4. THE WELCOME OF PHORENICE
Now I can say it with all truth that, till the rival navy met us in themouth of the gulf, I had thought little enough of my importance as arecruit for the Empress. But the laying in wait for us of those ships,and the wild ferocity with which they fought so that I might fall intotheir hands, were omens which the blindest could not fail to read. Itwas clear that I was expected to play a lusty part in the fortunes ofthe nation.
But if our coming had been watched for by enemies it seemed thatPhorenice also had her scouts; and these saw us from the mountains, andcarried news to the capital. The arm of the sea at the head of which thevast city of Atlantis stands, varies greatly in width. In places wherethe mountains have over-boiled, and sent their liquid contents down toform hard stone below, the channel has barely a river's wideness, andthen beyond, for the next half-day's sail it will widen out into a lake,with the sides barely visible. Moreover, its course is winding, and soa runner who knows his way across the flats, and the swamps, and betweenthe smoking hills which lie along the shore, and did not get overcome byfire-streams, or water, or wandering beasts, could carry news overlandfrom seacoast to capital far speedier than even the most shrewdlywhipped of galleys could ferry it along the water.
Of course there were heavy risks that a lone traveller would not makea safe passage by this land route, if he were bidden to sacrifice allprecautions to speed. But Phorenice was no niggard with her couriers.She sent a corps of twenty to the headland that overlooks thesea-entrance to the straits; they started with the news, each on his ownroute; and it says much for their speed and cleverness, that no fewerthan seven of these agile fellows came through scathless with theirtidings, and of the others it was said that quite three were known tohave survived.
Still, about this we had no means of knowing at the time, and pushedon in fancy that our coming was quite unheralded. The slaves on thegalley's row-banks were for the most part savages from Europe, and thesmell of them was so offensive that the voyage lost all its pleasures;and as, moreover, the wind carried with it an infinite abundance ofsmall grit from some erupting fire mountain, we were anxious to lingeras little as possible. Besides, if I may confess to such a thing withoutbeing unduly degraded, although by my priestly training I had beentaught stoicism, and knew that all the future was in the hands of theGods, I was frailly human still to have a very vast curiosity as towhat would be the form of my own reception at Atlantis. I could imaginemyself taken a formal prisoner on landing, and set on a formal trialto answer for my cure of the colony of Yucatan; I could imagine myselfstepping ashore unknown and unnoticed, and after a due lapse, beingsent for by the Empress to take up new duties; but the manner of my realwelcome was a thing I did not even guess at.
We came in sight of the peak of the sacred mountain, with its glare ofeternal fires which stand behind the city, one morning with the day'sbreak, and the whips of the boatswains cracked more vehemently, so thatthose offensive slaves should give the galley a final spurt. The windwas adverse, and no sail could be spread, but under oars alone we madea pretty pace, and the sides of the sacred mountain grew longer, andpresently the peaks of the pyramids in the city, the towers of thehigher buildings, began to show themselves as though they floated uponthe gleaming water. It was twenty years since I had seen Atlantislast, and my heart glowed with the thought of treading again upon herpaving-stones.
The splendid city grew out of the sea as we approached, and to everythrob of the oars, the shores leaped nearer. I saw the temple where Ihad been admitted first to manhood; I saw the pyramid in whose heartI had been initiated to the small mysteries; and then (as the lesserobjects became discernible) I made out the house where a father and amother had reared me, and my eyes became dim as the memories rose.
We drew up outside the white walls of the harbour, as the law was, andthe slaves panted and sobbed in quietude over the oar-looms. For vesselsthus stationed there is, generally, a sufficiency of waiting, for aport-captain is apt to be so uncertain of his own dignity, that he muste'en keep folks waiting to prove it to them. But here for us it mighthave been that the port-captain's boat was waiting. The signal wassounded from the two castles at the harbour's entrance, the chain whichhung between them was dropped, and a ten-oared boat shot out from behindthe walls as fast as oars could drive her. She raced up alongside andthe questions were put:
"That should be Dason's galley?"
"It was," said Tob.
"Oh, I saw Dason's head on your beak," said the port-captain. "You wereTatho's captain?"
"And am still. Tatho's fleet was sent by Dason and his friends to thesea-floor, and so we took this stinking galley to finish the voyage in,seeing that it was the only craft left afloat."
The port-captain was roving his eye over the group of us who stood onthe after-deck. "I fear me, captain, that you'll have but a dangerousreception. I do not see my Lord Deucalion. Or does he come with someother navy? Gods, captain, if you have let him get killed whilst underyour charge, the Empress will have the skin torn slowly off you living."
"What with Phorenice and Tatho both so curious for his welfare," saidTob, "my Lord Deucalion seems but a dangerous passenger. But I shallsave my hide this voyage." He jerked at me with his thumb. "He's thereto put in a word for me himself."
The port-captain stared for a moment, as if unbelieving, and then, asthough satisfied, made obeisance like a fellow well used to ceremonial."I trust my lord, in his infinite strength, will pardon my sin in notknowing him by his nobleness before. But truth to tell, I had looked tosee my lord more suitably apparelled."
"Pish," I said; "if I choose to dress simply, I cannot object to beingmistaken for a simple man. It is not my pleasure to advertise my qualityby the gauds on my garb. If you think amends are due to me, I pray ofyour charity that this inquisition may end."
The fellow was all bows and obsequiousness. "I am the humblest of mylord's servants," he said. "It will be my exceeding honour to pilot mylord's galley into the berth appointed in harbour."
The boat shot ahead, and our galley-slaves swung into stroke again. Tobwatched me with a dry smile as he stood directing the men at the helms.
"Well," I said, humouring his whim, "what is it?"
"I'm thinking," said Tob, "that my Lord Deucalion will remember meonly as a very rude fellow when he steps ashore amongst all this finegentility."
"You don't think," said I, "anything of the kind."
"Then I must prove my refinement," said Tob, "and not contradict." Hepicked up my hand in his huge, hard fist, and pressed it. "By the Gods,Deucalion, you may be a great prince, but I've only known you as aman. You're the finest fighter of beasts and men that walks this worldto-day, and I love you for it. That spear-stroke of yours on the lizardis a thing the singers in the taverns shall make chaunts about."
We drew rapidly into the harbour, the soldiers in the entrance castleblowing their trumpets in welcome as we passed between them. The captainof the port had run up my banner to the masthead of his boat, havingbeen provided with one apparently for this purpose of announcement, andfrom the quays, across the vast basin of the harbour, there presentlycame to us the noises of musicians, and the pale glow of welcomingfires, dancing under the sunlight. I was almost awed to think that anEmpress of Atlantis had come to such straits as to feel an interest likethis in any mere returning subject.
It was clear that nothing was to be done by halves. The port-captain'sboat led, and we had no choice but to follow. Our galley was run upalongside the royal quay and moored to its posts and rings of gold, allof which are sacred to the reigning house.
"If Dason could only have foreseen this honour," said Tob, with grislyjest, "I'm sure he'd have laid in a silken warp to make fast on thebollards instead of mere plebeian hemp. I'm sure there'd be a frown onDason's head this minute, if the sun hadn't scorched it stiff. My LordDeucalion, will you pick your way with niceness over this common shipand tread on the genteel carpet they've spread for you on the quayyonder?"
The por
t-captain heard Tob's rude banter and looked up with a face ofhorror, and I remembered, with a small sigh, that colonial freedom wouldhave no place here in Atlantis. Once more I must prepare myself for allthe dignity of rank, and make ready to tread the formalities of vast andgorgeous ceremonial.
But, be these things how they may, a self-respecting man must preservehis individuality also, and though I consented to enter a pavilion ofcrimson cloth, specially erected to shelter me till the Empress shoulddeign to arrive, there my complaisance ended. Again the matter ofclothes was harped upon. The three gorgeously caparisoned chamberlains,who had inducted me to the shelter, laid before me changes of raimentbedecked with every imaginable kind of frippery, and would have metransform myself into a popinjay in fashion like their own.
Curtly enough, I refused to alter my garb, and when one of themstammeringly referred to the Empress's tastes I asked him with plainnessif he had got any definite commands on this paltry matter from hermightiness.
Of course, he had to confess that there were none.
Upon which I retorted that Phorenice had commanded Deucalion, the man,to attend before her, and had sent no word of her pleasure as to hisouter casing.
"This dress," I said, "suits my temper well. It shields my poor bodyfrom the heat and the wind, and, moreover, it is clean. It seems tome, sirs," I added, "that your interfering savours somewhat of animpertinence."
With one accord the chamberlains drew their swords and pushed the hiltstowards me.
"It would be a favour," said their spokesman, "if the great LordDeucalion would take his vengeance now, instead of delivering us to thetormentors hereafter."
"Poof," I said, "the matter is forgotten. You make too much of alittle."
Nevertheless, their action gave me some enlightenment. They wereperfectly in earnest in offering me the swords, and I recognised thatthis was a different Atlantis that I had come home to, where a man haddread of the torture for a mere difference concerning the cut of a coat.
There was a bath in the pavilion, and in that I regaled myself gladly,though there was some paltry scent added to the water that took awayhalf its refreshing power; and then I set myself to wait with alloutward composure and placidity. The chamberlains were too well-bred tobreak into my calm, and I did not condescend to small talk. So there weremained, the four of us, I sitting, they standing, with our Lord theSun smiting heavily on the scarlet roof of the pavilion, whilst themusic blared, and the welcoming fires dispersed their odours from thegreat paved square without, which faced upon the quay.
It has been said that the great should always collect dignity by keepingthose of lesser degree waiting their pleasure, though for myself I mustsay I have always thought the stratagem paltry and beneath me. Phorenicealso seemed of this opinion, for (as she herself told me later) at themoment that Tob's galley was reported as having its flank against themarble of the royal quay, at that precise moment did she start out fromthe palace. The gorgeous procession was already marshalled, bedecked,and waiting only for its chiefest ornament, and as soon as she hadmounted to her steed, trumpets gave the order, and the advance began.
Sitting in the doorway of the pavilion, I saw the soldiery who formedthe head of this vast concourse emerge from the great broad street whereit left the houses. They marched straight across to give me the salute,and then ranged themselves on the farther side of the square. Then camethe Mariners' Guild, then more soldiers, all making obeisance intheir turn, and passing on to make room for others. Following were themerchants, the tanners, the spear-makers and all the other acknowledgedGuilds, deliberately attired (so it seemed to me) that they might makea pageant; and whilst most walked on foot, there were some who proudlyrode on beasts which they had tamed into rendering them this menialservice.
But presently came the two wonders of all that dazzling spectacle. Fromout of the eclipse of the houses there swung into the open no less abeast than a huge bull mammoth. The sight had sufficient surprise in italmost to make me start. Many a time during my life had I led huntsto kill the mammoth, when a herd of them had raided some village orcornland under my charge. I had seen the huge brutes in the wild ground,shaggy, horrid, monstrous; more fierce than even the cave-tiger or thecave-bear; most dangerous beast of all that fight with man for dominionof the earth, save only for a few of the greater lizards. And herewas this creature, a giant even amongst mammoths, yet tame as anywell-whipped slave, and bearing upon its back a great half-castle ofgold, stamped with the outstretched hand, and bedecked with silversnakes. Its murderous tusks were gilded, its hairy neck was garlandedwith flowers, and it trod on in the procession as though assisting atsuch pageantry was the beginning and end of its existence. Its tamenessseemed a fitting symbol of the masterful strength of this new ruler ofAtlantis.
Simultaneously with the mammoth, there came into sight that other andgreater wonder, the mammoth's mistress, the Empress Phorenice. The beasttook my eye at the first, from its very uncouth hugeness, from itsshow of savage power restrained; but the lady who sat in the goldenhalf-castle on its lofty back quickly drew away my gaze, and held itimmovable from then onwards with an infinite attraction.
I stood to my feet when the people first shouted at Phorenice'sapproach, and remained in the porchway of my scarlet pavilion till hervast steed had halted in the centre of the square, and then I advancedacross the pavement towards her.
"On your knees, my lord," said one of the chamberlains behind me, in ascared whisper.
"At least with bent head," urged another.
But I had my own notions of what is due to one's own self-respect inthese matters, and I marched across the bare open space with head erect,giving the Empress gaze for gaze. She was clearly summing me up. I wasfrankly doing the like by her. Gods! but those few short seconds made mesee a woman such as I never imagined could have lived.
I know I have placed it on record earlier in this writing that, duringall the days of a long official life, women have had no influence overme. But I have been quick to see that they often had a strong swayingpower over the policies of others, and as a consequence I have made itmy business to study them even as I have studied men. But this woman whosat under the sacred snakes in her golden half-castle on the mammoth'sback, fairly baffled me. Of her thoughts I could read no singlesyllable. I could see a body slight, supple, and beautifully moulded; infigure rather small. Her face was a most perfect book of cleverness, yetshe was fair, too, beyond belief, with hair of a lovely ruddiness, cutshort in the new fashion, and bunching on her shoulders. And eyes! Gods!who could plumb the depths of Phorenice's eyes, or find in mere tint atrace of their heaven-made colour?
It was plain, also, that she in her turn was searching me down tomy very soul, and it seemed that her scrutiny was not without itssatisfaction. She moved her head in little nods as I drew near, and whenI did the requisite obeisance permitted to my rank, she bade me ina voice loud and clear enough for all at hand to hear, never to putforehead on the ground again on her behalf so long as she ruled inAtlantis.
"For others," she said, "it is fitting that they should do so, once,twice, or several times, according to their rank and station, for I amEmpress, and they are all so far beneath me; but you are Deucalion, mylord, and though till to-day I knew you only from pictures drawn withtongues, I have seen you now, and have judged for myself. And so I makethis decree: Deucalion is above all other men in Atlantis, and if thereis one who does not render him obedience, that man is enemy also ofPhorenice, and shall feel her anger."
She made a sign, and a stair was brought, and then she called to me, andI mounted and sat beside her in the golden half-castle under the canopyof royal snakes. The girl who stood behind in attendance fanned us bothwith perfumed feathers, and at a word from Phorenice the mammoth wasturned, bearing us back towards the royal pyramid by the way throughwhich it had come. At the same time also all the other machinery ofsplendour was put in motion. The soldiers and the gaudily bedecked civiltraders fell into procession before and behind, and I noted that a bodyof
troops, heavily armed, marched on each of the mammoth's flanks.
Phorenice turned to me with a smile. "You piqued me," she said, "atfirst."
"Your Majesty overwhelms me with so much notice."
"You looked at my steed before you looked at me. A woman finds it hardto forgive a slight like that."
"I envied you the greatest of your conquests, and do still. I havefought mammoths myself, and at times have killed, but I never dared evento think of taking one alive and bringing it into tameness."
"You speak boldly," she said, still smiling, "and yet you can turn apretty compliment. Faugh! Deucalion, the way these people fawn on megives me a nausea. I am not of the same clay as they are, I know; butjust because I am the daughter of Gods they must needs feed me on thepap of insincerity."
So Tatho was right, and the swineherd was forgotten. Well, if she choseto keep up the fiction she had made, it was not my part to contradicther. Rightly or wrongly I was her servant.
"I have been pining this long enough for a stronger meat than they cangive," she went on, "and at last I have sent for you. I have been atsome pains to procure my tongue-pictures of you, Deucalion, and thoughyou do not know me yet, I may say I knew you with all thoroughness evenbefore we met. I can admire a man with a mind great enough to forego thesilly gauds of clothes, or the excesses of feasts, or the pamperings ofwomen." She looked down at her own silks and her glittering jewels. "Wewomen like to carry colours upon our persons, but that is a differentmatter. And so I sent for you here to be my minister, and bear with methe burden of ruling."
"There should be better men in broad Atlantis."
"There are not, my lord, and I who know them all by heart tell you so.They are all enamoured of my poor person; they weary me with their emptyphrases and their importunities; and, though they are always brimmingwith their cries of service, their own advancement and the filling oftheir own treasuries ever comes first with them. So I have sent for you,Deucalion, the one strong man in all the world. You at least will notsigh to be my lover?"
I saw her watching for my answer from the corner of her eyes. "TheEmpress," I said, "is my mistress, and I will be an honest minister toher. With Phorenice, the woman, it is likely that I shall have littleenough to do. Besides, I am not the sort that sports with this toy theycall love."
"And yet you are a personable man enough," she said rather thoughtfully."But that still further proves your strength, Deucalion. You at leastwill not lose your head through weak infatuation for my poor looks andgraces."--She turned to the girl who stood behind us.--"Ylga, fan not soviolently."
Our talk broke off then for the moment, and I had time to look aboutme. We were passing through the chief street in the fairest, the mostwonderful city this world has ever seen. I had left it a score of yearsbefore, and was curious to note its increase.
In public buildings the city had certainly made growth; there werenew temples, new pyramids, new palaces, and statuary everywhere. Itsgreatness and magnificence impressed me more strongly even than usual,returning to it as I did from such a distance of time and space, for,though the many cities of Yucatan might each of them be princely, thisgreat capital was a place not to be compared with any of them. It wasimperial and gorgeous beyond descriptive words.
Yet most of all was I struck by the poverty and squalor which stood insuch close touch with all this magnificence. In the throngs that linedthe streets there were gaunt bodies and hungry faces everywhere. Hereand there stood one, a man or a woman, as naked as a savage in Europe,and yet dull to shame. Even the trader, with trumpery gauds on his coat,aping the prevailing fashion for display, had a scared, uneasy look tohis face, as though he had forgotten the mere name of safety, and hid afrantic heart with his tawdry outward vauntings of prosperity.
Phorenice read the direction of my looks.
"The season," she said, "has been unhealthy of recent months. Theselower people will not build fine houses to adorn my city, and becausethey choose to live on in their squalid, unsightly kennels, there havebeen calentures and other sicknesses amongst them, which make themdisinclined for work. And then, too, for the moment, earning is noteasy. Indeed, you may say trade is nearly stopped this last half-year,since the rebels have been hammering so lustily at my city gates."
I was fairly startled out of my decorum.
"Rebels!" I cried. "Who are hammering at the gates of Atlantis? Is thecity in a state of siege?"
"Of their condescension," said Phorenice lightly, "they are giving usholiday to-day, and so, happily, my welcome to you comes undisturbed.If they were fighting, your ears would have told you of it. To give themtheir due, they are noisy enough in all their efforts. My spies say theyare making ready new engines for use against the walls, which you maysally out to-morrow and break if it gives you amusement. But for to-day,Deucalion, I have you, and you have me, and there is peace round us, andsome prettiness of display. If you ask for more I will give it you."
"I did not know of this rebellion," I said, "but as Your Majesty hasmade me your minister, it is well that I should know all about its scopeat once. This is a matter we should be serious upon."
"And do you think I cannot take it seriously also?" she retorted."Ylga," she said to the girl that stood behind, "set loose my dress atthe shoulder."
And when the attendant had unlinked the jewelled clasp (as it seemed tome with a very ill grace), she herself stripped down the fabric, baringthe pure skin beneath, and showing me just below the curve of the leftbreast a bandage of bloodstained linen.
"There is a guarantee of my seriousness yesterday, at any rate," shesaid, looking at me sidelong. "The arrow struck on a rib and that savedme. If it had struck between, Deucalion would have been standing besidemy funeral pyre to-day instead of riding on this pretty steed of minewhich he admires so much. Your eye seems to feast itself most on themammoth, Deucalion. Ah, poor me. I am not one of your shaggy creatures,and so it seems I shall never be able to catch your regard. Ylga," shesaid to the girl behind, "you may link my dress up again with its clasp.My Lord Deucalion has seen wounds before, and there is nothing else hereto interest him."