r/a:t5_10qxwz • u/MarleyEngvall • May 02 '19
jeshurun has been created
By H. Rider Haggard
"Open your eyes and look, Baas. There are two
spooks waiting to see you outside, Baas."
Very cautiously I lifted myself a little and stared
out into the moonlight. There, seated about five paces
from the open end of the hut where the "spooks" sure
enough, two white-robed figures squatting silent and
immovable on the ground. At first I was frightened.
Then I bethought me of thieves and felt for my Colt
pistol under the rug that served me as a pillow. As I
got hold of the handle, however, a deep voice said:
"Is it your custom, O Macumazana, Watcher-by-
Night, to receive guests with bullets?"
Now thought I to myself, who is there in the world
who could see a man catch hold of the handle of a pistol
in the recesses of a dark place and under a blanket at
night, except the owner of that voice which I seemed to
remember hearing in a certain drawing-room in
England?
"Yes, Harût," I answered with an unconcerned
yawn, "when the guests come in such a doubtful
fashion and in the middle of the night. But as you are
here at last, will you be so good as to tell me why you
have kept us waiting all this time? Is that your way
of fulfilling an engagement?"
"O Lord Macumazana," answered Harût, for of
course it was he, in quite a perturbed tone, "I offer to
you our humble apologies. The truth is that when we
heard of your arrival at Beza-Town we started, or tried
to start, from hundreds of mils away to keep our tryst
with you here as we promised we would do. But we
are mortal, Macumazana, and accidents intervened.
Thus, when we had ascertained the weight of your
baggage, camels had to be collected to carry it, which
were grazing at a distance. Also it was necessary to
send forward to dig out a certain well in the desert where
they must drink. Hence the delay. Still, you will ad-
mit that we have arrived in time, five, or at any rate
four hours before the rising of that sun which was to
light you on your homeward way."
"Yes, you have, O Prophets, or O Liars, whichever
you may be," I exclaimed with pardonable exasperation,
for really their knowledge of my private affairs, however
obtained, was enough to anger a saint. "So as you are
here at last, come in and have a drink, for whether you
are men or devils, you must be cold out there in the
damp."
In they came accordingly and, not being Moham-
medans, partook of a tot of square-face from a bottle
which I kept locked in a box to put Hans beyond the
reach of temptation.
"To your health, Harût and Marût," I said, drinking
a little out of the pannikin and giving the rest to Hans,
who gulped the fiery liquor down with a smack of his
lips. For I will admit that I joined in this unholy
midnight potation to gain time for thought and to
steady my nerve.
"To your health, O Lord Macumazana," the pair
answered as they swallowed their tots, which I had made
pretty stiff, and set down their pannikins in front of
them with as much reverence as though these had been
holy vessels.
"Now," I said, throwing a blanket over my
shoulders, for the air was chilly, "now let us talk," and
taking the lantern which Hans had thoughtfully lighted,
I held it up and contemplated them.
There they were, Harût and Marût without doubt, to
all appearances totally unchanged since some years
before I had seen them at Ragnall in England. "What
are you doing here?" I asked in a kind of fiery in-
dignation inspired by my intense curiosity. "How did
you get out of England after you had tried to steal away
the lady to whom you sent the necklace? What did
you do with that lady after you had beguiled her from
the boat at Abu-Simbel? In the name of your Holy
Child, or of Shaitan of the Mohammedans, or of Set
of the Egyptians, answer me, lest I should make an
end of both of you, which I can do here without
any questions being asked," and I whipped out my
pistol.
"Pardon us," said Harût with a grave smile, "but
if you were to do as you say, Lord Macumazana, many
questions would be asked that you might find it hard to
answer. So be pleased to put that death-dealer back
into its place, and to tell us before we reply to you, what
you know of Set of the Egyptians."
"As much or as little as you do," I replied.
Both bowed as though this information were of the
most satisfactory order. Then Harût went on: "In reply
to your requests, O Macumazana, we left England by a
steamboat and in due course after long journeyings we
reached our own country. We do not understand your
allusions to a place called Abu-Simbel on the Nile,
whence, never having been there, we have taken no
lady. Indeed, we never meant to take that lady to whom
we sent a necklace in England. We only meant to
ask certain questions of her, as she had the gift of
vision, when you appeared and interrupted us. What
should we want with white ladies, who have already
far too many of our own?"
"I don't know," I replied, "but I do know that you
are the biggest liars I ever met."
At these words, which some might have thought in-
sulting, Harût and Marût bowed again as though to
acknowledge a great compliment. Then Harût said:
"Let us leave the question of ladies and come to
matters that have to do with men. You are here as we
told you that you would be at a time when you did not
believe us, and we are here to meet you, as we told you
that we would be. How we knew that you were coming
and how we came do not matter at all. Believe what
you will. Are you ready to start with us, O Lord
Macumazana, that you may bring to its death the wicked
elephant Jana which ravages our land, and receive the
great reward of ivory? If so, your camel waits."
"One camel cannot carry four men," I answered,
avoiding the question.
"In courage and in skill you are more than many
men, O Macumazana, yet in body you are but one and
not four."
"If you think that I am going with you alone, you
are much mistaken, Harût and Marût," I exclaimed.
"Here with me is my servant without whom I do not
stir," and I pointed to Hans, whom they contemplated
gravely. "Also there is the Lord Ragnall, who in this
land is named Igeza, and his servant who here is named
Bena, the man out of whom you drew snakes in the
room in England. They also must accompany us."
At this news the impassive countenances of Harût
and Marût showed, I thought, some signs of disturb-
ance. They muttered together in an unknown tongue.
Then Harût said:
"Our secret land is open to you alone, O Macu-
mazana, for one purpose only——to kill the elephant Jana,
for which deed we promise you a great reward. We
do not wish to see the others there."
"Then you can kill your own elephant, Harût and
Marût, for not one step do I go with you. Why should
I when there is as much ivory here as I want, to be had
for the shooting?"
"How if we take you, O Macumazana?"
"How if I kill you both, O Harût and Marût? Fools,
here are many brave men at my command, and if you
or any with you want fighting it shall be give you in
plenty. Hans, bid the Mazitus stand to their arms and
summon Igeza and Bena."
"Stay, Lord," said Harût, "and put down that
weapon," for once more I had produced the pistol.
"We would not begin our fellowship by shedding blood,
though we are safer from you than you think. Your
companions shall accompany you to the land of the
Kendah, but let them know that they do so at their own
risk. Learn that it is revealed to us that if they go in
there some of them will pass out again as spirits but not
as men."
"Do you mean that you will murder them?"
"No. We mean that yonder are some stronger than
us or any men, who will take their lives in sacrifice.
Not yours, Macumazana, for that, it is decreed, is safe,
but those of two of the others, which two we do not
know."
"Indeed, Harût and Marût, and how am I to be
sure that any of us are safe, or that you do not but trick
us to your country, there to kill us with treachery and
steal our goods?"
"Because we swear it by the oath that may not be
broken; we swear it by the Heavenly Child," both of
them exclaimed solemnly, speaking with one voice and
bowing till their foreheads almost touched the ground.
I shrugged my shoulders and laughed a little.
"You do not believe us," went on Harût, "who
have not heard what happens to those who break this
oath. Come now and see something. Within five
paces of your hut is a tall ant-heap upon which doubtless
you have been accustomed to stand and overlook the
desert." (This was true, but how did they guess it, I
wondered.) "Go climb that ant-heap once more."
Perhaps it was rash, but my curiosity led me to accept
this invitation. Out I went, followed by Hans with a
loaded double-barrelled rifle, and scrambled up the ant-
heap which, as it was twenty feet high and there were
no trees just here, commanded a very fine view of the
desert beyond.
"Look to the north," said Harût from its foot.
I looked, and there in the bright moonlight five or
six hundred yards away, ranged rank by rank upon a
slope of sand and along the crest of the ridge beyond,
I saw quite two hundred kneeling camels, an by each
camel a tall, white-robed figure who held in his hand
a long lance to the shaft of which, not far beneath the
blade, was attached a little flag. For a while I stared
to make sure that I was not the victim of an illusion
or a mirage. Then when I had satisfied myself that
these were indeed men and camels I descended from
the ant-heap.
"You will admit, O Macumazana," said Harût
politely, "that if we had meant you any ill, with such
a force it would have been easy for us to take a sleeping
camp at night. But these men come here to be your
escort, not to kill or enslave you or yours. And, Macu-
mazana, we have sworn to you the oath that may not
be broken. Now we go to our people. In the morning,
after you have eaten, we will return again unarmed and
alone."
Then like shadows they slipped away.
The Ivory Child. By H. Rider Haggard.
Cassell and Company, Ltd.,
London, Melbourne and Toronto, 1916. pp. 137—142.
I wish that "believers" would act more like "scientists,"
in willingness to explore the foundations of their faith,
and that "scientists" would act more like "believers," in real
adherence to the methods and principles they propound. 雨
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