirling water. A second shout,--unanimous, as from one Gargantuan throat,--heralded the reappearance of the flat black head, with its dilated nostrils held well above the blinding wreaths of foam. Tossed mercilessly from boulder to boulder, the stout swimmer neared the first big rapid; and a moment later was swept, an unresisting log, into its treacherous clutches. Out of it he plunged, still swimming valiantly; and, despite the opposing force of the current, made a bold dash for one of the few possible landings on the town bank. But the people, foreseeing the attempt from long experience, were gathered at this particular danger-point in overwhelming numbers; with the result that the unhappy beast was fairly hustled back into the boiling stream.
Here the second rapid claimed him; and excitement became intense; for the fate of a year hung trembling in the balance. There was no shouting now; but a breathless expectant silence. Only the river,--full of sound and fury,--babbled unceasingly to the majestic sky.
The moment of uncertainty was short as it was tense. Once more the brave black head appeared, a blot on the foam-flecked surface, no longer battling, with dilated nostrils, against fearful odds; but lying sideways, inert . . . lifeless; . . . and a prolonged outburst of shouting, clapping, and huzzaing informed the echoing hills that the great spirit of rivers and streams had accepted the sacrifice; that the luck of the State was established for twelve good months to come.
”Poor beast, poor plucky beast!” Quita murmured rebelliously. Her sympathies had been strangely stirred; and an unbidden moisture clouded her eyes. In that hapless drowned buffalo she beheld, not a mere dead animal, but one victim the more to the eternal law of sacrifice;--the law that makes one man's suffering the price of another man's gain;--the law that lies at the root of half the tragedy of the world.
”How happy they all are!” she went on. ”That Rajah boy is delighted.
They have no imaginations these people. So much the better for them!”
By now the _shamianah_ hummed with talk and laughter and congratulation on the outcome of the _Mela_. Every one had risen; and Desmond turned with the rest to add his quota to the polite speeches that were the order of the moment.
But Quita, still intent upon the stirring scene without, moved forward a little s.p.a.ce to obtain a better view of the river and the crowd.
Lenox followed her; and with a start she became aware that he was standing almost at her elbow; though still a little behind her, so that she must turn if she wanted to see his face.
”Are you wis.h.i.+ng you could put some of that on canvas?” he asked in a voice that he vainly strove to render natural.
”Yes. It would be such a triumphant riot of colour. But I'm afraid it would look crude and impossible in any frame except the frame of an Indian sky.”
She did not turn in speaking; but the softness of her voice soothed his chafed spirit like a benediction, and robbed him for the moment of all power to reply.
”I was really trying to stamp it all on my memory,” she went on after a pause. ”It is a sight one doesn't see twice in a lifetime. Just for a few seconds it was terrible. But I would not have missed it for the world.”
”Nor I. Now that I am here, I feel grateful to the Desmonds for persuading me to come.”
”Did they have to drag you here by main force?”
”Not quite! I thought I had better stay and grind at my book; that was all. But they wouldn't hear of it.”
”Do you always obey their orders implicitly?” There was veiled scorn in her tone, and a new warmth in his as he replied:
”I would do any mortal thing they asked me to, within reason. In all my life no two people have been so good to me.”
”You evidently admire _her_ very much.” The stress on the p.r.o.noun was too delicate to catch his notice.
”I do, immensely. How could any man in his senses do otherwise? Or, for that matter, any woman either? I hoped--I thought--you would have been good friends with her.”