Part 13 (1/2)
Ser than a monkey Now the skin was puckered into a million wrinkles, and on the shapeless face was the sta like it; nobody ever saw anything like the frightful age that was graven on that fearful countenance, no bigger now than that of a two- h the skull remained the same size, or nearly so, and let all men pray they never may, if they wish to keep their reason
At last she lay still, or only feebly azed upon us the loveliest, noblest, most splendid woman the world has ever seen, she lay still before us, near themonkey, and hideous--ah, too hideous for words And yet, think of this--at that very ht of it--it was the sa:it, and thanked God--for while she lived she could feel, and what must she have felt? She raised herself upon her bony hands, and blindly gazed around her, swaying her head slowly from side to side as a tortoise does She could not see, for her whitish eyes were covered with a horny filht! But she could still speak
”Kallikrates,” she said in husky, treet ain, and shall once more be beautiful, I swear it--it is true! Oh--h--h--” and she fell upon her face, and was still
On the very spot where more than twenty centuries before she had slain Kallikrates the priest, she herself fell down and died
I know not how long we remained thus Many hours, I suppose When at last I opened my eyes, the other tere still outstretched upon the floor The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn, and the thunder-wheels of the Spirit of Life yet rolled upon their accusto away There, too, lay the hideous little monkey frame, covered with crinkled yellow parchlorious She Alas! it was no hideous dream--it was an awful and unparalleled fact!
What had happened to bring this shocking change about? Had the nature of the life-giving Fire changed? Did it, perhaps, from time to time send forth an essence of Death instead of an essence of Life? Or was it that the fraed with its marvellous virtue could bear no more, so that were the process repeated--it nations neutralised each other, and left the body on which they acted as it was before it ever came into contact with the very essence of Life? This, and this alone, would account for the sudden and terrible ageing of Ayesha, as the whole length of her two thousand years took effect upon her I have not the slightest doubtbefore me was just what the frame of a woman would be if by any extraordinary th died at the age of two- and-twenty centuries
But who can tell what had happened? There was the fact Often since that awful hour I have reflected that it requires no great ier of Providence in the e to age for the coe in the order of the World But Ayesha strong and happy in her love, clothed in immortal youth and Goddess beauty, and the wisdom of the centuries, would have revolutionised society, and even perchance have changed the destiny of Mankind Thus she opposed herself against the eternal law, and, strong though she was, by it ept back to nothingness--swept back with shame and hideousthese terrors over in th came back to me, which it quickly did in that buoyant atered to my feet, to see if I could arouse theauzy scarf hich she had been wont to hide her dazzling loveliness froht not look upon it, covered up that dreadful relic of the glorious dead, that shocking epitome of hu lest Leo should recover, and see it again
Then, stepping over the perfumed masses of dark hair that lay upon the sand, I stooped down by Job, as lying upon his face, and turned him over As I did so his arm fell back in a way that I did not like, and which sent a chill through h Our old and faithful servant was dead His nerves, already shattered by all he had seen and undergone, had utterly broken down beneath this last dire sight, and he had died of terror, or in a fit brought on by terror I had only to look at his face to see it
It was another blow; but perhaps it ly aas the experience through which we had passed-- we did not feel it much at the time It seemed quite natural that the poor fellow should be dead When Leo ca of the limbs about ten minutes afterwards, and I told him that Job was dead, he merely said, ”Oh!” And, mind you, this was from no heartlessness, for he and Job were much attached to each other; and he often talks of hiret and affection It was only that his nerves would bear no ive out but a certain quantity of sound, however heavily it is s Leo, who, to , and in the end I succeeded, as I have said, and he sat up; and then I saw another dreadful thing When we entered that awful place his curling hair had been of the ruddiest gold, noas turning grey, and by the time we reached the outer air it was snohite Besides, he looked twenty years older
”What is to be done, old fellow?” he said in a hollow, dead sort of voice, when his mind had cleared a little, and a recollection of what had happened forced itself upon it
”Try and get out, I suppose,” I answered; ”that is, unless you would like to go in there,” and I pointed to the coluo in if I were sure that it would kill h ”It was my cursed hesitation that did this If I had not been doubtful she ht never have tried to show ht have the opposite effect upon ht make me immortal; and, old fellow, I have not the patience to wait a couple of thousand years for her to coain as she did for me I had rather die when my hour coo o in if you like”
But I merely shook my head, my excitement was as dead as ditch-water, and ation of ly than ever Besides, we neither of us knehat the effects of the firenature, and of the exact causes that produced that result ere, of course, ignorant
”Well, o the way of those two,” and I pointed to the little heap under the white gar we had better go But, by the way, I expect that the lamps have burnt out,” and I took one up and looked at it, and sure enough it had
”There is some more oil in the vase,” said Leo indifferently--”if it is not broken, at least”
I exa hand I filled the lamps--luckily there was still some of the linen wick unburnt Then I lit them with one of our wax matches While I did so we heard the pillar of fire approaching oncejourney, if, indeed, it was the same pillar that passed and repassed in a circle
”Let's see it coain in this world”
It seemed a bit of idle curiosity, but so slowly round upon its own axis, it had fla for howplace in the bowels of the earth, and for how many more thousands it would continue to take place I wondered also if any e, or anyvolume of its majestic sound I do not think that they will I believe that we are the last huht Presently it had gone, and we too turned to go
But before we did so we each took Job's cold hand in ours and shook it It was a rather ghastly cere our respect to the faithful dead and of celebrating his obsequies The heap beneath the white garment we did not uncover We had no wish to look upon that terrible sight again But ent to the pile of rippling hair that had fallen froe which orse than a thousand natural deaths, and each of us drew fro lock, and these locks we still have, the sole memento that is left to us of Ayesha as we knew her in the fulness of her grace and glory Leo pressed the perfuet her,” he said hoarsely; ”and swore that we should et her Here I swear that if we live to get out of this, I will not for allwoo I ait for her as faithfully as she waited for ht to myself, ”if she co she ca reflection it is, by the way, that nearly all our deep love for women who are not our kindred depends--at any rate, in the first instance--upon their personal appearance If we lost theh otherwise they were the very same, should we still love them? --L H H
Well, and then ent We went, and left those two in the presence of the very well and spring of Life, but gathered to the cold company of Death How lonely they looked as they lay there, and how ill assorted! That little heap had been for two thousand years the wisest, loveliest, proudest creature--I can hardly call her woman--in the whole universe She had been wicked, too, in her way; but, alas! such is the frailty of the human heart, her wickedness had not detracted from her charm Indeed, I am by no means certain that it did not add to it It was after all of a grand order, there was nothing mean or small about Ayesha
And poor Job too! His presentiment had coe burial-place--no Norfolk hind ever had a stranger, or ever will; and it is so to lie in the same sepulchre as the poor remains of the imperial She
We looked our last upon thelohich they lay, and then with hearts far too heavy for words we left them, and crept thence broken-down men--so broken down that we even renounced the chance of practically ione fro our days indefinitely would only be to prolong our sufferings For we felt--yes, both of us--that having once looked Ayesha in the eyes, we could not forget her for ever and ever while memory and identity remained We both loved her now and for all time, she was stamped and carven on our hearts, and no other woman or interest could ever raze that splendid die And I--there lies the sting--I had and have no right to think thus of her As she told h the unfathomed depths of Time, unless, indeed, conditions alter, and a day comes at last when two men may love one woman, and all three be happy in the fact It is the only hope of my broken-heartedness, and a rather faint one Beyond it I have nothing I have paid down this heavy price, all that I am worth here and hereafter, and that is my sole reward With Leo it is different, and often and often I bitterly envy hiht, and her wisdo from the precedent of her own case, I think most unlikely, he has some future to look forward to But I have none, and yet--mark the folly and the weakness of the human heart, and let him who is wise learn wisdom from it--yet I would not have it otherwise I iven and ive, and take in payment those crumbs that fall from my mistress's table, the memory of a few kind words, the hope one day in the far undreaentle friendshi+p, and a little show of thanks for my devotion to her--and Leo
If that does not constitute true love, I do not knohat does, and all I have to say is that it is a very bad state of affairs for a e to fall into
XXVII
WE LEAP
We passed through the caves without trouble, but e came to the slope of the inverted cone two difficulties stared us in the face The first of these was the laborious nature of the ascent, and the next the extre our way Indeed, had it not been for the mental notes that I had fortunately taken of the shape of various rocks, I aed it at all, but have wandered about in the dreadful womb of the volcano--for I suppose itof the sort--until we died of exhaustion and despair As it ent wrong several tie crack or crevasse It was terrible work creeping about in the dense gloo it by the feeble light of the lanise its shape We rarely spoke, our hearts were too heavy for speech, we si ourselves, in a rather dogged sort of way The fact was that our spirits were utterly crushed, and we did not greatly care what happened to us Only we felt bound to try and save our lives whilst we could, and indeed a natural instinct prompted us to it So for some three or four hours, I should think--I cannot tell exactly how long, for we had no watch left that would go--we blundered on During the last two hours ere coot into the funnel of sonised a very large rock which we had passed in descending but a little way fronised it, and, indeed, we had already passed it going at right angles to the proper path, when so about it struck me, and I turned back and examined it in an idle sort of way, and, as it happened, this proved our salvation
After this we gained the rocky natural stair without much further trouble, and in due course found ourselves back in the little chahted Noot had lived and died
But now a fresh terror stared us in the face It will be re to Job's fear and aardness, the plank upon which we had crossed fro-stone had been whirled off into the treulf below
Hoe to cross without the plank?
There was only one anse must try and jump it, or else stop there till we starved The distance in itself was not so very great, between eleven and twelve feet I should think, and I have seen Leo jue; but then, think of the conditions Teary, worn-out -stone to take off fro point of rock soulf to be cleared in a raging gale! It was bad enough, God knows, but when I pointed out these things to Leo, he put the wholethat, merciless as the choice edeath in the chamber and the risk of a swift one in the air Of course, there was no arguing against this, but one thing was clear, we could not atte to do was to wait for the ray of light which pierced through the gulf at sunset How near to or how far froht be, neither of us had the faintest notion; all we did knoas, that when at last the light came it would not endure more than a couple of minutes at the outside, so that we ly, we -stone and lie there in readiness We were the more easily reconciled to this course by the fact that our laone out bodily, and the other was ju up and down as the flame of a laht, we hastened to crawl out of the little chareat stone
As we did so the light went out
The difference in our position was a sufficiently remarkable one Below, in the little chaale overhead--here, lying on our faces on the swinging stone, ere exposed to its full force and fury, as the great draught drew first frohty precipice and through the rocky cliffs like ten thousand despairing souls We lay there hour after hour in terror and misery of mind so deep that I will not attempt to describe it, and listened to the wild storm-voices of that Tartarus, as, set to the deep undertone of the spur opposite against which the wind hummed like some awful harp, they called to each other frohtmare dreamed by man, no wild invention of the ro horror of that place, and the weird crying of those voices of the night, as we clung like shi+pwrecked mariners to a raft, and tossed on the black, unfathomed wilderness of air Fortunately the temperature was not a low one; indeed, the ar and listened, and while ere stretched out upon the rock a thing happened which was so curious and suggestive in itself, though doubtless a , it added to, rather than deducted from, the burden on our nerves
It will be re on the spur, before we crossed to the stone, the wind tore her cloak froulf, we could not see whither Well--I hardly like to tell the story; it is so strange As we lay there upon the rocking-stone, this very cloak ca out of the black space, like a memory from the dead, and fell on Leo--so that it covered him nearly from head to foot We could not at first make out what it was, but soon discovered by its feel, and then poor Leo, for the first ti there upon the stone No doubt the cloak had been caught upon some pinnacle of the cliff, and was thence blown hither by a chance gust; but still, it was aincident
Shortly after this, suddenly, without the slightest previous warning, the great red knife of light cah--struck the swaying stone on which ere, and rested its sharp point upon the spur opposite
”Now for it,” said Leo, ”now or never”
We rose and stretched ourselves, and looked at the cloud-wreaths stained the colour of blood by that red ray as they tore through the sickening depths beneath, and then at the e rock, and, in our hearts, despaired, and prepared for death Surely we could not clear it--desperate though ere
”Who is to go first?” said I
”Do you, old fellow,” answered Leo ”I will sit upon the other side of the stone to steady it You h; and God have mercy on us, say I”
I acquiesced with a nod, and then I did a thing I had never done since Leo was a little boy I turned and put my arm round him, and kissed him on the forehead It sounds rather French, but as a fact I was taking my last farewell of a man whom I could not have loved more if he had been my own son twice over
”Good-bye, ain, wherever it is that we go to”