Part 18 (1/2)
”Because you see the dry Holy Flower far away in England, and you say, 'I must be Holy Father to that Flower' Then you pay down shekels (here her Bible reading came in) for the cost of journey and hire brave hunter to kill devil-God and bring my old white-head parent with you Oh yes, you are saviour,” and she nodded her head at him very prettily
”Of course,” replied Stephen with enthusias, as I will explain later But, Miss Hope, meanwhile could you show us the Flower?”
”Oh! Holy Mother must do that If you look thereon without her, you die”
”Really!” said Stephen, without alluding to his little feat of wall cliood deal of hesitation, the Holy Mother obliged, saying that as the God was dead she supposed nothing else mattered First, however, she went to the back of the house and clapped her hands, whereon an old woman, a mute and a very perfect specily To her Mrs Eversley talked upon her fingers, so rapidly that I could scarcely follow her moveround, then rose and ran towards the water
”I have sent her to fetch the paddles from the canoe,” said Mrs Eversley, ”and to put my mark upon it Now none will dare to use it to cross the lake”
”That is very wise,” I replied, ”as we don't want news of our whereabouts to get to the Motombo”
Next ent to the enclosure, where Mrs Eversley with a native knife cut a string of palm fibres that was sealed with clay on to the door and one of its uprights in such a fashi+on that none could enter without breaking the string The impression was e of office It was a very curious object fashi+oned of gold and having deeply cut upon its face a rough iht paw As it was also ancient, this seemed to show that thejointly worshi+pped by the Pongo
When she had opened the door, there appeared, growing in the centre of the enclosure, the ine, that ht feet across, and the leaves were dark green, long and narrow From its various crowns rose the scapes of bloom And oh! those blooms, of which there were about twelve, expanded now in the flowering season The iven already, so I need not repeat theured the fertility or otherwise of each succeeding year from the number of the blooms on the Holy Flower If these were many the season would prove very fruitful; if few, less so; while if, as soht and falorious blossoh as a man, with their back sheaths of vivid white barred with black, their great pouches of burnished gold and their ings also of gold Then in the centre of each pouch appeared the ink-mark that did indeed exactly resemble the head of a monkey But if this orchid astonished me, its effect upon Stephen, hoined Really he went allared at the plant, and finally flung hi Miss Hope to exclaim: ”What, O Stephen Somers! do you also make sacrifice to the Holy Flower?”
”Rather,” he answered; ”I'd-I'd-die for it!”
”You are likely to before all is done,” I rerownin the world which justifies that, and it isn't a flower
Mavovo and Hans had followed us into the enclosure, and I overheard a conversation between theist of it was that Hans explained to Mavovo that the white people adold, which was the God they really worshi+pped, although that God was known a them by many names Mavovo, as not at all interested in the affair, replied with a shrug that it h for his part he believed the true reason to be that the plant produced soth Zulus, I may say, do not care for flowers unless they bear a fruit that is good to eat
When I had satisfied nificent blooht be that were dotted about the enclosure, beyond the circle of cultivated peaty soil which surrounded the orchid's roots
”They are the graves of the Mothers of the Holy Flower,” she answered ”There are twelve of them, and here is the spot chosen for the thirteenth, which was to have been e the subject I asked another question, na in the country?
”No,” she replied, ”or at least I never heard of any Indeed, I have always been told that this one was brought froo Also, under an ancient law, it is never allowed to increase Any shoots it sends up beyond this ring must be cut off by me and destroyed with certain cererow on the stalk of one of last year's blooht of the next new moon, when the Kalubi comes to visit me, I must with much ritual burn it in his presence, unless it has burst before he arrives, in which case Iup with almost the same ritual”
”I don't think the Kalubi will come any more; at least, not while you are here Indeed, I a the place, acting onof value when I get the chance, I broke off that ripe seed-pod, which was of the size of an orange No one was looking at the tiht intoStephen and the young lady to admire this Cypripedium-or each other-in the enclosure, we three elders returned to the house to discuss matters
”John and Mrs Eversley,” I said, ”by Heaven's mercy you are reunited after a terrible separation of over twenty years But what is to be done now? The God, it is true, is dead, and therefore the passage of the forest will be easy But beyond it is the water which we have noand beyond the water that old wizard, the Moto like a spider in its web And beyond the Motombo and his cave are Komba, the new Kalubi and his tribe of cannibals--”
”Cannibals!” interrupted Mrs Eversley, ”I never knew that they were cannibals Indeed, I know little about the Pongo, whom I scarcely ever see”
”Then, madam, you must take my word for it that they are; also, as I believe, that they have every expectation of eating us Now, as I presume that you do not wish to spend the rest of your lives, which would probably be short, upon this island, I want to ask how you propose to escape safely out of the Pongo country?”
They shook their heads, which were evidently empty of ideas Only John stroked his white beard, and inquired ed, Allan? My dear wife and I are quite willing to leave the ed!” I stuttered ”Really, John, under any other circumstances--” Then after a moment's reflection I called to Hans and Mavovo, who came and squatted down upon the verandah
”Now,” I said, after I had put the case to theestions, I wished to pass on that intolerable responsibility
”My father makes a e how it is to get out with the dog that is waiting at the top? So far we have co but death”
”That's cheerful,” I said ”Your turn, Hans”
”Oh! Baas,” replied the Hottentot, ”for a while I grew clever again when I thought of putting the gun Into, and when I try to shake wisdom out of it my brain melts and washes fro Yet, yet, I have a thought-let us ask the Missie Her brain is young and not tired, it ood, for already he is lost in other things,” and Hans grinned feebly
More to give myself time than for any other reason I called to Miss Hope, who had just eed from the sacred enclosure with Stephen, and put the riddle to her, speaking very slowly and clearly, so that she ht understand me To my surprise she answered at once
”What is a God, O Mr Allen? Is it not more than man? Can a God be bound in a pit for a thousand years, like Satan in Bible? If a God want to move, see new country and so on, who can say no?”
”I don't quite understand,” I said, to draw her out further, although, in fact, I hadof what she meant
”O Allan, Holy Flower there a God, and my mother priestess If Holy Flower tired of this land, and want to grow soo too?”
”Capital idea,” I said, ”but you see, Miss Hope, there are, or were, two Gods, one of which cannot travel”
”Oh! that very easy, too Put skin of God of the woods on to this man,” and she pointed to Hans, ”and who know difference? They like as two brothers already, only he sot it!” exclaimed Stephen in admiration
”What Missie say?” asked Hans, suspiciously
I told him
”Oh! Baas,” exclaimed Hans, ”think of the smell inside of that God's skin when the sun shi+nes on it Also the God was a very big God, and I am small”
Then he turned andthat his stature was much better suited to the job
”First will I die,” answered the great Zulu ”Ah blood inthe skin of a dead brute about ain, Spotted Snake, and we shall quarrel”
”See here, Hans,” I said ”Mavovo is right He is a soldier and very strong in battle You also are very strong in your wits, and by doing this you will o Also, Hans, it is better that you should wear the skin of a gorilla for a few hours than that I, your master, and all these should be killed”
”Yes, Baas, it is true, Baas; though for myself I almost think that, like Mavovo, I would rather die Yet it would be sweet to deceive those Pongo once again, and, Baas, I won't see you killed just to save myself another bad smell or two So, if you wish it, I will becoood fellow, Hans, who is the real hero of this history, thatcould be looked on as settled in our circued that ould start upon our desperate adventure at dawn on the following
Meanwhile, much remained to be done First, Mrs Eversley summoned her attendants, who, to the number of twelve, soon appeared in front of the verandah It was very sad to see these poor women, all of ere albinos and unpleasant to look on, while quite half appeared to be deaf and du as a priestess, she explained that the God elt in the woods was dead, and that therefore she must take the Holy Flohich was called ”Wife of the God” and make report to the Motombo of this dreadful catastrophe Meanwhile, they must remain on the island and continue to cultivate the fields
This order threw the poor creatures, ere evidently reat state of consternation The eldest of them all, a tall, thin old lady hite wool and pink eyes who looked, as Stephen said, like an Angora rabbit, prostrated herself and kissing the Mother's foot, asked when she would return, since she and the ”Daughter of the Floere all they had to love, and without the her evident emotion as best she could, the Mother replied that she did not know; it depended on the will of Heaven and the Moto their picks hich they worked the land; also poles,up the Holy Flower This was done under the superintendence of Stephen, who here was thoroughly in his eleh the job proved far from easy Also it was sad, for all these women wept as they worked, while some of them ere not dumb, wailed aloud
Even Miss Hope cried, and I could see that her mother was affected with a kind of awe For twenty years she had been guardian of this plant, which I think she had at last not unnaturally come to look upon with some of the sao people