At the top of the rise we halted for a second to breathe our horses;and, turning, glanced at the battle beneath us, which, illumined as itwas by the fierce rays of the sinking sun staining the whole scene red,looked from where we were more like some wild titanic picture than anactual hand-to-hand combat. The distinguishing scenic effect from thatdistance was the countless distinct flashes of light reflected from theswords and spears, otherwise the panorama was not so grand as might havebeen expected. The great green lap of sward in which the struggle wasbeing fought out, the bold round outline of the hills behind, andthe wide sweep of the plain beyond, seemed to dwarf it; and what wastremendous enough when one was in it, grew insignificant when viewedfrom the distance. But is it not thus with all the affairs and doings ofour race about which we blow the loud trumpet and make such a fuss andworry? How utterly antlike, and morally and physically insignificant,must they seem to the calm eyes that watch them from the arching depthsabove!
'We win the day, Macumazahn,' said old Umslopogaas, taking in the wholesituation with a glance of his practised eye. 'Look, the Lady of theNight's forces give on every side, there is no stiffness left in them,they bend like hot iron, they are fighting with but half a heart. Butalas! the battle will in a manner be drawn, for the darkness gathers,and the regiments will not be able to follow and slay!'--and he shookhis head sadly. 'But,' he added, 'I do not think that they will fightagain. We have fed them with too strong a meat. Ah! it is well to havelived! At last I have seen a fight worth seeing.'
By this time we were on our way again, and as we went side by side Itold him what our mission was, and how that, if it failed, all the livesthat had been lost that day would have been lost in vain.
'Ah!' he said, 'nigh on a hundred miles and no horses but these, and tobe there before the dawn! Well--away! away! man can but try, Macumazahn;and mayhap we shall be there in time to split that old "witch-finder's"[Agon's] skull for him. Once he wanted to burn us, the old "rain-maker",did he? And now he would set a snare for my mother [Nyleptha], would he?Good! So sure as my name is the name of the Woodpecker, so surely, bemy mother alive or dead, will I split him to the beard. Ay, by T'Chaka'shead I swear it!' and he shook Inkosi-kaas as he galloped. By now thedarkness was closing in, but fortunately there would be a moon later,and the road was good.
On we sped through the twilight, the two splendid horses we bestrodehad got their wind by this, and were sweeping along with a wide steadystride that neither failed nor varied for mile upon mile. Down the sideof slopes we galloped, across wide vales that stretched to the footof far-off hills. Nearer and nearer grew the blue hills; now we weretravelling up their steeps, and now we were over and passing towardsothers that sprang up like visions in the far, faint distance beyond.
On, never pausing or drawing rein, through the perfect quiet of thenight, that was set like a song to the falling music of our horses'hoofs; on, past deserted villages, where only some forgotten starvingdog howled a melancholy welcome; on, past lonely moated dwellings; on,through the white patchy moonlight, that lay coldly upon the wide bosomof the earth, as though there was no warmth in it; on, knee to knee, forhour after hour!
We spake not, but bent us forward on the necks of those two glorioushorses, and listened to their deep, long-drawn breaths as they filledtheir great lungs, and to the regular unfaltering ring of their roundhoofs. Grim and black indeed did old Umslopogaas look beside me, mountedupon the great white horse, like Death in the Revelation of St John, asnow and again lifting his fierce set face he gazed out along the road,and pointed with his axe towards some distant rise or house.
And so on, still on, without break or pause for hour after hour.
At last I felt that even the splendid animal that I rode was beginningto give out. I looked at my watch; it was nearly midnight, and we wereconsiderably more than half way. On the top of a rise was a littlespring, which I remembered because I had slept by it a few nightsbefore, and here I motioned to Umslopogaas to pull up, having determinedto give the horses and ourselves ten minutes to breathe in. He did so,and we dismounted--that is to say, Umslopogaas did, and then helped meoff, for what with fatigue, stiffness, and the pain of my wound, I couldnot do so for myself; and then the gallant horses stood panting there,resting first one leg and then another, while the sweat fell drip, drip,from them, and the steam rose and hung in pale clouds in the still nightair.
Leaving Umslopogaas to hold the horses, I hobbled to the spring anddrank deep of its sweet waters. I had had nothing but a single mouthfulof wine since midday, when the battle began, and I was parched up,though my fatigue was too great to allow me to feel hungry. Then, havinglaved my fevered head and hands, I returned, and the Zulu went anddrank. Next we allowed the horses to take a couple of mouthfuls each--nomore; and oh, what a struggle we had to get the poor beasts away fromthe water! There were yet two minutes, and I employed it in hobblingup and down to try and relieve my stiffness, and in inspecting thecondition of the horses. My mare, gallant animal though she was, wasevidently much distressed; she hung her head, and her eye looked sickand dull; but Daylight, Nyleptha's glorious horse--who, if he is servedaright, should, like the steeds who saved great Rameses in his need,feed for the rest of his days out of a golden manger--was stillcomparatively speaking fresh, notwithstanding the fact that he had hadby far the heavier weight to carry. He was 'tucked up', indeed, andhis legs were weary, but his eye was bright and clear, and he held hisshapely head up and gazed out into the darkness round him in a way thatseemed to say that whoever failed _he_ was good for those five-and-fortymiles that yet lay between us and Milosis. Then Umslopogaas helped meinto the saddle and--vigorous old savage that he was!--vaulted into hisown without touching a stirrup, and we were off once more, slowly atfirst, till the horses got into their stride, and then more swiftly. Sowe passed over another ten miles, and then came a long, weary rise ofsome six or seven miles, and three times did my poor black mare nearlycome to the ground with me. But on the top she seemed to gather herselftogether, and rattled down the slope with long, convulsive strides,breathing in gasps. We did that three or four miles more swiftly thanany since we had started on our wild ride, but I felt it to be a lasteffort, and I was right. Suddenly my poor horse took the bit betweenher teeth and bolted furiously along a stretch of level ground for somethree or four hundred yards, and then, with two or three jerky strides,pulled herself up and fell with a crash right on to her head, I rollingmyself free as she did so. As I struggled to my feet the brave beastraised her head and looked at me with piteous bloodshot eyes, and thenher head dropped with a groan and she was dead. Her heart was broken.
Umslopogaas pulled up beside the carcase, and I looked at him in dismay.There were still more than twenty miles to do by dawn, and how were weto do it with one horse? It seemed hopeless, but I had forgotten the oldZulu's extraordinary running powers.
Without a single word he sprang from the saddle and began to hoist meinto it.
'What wilt thou do?' I asked.
'Run,' he answered, seizing my stirrup-leather.
Then off we went again, almost as fast as before; and oh, the reliefit was to me to get that change of horses! Anybody who has ever riddenagainst time will know what it meant.
Daylight sped along at a long stretching hand-gallop, giving thegaunt Zulu a lift at every stride. It was a wonderful thing to seeold Umslopogaas run mile after mile, his lips slightly parted and hisnostrils agape like the horse's. Every five miles or so we stopped for afew minutes to let him get his breath, and then flew on again.
'Canst thou go farther,' I said at the third of these stoppages, 'orshall I leave thee to follow me?'
He pointed with his axe to a dim mass before us. It was the Temple ofthe Sun, now not more than five miles away.
'I reach it or I die,' he gasped.
Oh, that last five miles! The skin was rubbed from the inside of mylegs, and every movement of my horse gave me anguish. Nor was that all.I was exhausted with toil, want of food and sleep, and also sufferingvery much
from the blow I had received on my left side; it seemed asthough a piece of bone or something was slowly piercing into my lung.Poor Daylight, too, was pretty nearly finished, and no wonder. But therewas a smell of dawn in the air, and we might not stay; better that allthree of us should die upon the road than that we should linger whilethere was life in us. The air was thick and heavy, as it sometimes isbefore the dawn breaks, and--another infallible sign in certain parts ofZu-Vendis that sunrise is at hand--hundreds of little spiders pendant onthe end of long tough webs were floating about in it. These early-risingcreatures, or rather their webs, caught upon the horse's and our ownforms by scores, and, as we had neither the time nor the energy to brushthem off, we rushed along covered with hundreds of long grey threadsthat streamed out a yard or more behind us--and a very strangeappearance they must have given us.
And now before us are the huge brazen gates of the outer wall of theFrowning City, and a new and horrible doubt strikes me: What if theywill not let us in?
'_Open! open!_' I shout imperiously, at the same time giving the royalpassword. '_Open! open!_ a messenger, a messenger with tidings of thewar!'
'What news?' cried the guard. 'And who art thou that ridest so madly,and who is that whose tongue lolls out'--and it actually did--'and whoruns by thee like a dog by a chariot?'
'It is the Lord Macumazahn, and with him is his dog, his black dog._Open! open!_ I bring tidings.'
The great gates ran back on their rollers, and the drawbridge fell witha rattling crash, and we dashed on through the one and over the other.
'What news, my lord, what news?' cried the guard.
'Incubu rolls Sorais back, as the wind a cloud,' I answered, and wasgone.
One more effort, gallant horse, and yet more gallant man!
So, fall not now, Daylight, and hold thy life in thee for fifteen shortminutes more, old Zulu war-dog, and ye shall both live for ever in theannals of the land.
On, clattering through the sleeping streets. We are passing the FlowerTemple now--one mile more, only one little mile--hold on, keep yourlife in thee, see the houses run past of themselves. Up, good horse,up, there--but fifty yards now. Ah! you see your stables and stagger ongallantly.
'Thank God, the palace at last!' and see, the first arrows of the dawnare striking on the Temple's golden dome. {Endnote 21} But shall I getin here, or is the deed done and the way barred?
Once more I give the password and shout '_Open! open!_'
No answer, and my heart grows very faint.
Again I call, and this time a single voice replies, and to my joyI recognize it as belonging to Kara, a fellow-officer of Nyleptha'sguards, a man I know to be as honest as the light--indeed, the same whomNyleptha had sent to arrest Sorais on the day she fled to the temple.
'Is it thou, Kara?' I cry; 'I am Macumazahn. Bid the guard let down thebridge and throw wide the gate. Quick, quick!'
Then followed a space that seemed to me endless, but at length thebridge fell and one half of the gate opened and we got into thecourtyard, where at last poor Daylight fell down beneath me, as Ithought, dead. Except Kara, there was nobody to be seen, and his lookwas wild, and his garments were all torn. He had opened the gate and letdown the bridge alone, and was now getting them up and shut again (as,owing to a very ingenious arrangement of cranks and levers, one mancould easily do, and indeed generally did do).
'Where are the guard?' I gasped, fearing his answer as I never fearedanything before.
'I know not,' he answered; 'two hours ago, as I slept, was I seized andbound by the watch under me, and but now, this very moment, have I freedmyself with my teeth. I fear, I greatly fear, that we are betrayed.'
His words gave me fresh energy. Catching him by the arm, I staggered,followed by Umslopogaas, who reeled after us like a drunken man, throughthe courtyards, up the great hall, which was silent as the grave,towards the Queen's sleeping-place.
We reached the first ante-room--no guards; the second, still no guards.Oh, surely the thing was done! we were too late after all, too late! Thesilence and solitude of those great chambers was dreadful, and weighedme down like an evil dream. On, right into Nyleptha's chamber we rushedand staggered, sick at heart, fearing the very worst; we saw there wasa light in it, ay, and a figure bearing the light. Oh, thank God, itis the White Queen herself, the Queen unharmed! There she stands inher night gear, roused, by the clatter of our coming, from her bed, theheaviness of sleep yet in her eyes, and a red blush of fear and shamemantling her lovely breast and cheek.
'Who is it?' she cries. 'What means this? Oh, Macumazahn, is it thou?Why lookest thou so wildly? Thou comest as one bearing evil tidings--andmy lord--oh, tell me not my lord is dead--not dead!' she wailed,wringing her white hands.
'I left Incubu wounded, but leading the advance against Sorais lastnight at sundown; therefore let thy heart have rest. Sorais is beatenback all along her lines, and thy arms prevail.'
'I knew it,' she cried in triumph. 'I knew that he would win; and theycalled him Outlander, and shook their wise heads when I gave him thecommand! Last night at sundown, sayest thou, and it is not yet dawn?Surely--'
'Throw a cloak around thee, Nyleptha,' I broke in, 'and give us wineto drink; ay, and call thy maidens quick if thou wouldst save thyselfalive. Nay, stay not.'
Thus adjured she ran and called through the curtains towards some roombeyond, and then hastily put on her sandals and a thick cloak, by whichtime a dozen or so of half-dressed women were pouring into the room.
'Follow us and be silent,' I said to them as they gazed with wonderingeyes, clinging one to another. So we went into the first ante-room.
'Now,' I said, 'give us wine to drink and food, if ye have it, for weare near to death.'
The room was used as a mess-room for the officers of the guards, andfrom a cupboard some flagons of wine and some cold flesh were broughtforth, and Umslopogaas and I drank, and felt life flow back into ourveins as the good red wine went down.
'Hark to me, Nyleptha,' I said, as I put down the empty tankard. 'Hastthou here among these thy waiting-ladies any two of discretion?'
'Ay,' she said, 'surely.'
'Then bid them go out by the side entrance to any citizens whom thoucanst bethink thee of as men loyal to thee, and pray them come armed,with all honest folk that they can gather, to rescue thee from death.Nay, question not; do as I say, and quickly. Kara here will let out themaids.'
She turned, and selecting two of the crowd of damsels, repeated thewords I had uttered, giving them besides a list of the names of the mento whom each should run.
'Go swiftly and secretly; go for your very lives,' I added.
In another moment they had left with Kara, whom I told to rejoin us atthe door leading from the great courtyard on to the stairway as soon ashe had made fast behind the girls. Thither, too, Umslopogaas and I madeour way, followed by the Queen and her women. As we went we tore offmouthfuls of food, and between them I told her what I knew of the dangerwhich encompassed her, and how we found Kara, and how all the guards andmen-servants were gone, and she was alone with her women in that greatplace; and she told me, too, that a rumour had spread through the townthat our army had been utterly destroyed, and that Sorais was marchingin triumph on Milosis, and how in consequence thereof all men had fallenaway from her.
Though all this takes some time to tell, we had not been but six orseven minutes in the palace; and notwithstanding that the golden roof ofthe temple being very lofty was ablaze with the rays of the rising sun,it was not yet dawn, nor would be for another ten minutes. We were inthe courtyard now, and here my wound pained me so that I had to takeNyleptha's arm, while Umslopogaas rolled along after us, eating as hewent.
Now we were across it, and had reached the narrow doorway through thepalace wall that opened on to the mighty stair.
I looked through and stood aghast, as well I might. The door was gone,and so were the outer gates of bronze--entirely gone. They had beentaken from their hinges, and as we afterwards found, hurled from thestairwa
y to the ground two hundred feet beneath. There in front of uswas the semicircular standing-space, about twice the size of a largeoval dining-table, and the ten curved black marble steps leading on tothe main stair--and that was all.
CHAPTER XXII HOW UMSLOPOGAAS HELD THE STAIR