H. Rider Haggard

“ The atmosphere seemed heavy with secret sin; Alan felt that in those rooms unnameable crimes and cruelties had been committed for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years, and that the place was yet haunted by the ghosts of them. At any rate it struck a chill to his healthy blood, more even than had that Hall of the Dead and of heaped-up golden treasure.
“Does my house please you?” the Asika asked of him.
“Not altogether,” he answered, “I think it is dark.”
“From the beginning my spirit has ever loved the dark, Vernoon. ”

“ Barbara ceased her weeping, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and looked up at him.
“Alan,” she said, “I think that you are the biggest fool I ever knew—not but that a fool is rather refreshing when one lives among knaves.”
“I know I am a fool,” he answered. “If I wasn’t I should not have mentioned my misfortune to you, but sometimes things are too much for one. Forget it and forgive me.”
“Oh! yes,” she said; “I forgive you; a woman can generally forgive a man for being fond of her. Whatever she may be, she is ready to take a lenient view of his human weakness. ”

“ Already it was prepared for the great festival of to-morrow, when the Mungana should drown himself and Alan be married to the Asika. There on the daïs were the gold chairs in which they were to sit, and green branches of trees mixed with curious flags decked the vast amphitheatre beyond. Moreover, there was the broad canal, and floating in the midst of it the hideous gold fetish, Big Bonsa. The moon shone on its glaring, deathly eyes, its fish-like snout and its huge, pale teeth. ”

“ During the dark hours that followed Alan and madness were not far apart. What could he do? Escape was utterly impossible. For weeks he and Jeekie had considered it in vain. Even if they could win out of the Gold House fortress, what hope had they of making their way through the crowded, tortuous town where, after the African fashion, peopled walked about all night, every one of whom would recognize the white man, whether he were masked or no? ”

“ But till then I am lord of the Asika, and if she forgets it, death shall be her portion, according to the ancient law.”
“Yes, yes,” shouted the multitude, “death shall be her portion, and her lover we will sacrifice. Die in honour, Mungana, as all those died that went before you.”
“Thank Heaven!” muttered Alan to himself, “I am safe from that witch for the next two months,” and through the eye-holes of his mask he contemplated her with loathing and alarm. ”

“ The sun was sinking rapidly, and before the litter reached the foot of the hill and began to cross the rich valley, all the glory had departed and only the cataract showed white and ghost-like through the gloom. But still the light, which seemed to gather to itself, gleamed upon that golden roof amid the cedar trees; then the moon rose and the gold was turned to silver. Alan lay back upon his cushions full of wonder, almost of awe. ”

“ On the hither edge of this canal, seated upon a raised daïs in the midst of a great open space of polished rock, was the Asika, or so he gathered from her gold breastplate and sparkling garments, for her fierce and beautiful features were hid beneath an object familiar enough to him, the yellow, crystal-eyed mask of Little Bonsa. Arranged in companies about and behind her were hundreds of people, male and female, clad in hideous costumes to resemble demons, with masks to match. ”

“ I understand that if I tell secrets of Little Bonsa to anyone except you with whom she live in strange land far away from home, Little Bonsa come at me like one lion, and cut my throat. No fear Jeekie split on Little Bonsa, oh! no fear at all,” and still shaking his head solemnly, for the second time he seized the cold mutton and vanished from the room.
“A farrago of superstitious nonsense,” thought Alan to himself when he had gone. “But still there may be something to be made out of it. Evidently there is lots of gold in this Asiki country, if only one can persuade the people to deal.” ”

“ Then weary of Jeekie and his tribal gods, Alan lit his pipe and sat a while thinking of Barbara and all the events of that tumultuous day. Notwithstanding his rebuff at the hands of Mr. Haswell and the difficulties and dangers which threatened, he felt even then that it had been a happy and a fortunate day. For had he not discovered that Barbara loved him with all her heart and soul as he loved Barbara? And as this was so, he did not care a—Little Bonsa about anything else. The future must look to itself, sufficient to the day was the abiding joy thereof. ”

“ Gods are devils and must be appeased, lest they bring misfortune on us; men must be ruled by terror, or they would rebel and pull down the great House; doctors must learn magic, or how could they avert spells? wizards must be killed, or the people would perish in their net. May not we who live in a hell, strive to beat back its flame with the wisdom our forefathers have handed on to us? Tell me, Vernoon, for I would know.”
“You make your own hell,” answered Alan when with the help of Jeekie he understood her talk. ”

“ Jeekie and the head porter went through the gap like men carrying a corpse to midnight burial, and presently in the darkness without two owls began to hoot.
Now Aylward was laid upon a litter that had been prepared, and eight white-robed Asiki bearers stared at his gold mask in the faint starlight.
“I suppose he is not dead, brother,” said Owl No. 2 doubtfully.
“Nay, brother,” said Owl No. 1, “feel his heart and his pulse. Not dead, only drunk. He will wake up by daylight, by which time you should be far upon your way. Be good and gentle to the white man Vernoon, who has been my master. ”

“ That night Alan summoned the Ogula and spoke to them through Jeekie in their own language. At first they declared that they would not leave their chief, preferring to stay and die with him.
“Not so,” said Fahni; “go, my children, that I may live. Go and gather the tribe, all the thousands of them who are men and can fight, and bring them up to attack Asiki-land, to rescue me if I still live, or to avenge me if I am dead. As for these bearers, do them no harm, but send them on to the coast with the white man’s goods.” ”

“ They ate of it ravenously, and while they ate, told Fahni something of the story of their escape. The old chief listened amazed, but like Jeekie asked Alan why he had not killed the Mungana, who would have killed him.
Alan, who was in no mood for long explanations, answered that he had kept him with them because he might be useful.
“Yes, yes, friend, I see,” exclaimed the old cannibal, “although he is so thin he will always make a meal or two at a pinch. Truly white men are wise and provident. Like the ants, you take thought for the morrow.” ”

“ Sir Robert Aylward, catching sight of him, came across the hall in his usual, direct fashion, and shook him by the hand.
“Glad to see you, Vernon,” he said, fixing his piercing eyes upon Alan as though he were trying to read his thoughts. “Pleasant change this from the City and all that eternal business, isn’t it? Ah! you are thinking that one is not quite clear of business after all,” and he glanced round at the company. “That’s one of your cousin Haswell’s faults; he can never shake himself free of the thing, never get any real recreation. ”

“ In your country do they make women live with men whom they loathe? I love you, Bonsa himself knows why. Perhaps because you have a white skin and white thoughts. But I hate that man. What is the use of being Asika if I cannot take what I love and reject what I hate? Go away, Vernoon, go away, you have angered me, and if it were not for what you have said about that new law of mercy, I think that I would cut your throat,” and again she boxed Jeekie’s ears and kicked him in the shins.
Alan rose and bowed himself towards the door while she stood with her back towards him, sobbing. ”

“ Soon he will die of love for me, and then when he is dead, though not before, I may take another husband, any husband that I choose, and I think that no black man shall be my lord, who have other, purer blood in me. Vernoon, five centuries have gone by since an Asika was really wed to a foreign man who wore a green turban and called himself a son of the Prophet, a man with a hooked nose and flashing eyes, who reviled our gods until they slew him, even though he was the beloved of their priestess. ”

“ Oh! no, Vernoon, she does not die; she only changes. The old body dies, the spirit enters into another body which is waiting. Thus until I was fourteen I was but a common girl, the daughter of a headman of that village yonder, at least so they tell me, for of this time I have no memory. Then the Asika died and as I had the secret marks and the beauty that is hers the priests burnt her body before Big Bonsa and suffocated me, the child, in the smoke of the burning. ”

“ Next instant, with a spring like that of a tiger Jeekie was on Aylward. The weight of his charge knocked him backwards to the ground, and there he lay, pinned fast.
“What for you do that?” exclaimed the indignant Jeekie. “What for you shoot through wool of respectable nigger, Sir Robert Aylward, Bart.? Now I throttle you, you dirty hog-swine. No Magistrates’ Court here in Dwarf Forest,” and he began to suit the action to the word.
“Let him go, Jeekie. Take his rifle and let him go,” exclaimed Alan, who all this while had stood amazed. ”

“ He asked Jeekie who made the road.
“People who come out Noah’s Ark,” answered Jeekie, “I think they run up here to get out of way of water, and sent them two elephants ahead to make path. Or perhaps dwarf people make it. Or perhaps those who go up to Asiki-land to do sacrifice like old Jews.”
“You mean you don’t know,” said Alan.
“No, of course don’t know. Who know about forest path made before beginning of world. You ask question, Major, I answer. More lively answer than to shake head and roll eyes like them silly fool porters.” ”

“ He was worth looking at, was Jeekie. Let the reader imagine a very tall and powerfully-built negro with a skin as black as a well-polished boot, woolly hair as white as snow, a little tufted beard also white, a hand like a leg of mutton, but with long delicate fingers and pink, filbert-shaped nails, an immovable countenance, but set in it beneath a massive brow, two extraordinary humorous and eloquent black eyes which expressed every emotion passing through the brain behind them, that is when their owner chose to allow them to do so. ”

“ Sir Robert Aylward sat in his own quiet room at the back of this enduring building, a very splendid room that any Secretary of State might have envied, but arranged in excellent taste. Its walls were panelled with figured teak, a rich carpet made the footfall noiseless, an antique Venus stood upon a marble pedestal in the corner, and over the mantelpiece hung a fine portrait by Gainsborough, that of a certain Miss Aylward, a famous beauty in her day, with whom, be it added, its present owner could boast no connection whatsoever. ”

“ What it needs is the wisdom of the white man, such wisdom as yours, Vernoon. If that were added to my magic, then the Asiki would grow great again, seeing that they have in such plenty the gold which you have shown me the white man loves. Yes, they would grow great, and from coast to coast the people should bow at the name of Bonsa and send him their sons for sacrifice. Perhaps you will live to see that day, Vernoon. Slave,” she added, addressing Jeekie, “set the mask upon your lord’s head, for we come where women are.” ”

“ You can buy what you want and people creep round you and ask you for doles and favours, and railway porters call you ‘my Lord’ at every other step. But you forget your limitations in this world, and that which lies above you. You say you will do this and that. You should study a book which few of you ever read, where it tells you that you do not know what you will be on the morrow; that your life is even as a vapour appearing for a little time and then vanishing away. ”

“ The Mungana noticed his fear and whispered:
“We must swim the water. If you have a god, white man, pray him to protect you from Bonsa.”
“Lead on,” answered Alan, “I do not dread a foul fetish, only the look of it. But is there no way round?”
The Mungana shook his head and began to enter the canal. Jeekie, whose teeth were chattering, hung back, but Alan pushed him from behind, so sharply that he stumbled and made a splash. Then Alan followed, and as the cold, black water rose to his chest, looked again at Big Bonsa. ”

“ On the hither side of the pool was what looked like a park, for here grew great, black trees, which from their flat shape Alan took to be some variety of cedar, and standing alone in the midst of this park where no other habitations could be discovered, was a large, low building with dark-coloured walls and gabled roofs that flashed like fire.
“The Gold House!” said Alan to himself with a gasp. “So it is not a dream or a lie.” ”

“ But now she is dead and buried.”
“Are all women in England called Bar-bara, Jeekie?”
“Yes, O Asika, Barbara means woman.”
“If your lord loved this Barbara, why then did he run away from her? Well, it matters not since she is dead and buried, for whatever their spirits may feel, no man cares for a woman that is dead until she clothes herself in flesh again. That was a good vision and I will reward you for it.”
“I have earned nothing, O Asika,” answered Jeekie modestly, “who only tell you what I see as I must. ”

“ THE GOLD HOUSE.
“How you like Asiki-land, Major?” asked Jeekie, who had followed him and was now leaning against a wall fanning himself feebly with his great hand. “Funny place, isn’t it, Major? I tell you so before you come, but you no believe me.”
“Very funny,” answered Alan, “so funny that I want to get out.”
“Ah! Major, that what eel say in trap where he go after lob-worm, but he only get out into frying pan after cook skin him alive-o. Ah! here come cook—I mean Asika. She only stop shut up those stiff ’uns, who all love lob-worm one day. ”

“ Jeekie stood a while in front of the empty tent and if any had been there to note him, they might have seen a shadow as of compunction creep over his powerful black face.
“When he wake up he won’t know where he are,” he reflected, “and when he get to Bonsa Town he’ll wonder where he is, and when he meet Asika! Well, he very big blackguard; try to murder Major, whom Jeekie nurse as baby, the only thing that Jeekie care for—except—Jeekie; try to make love to Miss Barbara against will when he catch her alone in forest, which not playing game. ”

“ Dawn began to break in the forest, and Alan woke in his shelter and stretched himself. He had slept soundly all the night, so soundly that the innocent Jeekie wondered much whether by any chance he also had taken a tot out of that particular whisky bottle, as indeed he had recommended him to do. People who drink whisky after long abstinence from spirits are apt to sleep long, he reflected.
Alan crept out of the shelter and gazed affectionately at the tent in which Barbara slumbered. Thank Heaven she was safe so far, as for some unknown reason, evidently the Asiki had postponed their attack. ”