Part 38 (1/2)
”We are securely blocked, Master Benteen,” he asserted gruffly ”A fit reward for associating with papists”
”Blocked?” failing to coes already astir?”
”Look for yourself See yonder; lights are on the pathway as high as the tree-bridge”
I dropped uponto a bowlder, and peered over He spoke truth, andinnu the entire front of the cliff--torches borne by hu down, each realizing the utter futility of our efforts at escape, yet none reckless enough to give the thought utterance The Puritan first found speech
”The spawn of hell!” he growled savagely, shaking his great fist, renities of the altar-house ”Good Lord, deliver us froh the waters dry-shod, even as Thou didst Thy people of old froypt”
”Co-place is within, and trust God for it”
The priest looked at ly, his eyes like stars
”I would at such an hour you were of ht do worse,” I adhts on the cliff-path, ”but it was not the teaching of my childhood There is one belohose prayers are as yours”
”Madaesture of reverence
”Yes, Monsieur, and whatever she loves is not far from my heart But come, we have scant tiht is nothing to my arms”
There was no spot within where, even for a short period, we allery Here, crouching behind the parapet, we could see without being seen, unless soe chanced to stray that way At ed the helpless old chief priest after hih the darkness of the short passage, until we attained the stone steps Stu in realization of the peril that was closing us in, we flung our bodies flat behind the concealing rocks, peering fearfully forth into the great deserted chaht to chill the heart; and to us, coe orgy It was like gazing down into the le touch of color in the drear picture cae of the raised platforht the deeper gloo toward the entrance As I stared that way a sudden flash of fierce lightning illuht, I hid
”Great God!” burst forth Cairnes, his voice so close as to startle me
”'T is like the end of the world!”
”Be still,” I co hi torches rounded the rock projection the lights glistening over the half-naked bodies of the bearers Saint Andrew! it was a weird sight, one to strike terror to the soul! With gritted teeth, , I looked out upon it The leader was a priest, black fro devilish in the torch flare, his coarse hair h in horrid reseed a mob of warriors, women, and children, half-nude bodies striped with red and yellow, aunder the fla themselves prostrate before the altar It see forth fro streaed streaks across the little patch of sky, and the black smoke of the torches curled upward to the roof Their appearance was not human, but that of denashi+ng their teeth and howling; many yelped in fiendish chorus; others brandished weapons aloft in the yellow fla snakes on the rock floor It was a pandemonium, a babel, an unspeakable hell To count was i with guttural, inarticulate cries The busily flitting priests stirred up the wood until the blaze leaped nearly to the roof,of the tribesers leapt into the air, flinging their li in violence, their grotesquely painted faces beco passion They becaht was cruelty I saw the the flesh till blood ran Heartsick and trelanced aside atthe stone, his eyes ith horror, his countenance death-like; Cairnes was upon his knees, his great hands gripped, staring straight down like so
It hen I turned back, loathing the sight yet unable to resist facing it, that I beheld for the first tiht--Eloise, De Noyan, and the Queen Naladi An instant I blindedthat the horror had turned my brain, that all this was vision Yet, as I ventured to look again, they were there before ure aht, with proud, imperious face, crowned by the brilliant hair, radiant and sparkling in the flame Beside her loitered De Noyan, like one who enjoyed a spectacle arranged for his pleasure, his face darkening so, yet debonair and careless, his waxed ers in his waist-belt
About the tere ranged a fringe of warriors, their flint-headed spears rising an impenetrable wall, while farther behind, separated and alone, the light of the fire barely revealing her presence, stood Eloise, a savage guard on either side of her I caught the outline of her face, i as if in supplication; then I perceived so an oath, I crept back to the pile of weapons in the corner, gripped a war-club, and, returning as silently, thrust a second into the unconscious hands of Cairnes Our eyes rimly, his jaws set like a steel trap If need should arise ould die fighting like cornered rats
Their yells reverberating to the vaulted roof, the s of crazed fanatics were now upon their feet, crowding toward the platfor in incessant de arlimpse of Naladi's red robe scarcely ten feet away, and behind her the countenance of De Noyan, still conte rabble God! htened on the club Yet I laywell the tie of the rock platfor intently down, a silent,to her feet, and below her the cri torches in the hands of her barbaric followers cast their light full upon her I stared at the strange creature, co of the power of passion such as she could exercise over De Noyan, causing hiet all honor in her presence Saint Andrew! she was a witch, a hell-cat, whose s then, a s down upon the howling slaves who should do her pleasure She knew them well, every superstition, every wild iery Not fear, but coerdemain, by lie and trick, and she stood, the supre hell It see then of Eloise aaze on that doazing intently down, her red robe sweeping to her feet; below the flaring torches in the hands of her barbaric followers cast their light full upon her]
The cries of the multitude ceased, and a black-draped priest shouted unintelligible words Naladi listened, extending one hand Then her thin lips spoke a single sentence in the sharp tone of command
Instantly burst forth a fierce roar of disapproval; war-clubs pounded the floor, spears rattled as they were brandished overhead, while above the din I caught, again and again, the shriek, ”_Francais_!
_Francais_!” The Queen shook her head, her fair face darkening, and glanced aside into the questioning eyes of De Noyan Below the upward, every voice yelping that one ter the dreadFrench victims for the torture of sacrifice; they clamored for white blood hich to sprinkle the altar I could diainst the farther wall, the whites of their eyes showing in terror, and--oh, God!--there, to the right of the on the rock floor, with face hidden in her hands, was Eloise I half rose to ony What was to be the ending? What was that mad woman's purpose? Could she control the fierce blood-lust of those savage fanatics? If she cared to do so, would she dare test her power in so desperate a game? If one must be sacrificed which would she spare, De Noyan or his hapless wife? Looking at her, cold, cynical, lustful, her eyes still turned on his face, I felt no doubt Let the foul fiend choose! by all the Gods, Cairnes should brain her where she stood, and, Heaven helping me to do the deed, the one I loved should never die by torture!
She took her own tie, her thin lips curling in contelance yet upon the startled Chevalier Laying her hand upon his sleeve, she said in French: