CHAPTER XVII.
A SALUTE OF BULLETS.
THE low booming was, however, not repeated, and by this my companionapparently became reassured, for shortly afterwards he threw himself downnear me to snatch a few hours' repose before dawn. I suppose I, too, musthave slept for some time, until suddenly a noise like thunder that seemedto cause the earth to tremble awakened me, and together with the rest ofour party I sprang to my feet, fancying that some terrible earthquake hadoccurred.
It was still dark, and as each asked breathlessly of his neighbour thecause of the deafening noise a sudden red flash showed for an instant onthe summit of the rock near where I had seen the light, and a secondreport thundered forth, making the valley echo and startling the birds inthousands from their roosting-places.
"We are attacked!" the natives cried. "It is a gun!"
It was a gun undoubtedly. Again it belched forth, its fire causing theearth to tremble, sending some small shots unpleasantly close, andstriking terror into the hearts of our companions, who started to fly forsafety, expecting each moment that a shower of lead would sweep uponthem.
"Stay, cowards!" Omar cried. "Yonder gun fires not with anger, but withjoy. It is my welcome home; its fire is but powder play!"
Then a loud, joyous laugh arose, and the black faces broadened into greatgrins, displaying red lips and white teeth.
"Truly the land of the great Naya is a land of wonders!" cried Kona, inastonishment. "Here they welcome the queen's son by shooting at him.Surely those shots a moment ago were more than powder play!"
"A mistake no doubt," Omar answered laughing. "Already it is known in Mothat we are here in the Grave of Enemies, and the guns are being fired aswelcome, while steps are being taken to convey us into yonder land."
"How shall we be conveyed thither?" the headman asked, looking up puzzledat the bare face of the rock, the summit of which was now obscured by abank of cloud.
"Wait until sun-rise. Then you will see," answered my friendmysteriously, and as he spoke the blood-red flash showed again and thegreat gun thundered forth its salute.
While the dawn was spreading we ate our morning meal with eyes fixed uponthe great high crag whence the gun belched forth with monotonousregularity; then Omar and I strolled away together further up the valleyto occupy our time until the sun-rise. Here I saw for the first time thatnatural curiosity, the honey-bird. Omar pointed it out to me. It was alittle grey common-looking bird about the size of a thrush. It firstforced itself upon our notice by flying across our path, uttering ashrill, unlovely cry. It then sat on a neighbouring tree still callingand waiting for us to follow. By short rapid flights the bird led us onand on till we noticed that it stopped its onward course and was hangingabout among a certain half-dozen trees. These we visited one afteranother and carefully examined them, our search being rewarded by findinga nest of bees in each of them. It is a matter of honour with thenatives to set aside a good portion of the honey for the bird. Althoughthis action of the honey-bird is an established fact in natural history,it would be interesting to know whether he ever tries to enticequadrupeds also in assisting him in obtaining his much-loved honey.
As we walked back to the camp the sun suddenly broke forth, the cloudsrolled away, and on looking up at the point where the guns had been firedwe saw on the summit a number of moving figures, looking like blackspecks against the morning sky. Everyone stood watching the far-offinhabitants of the mysterious realm, wondering how we were to gain thehigh overhanging rock that descended sheer to where we stood. Presentlythe excitement reached fever-heat when we saw the small black figuresgrouping themselves into a mass, and then we noticed that one man wasbeing slowly lowered by a rope over the precipice. The rope wasapparently passed under his arms, and as he swung out into mid-air hiscompanions began to let him down rapidly to where we stood. Owing to theoverhanging nature of the rock the wind caused the man to swing backwardsand forwards as a pendulum, and by reason of hitches that seemed to occurin the arrangements above he was several times stopped in his descent.
At last, however, his feet touched the ground and headed by Omar, we allrushed towards him. He was a very tall, loosely-built man, his complexionalmost white with just a yellowish tinge, colourless lips, colourlessdrab hair; vague irregular features, with an entire absence ofexpression. He wore an Arab haick upon his head bound with many yards ofbrown camel's hair, a long white garment, something like a burnouse, onlyembroidered at the edge with crimson thread and confined at the waist bya girdle containing quite a small arsenal of weapons, while at his backhe carried a rifle of European manufacture, and around his neck was theinvariable string of amulets.
"I seek Omar, son of the Naya, the Great Queen," he cried with a loudvoice, as his feet touched the grass and he disengaged himself from theswaying rope, which still continued to descend.
"I am Omar, Prince of Mo," answered my friend, stepping forward quickly.
The messenger from the mysterious realm above regarded him keenly fromhead to foot, not without suspicion. Then looking him straight in theface, he said with a puzzled expression upon his countenance:
"Thou hast altered since thou hast dwelt among the English. Thy face isnot that of Omar who left many moons ago with our Naya's trusted servantMakhana."
"Yet I am still Omar," he exclaimed, laughing. "Thy caution iscommendable, Babila, son of Safad, but as the moon groweth old so doesthe boy turn youth, and the youth man."
"Thou knowest my name, 'tis true," observed the messenger gravely. "Butwhere are thy royal jujus; those placed upon thy neck by the great Nayain the presence of the people?"
"I fell among enemies who burned them."
"The curse of Zomara be upon them," Babila said. "Who were they?"
"The hirelings of our enemy, Samory."
"Then some have already met with their deserts, for three thousand ofthem lie here in this valley," and he pointed to the gruesome corpsesscattered upon the grass. "But hast thou no possession to assure me thatthou art actually the long-absent son of our Naya?" he inquired.
"Thou carriest thy caution a little too far in this affair, Babila," Omaranswered smiling. "True, I have lost my jujus, nevertheless I can answerthee what questions thou puttest to me regarding my youth and my life inMo. I know that thou art determined to satisfy thyself that I am actuallythe Prince, ere thou admittest us to our kingdom."
"The caution I exercise is my duty to the great Naya and my country,"Babila answered. "No invader nor intruder hath ever entered Mo, and noneshall while I am chief custodian of its Gate. The bones of manyadventurers lie here in this valley."
"Yes, I know that well," Omar answered good-humouredly. "But what must Ido to satisfy thee?" Then turning to me, he exclaimed in English, "Thisis amusing, Scars. I am actually prevented from entering my own countrybecause I have grown a trifle taller!"
"What sayest thou in a foreign tongue?" Babila inquired, with a quicklook of suspicion.
"I commented upon the absurdity of my situation to my companion,Scarsmere, who has accompanied me from England," Omar answered frankly.
"Scarsmere," repeated the man from the unknown region. "Scarsmere. And ishe your friend?"
"Yea, my best friend."
"If thou art actually Omar then his friend will assuredly find welcome inMo," the man said with courtesy. "But answer the questions I put to thee.Canst thou tell me anything regarding myself?"
"Well, I think I can," answered my friend with a laugh. "When I was quitea young lad thou wert one of the guardians of the outer gate of ourpalace. Once I was threatened by a ruffianly soldier as I passed, andthou didst strike him dead with one blow of thy sword. For thy promptpunishment of the fellow thou wert exalted by the Naya and given commandover her body-guard. It was because thou didst unearth the dastardlyconspiracy against her life that thou wert given the custodianship of theGate of Mo."
"True," the man answered with a smile of satisfaction. "In one of my ageloss of memory is excusable, yet now on looking closely at thee, I see
the resemblance--yea, I welcome thee home, my lord the prince."
In an instant his manner had changed, and he became the most obedient ofslaves.
"Very well," Omar said. "Now thou art satisfied that I am what I said wewill lose no time in passing the last barrier."
"But these?" Babila inquired, glancing suspiciously at the black rabbleforming our Dagomba following.
"They are my escort," Omar answered. "Every man, from Kona, the head-man,to the meanest slave, is my trusted servant, and they all deserve reward.Each shall enter Mo and receive it at the hands of the Naya herself. ThisI have already promised."
"The servants of the lord prince are welcome. The people shall _fete_them, and make their days pass as quickly as seconds fly. If thou artdesirous they shall enter and be presented to the great Naya before whoseeyes all men quail," Babila said, bowing humbly before his royal master.
"Then let us not pause. We desire to enter Mo without an instant'sfurther delay. The way has been long and the obstacles great, but we havesuccessfully accomplished all, and seek now to enter the palace of myqueen-mother."
"Thy commands shall be obeyed," the man replied, again salaaming, and,walking to the rope, he placed the loops under his arm-pits, and a fewminutes later was on his way back to the mysterious land, waving his handto us and promising that ere an hour passed we should enter the realm ofthe Great White Queen.
With eager upturned faces we watched the cautious custodian of the mystickingdom dangling at the end of the rope, gradually leaving us, until atlength he was hauled up upon the far-off summit of the rock anddisappeared among the small crowd collected at the brow. The men wereevidently soldiers, and the eager manner in which they grouped themselvesabout Babila when he stepped into their midst, showed what intenseexcitement our arrival had caused.
As we watched we soon afterwards saw lowered from the towering heightwhat appeared at first to be a thin black cord, but which, when the endfell at our feet, we found to be a ladder of curiously-knotted ropesabout as thick as packing twine, so flimsy in construction that it seemedas though the weight of a single man would break it.
"Are we to climb to the top?" I asked Omar, who passed me by quickly inorder to examine the ladder.
"Of course," he said.
"But surely these ropes will not bear our weight!" I observed. "They areonly like string."
"Yes, but the core of each is of steel wire of such strength that itwould bear our whole party all together," he answered. "Nevertheless, itis perhaps best to avoid running risks, so only a dozen shall ascend at atime."
I looked up at the swaying ladder with distrust. I had heard many storiesof ropes chafing on the edges of rocks and being cut through, and myawful experience in descending the face of the precipice opposite hadbeen sufficiently terrifying.
"The land of the Great White Queen is, indeed, unapproachable," I said."Surely no enemy could invade you?"
"We fear no outside enemy," Omar answered with sudden seriousness. "It isinternal dissensions that may cause trouble. Every precaution is takenhere, at the gate of our land, to prevent an enemy from gaining Mo. Thevalley is commanded by guns in such a manner that it can be swept fromend to end, so that even if a foe were to succeed in treading the Way ofthe Thousand Steps he must descend here and remain under the fire of theguns."
"I noticed that last night you signalled with a torch," I said.
"Ah! you were awake and did not speak," he laughed. "Yes, I flashed myname, with a message to the Naya. This was conveyed to her by a system ofsignals flashed from one point to another across the country in similarmanner to those of European armies. At night the signals are constantlyat work and take the place of your telegraphs. When the message reachedthe Naya she sent me a word in return, but even then Babila was far toocautious to afford us means to enter the country without first inspectingus himself."
"You've grown a bit, and become more Anglicized since you left," I said,smiling.
"Yes, possibly," he answered, adding, "I was, however, going to explainthat so elaborate are the precautions against invasion that even now theladder has been lowered, nay, even if we were at the top, the custodiansof the Gate could, by simply pressing a button, send a current ofelectricity through the wires that form the cores of the ropes of such astrength, that the ropes and ourselves would almost instantly be fusedinto a shapeless mass. See! the ropes are wet, so that the full strengthof the current could, if desired, be turned upon us." And he pulledforward the ladder and placed it in my hand.
Instinctively I shrank away, saying:
"I have no desire to be electrocuted just yet."
"Well, it's merely one of the many devices we have here for the warmreception of any enemy," he answered. "The number of bodies yonder aresufficient proof that any expedition against us must be ill-fated."
But just at that moment a rapid signal was flashed by the sun's rays upona mirror, and reading it, he exclaimed in English:
"All is fast above. Come, Scars, old chap, follow me and let me hear youropinion of my country. Keep your chin raised and don't look down, or youmay turn giddy."
Then, giving directions to Kona to allow only twelve men to swarm theflimsy ladder at one time, he placed his foot upon the first rung andcommenced the long straight ascent.
As soon as he had climbed a dozen feet I glanced up at the towering crag,then followed his example.