WALKING THE PLANK.
NEXT day the mutes woke us before the dawn; and by the time that we had got the sleep out of our eyes, and gone through a perfunctory wash at a spring which still welled up into the remains of a marble basin in the centre of the north quadrangle of the vast outer court, we found _i_ She _i_ standing by the litter ready to start, while old Billali and the two bearer mutes were busy collecting the baggage.As usual, Ayesha was veiled like the marble Truth (by the way, Iwonder if she originally got the idea of covering up her beauty from that statue?).I noticed, however, that she seemed very depressed, and had none of that proud and buoyant bearing which would have betrayed her among a thousand women of the same stature, even if they had been veiled like herself.She looked up as we camefor her head was bowedand greeted us.Leo asked her how she had slept.
"Ill, my Kallikrates," she answered, "ill.This night have strange and hideous dreams come creeping through my brain, and I know not what they may portend.Almost do I feel as though some evil overshadowed me; and yet how can evil touch me? I wonder," she went on, with a sudden outbreak of womanly tenderness, "I wonder if, should aught happen to me, so that I slept awhile and left thee waking, wouldst thou think gently of me? Iwonder, my Kallikrates, if thou wouldst tarry till Icame again, as for so many centuries I have tarried for thy coming?"Then, without waiting for an answer, she went on:
"Come, let us be setting forth, for we have far to go, and before another day is born in yonder blue should we stand in the Place of Life."In another five minutes we were once more on our way through the vast ruined city, which loomed at us on either side in the gray dawning in a way that was at once grand and oppressive.Just as the first ray of the rising sun shot like a golden arrow athwart this storied desolation we gained the farther gateway of the outer wall, and having given one more glance at the hoar and pillared majesty through which we had passed, and (with the exception of Job, for whom ruins had no charms) breathed a sigh of regret that we had not had more time to explore it, passed through the great moat, and on to the plain beyond.
As the sun rose so did Ayesha's spirits, till by breakfast-time they had regained their normal level, and she laughingly set down her previous depression to the associations of the spot where she had slept.
"These barbarians declare that Ko^r is haunted," she said, "and of a truth I do believe their saying, for never did I know so ill a night save once.I remember it now.It was on that very spot when thou didst lie dead at my feet, Kallikrates.Never will I visit it again; it is a place of evil omen."After a very brief halt for breakfast we pressed on with such good will that by two o'clock in the afternoon we were at the foot of the vast wall of rock that formed the lip of the volcano, and which at this point towered up precipitously above us for fifteen hundred or two thousand feet.Here we halted, certainly not to my astonishment, for I did not see how it was possible that we should go any farther.
"Now," said Ayesha, as she descended from her litter, "doth our labor but commence, for here do we part with these men, and henceforward must we bear ourselves;"and then, addressing Billali, "do thou and these slaves remain here, and abide our coming.By to-morrow at the midday shall we be with theeif not, wait."Billali bowed humbly, and said that her august bidding should be obeyed if they stopped there till they grew old.
"And this man, O Holly," said _i_ She _i_ , pointing to Job; "best is it that he should tarry also, for if his heart be not high and his courage great, perchance some evil might overtake him.Also, the secrets of the place whither we go are not fit for common eyes."I translated this to Job, who instantly and earnestly entreated me, almost with tears in his eyes, not to leave him behind.He said he was sure that he could see nothing worse than he had already seen, and that he was terrified to death at the idea of being left alone with those "dumb folk," who, he thought, would probably take the opportunity to hot-pot him.
I translated what he said to Ayesha, who shrugged her shoulders, and answered, "Well, let him come, it is naught to me; on his own head be it, and he will serve to bear the lamp and this," and she pointed to a narrow plank, some sixteen feet in length, which had been bound above the long bearing-pole of her hammock, as I had thought to make the curtains spread out better, but, as it now appeared, for some unknown purpose connected with our extraordinary undertaking.
Accordingly, the plank, which, though tough, was very light, was given to Job to carry, and also one of the lamps.I slung the other on to my back, together with a spare jar of oil, while Leo loaded himself with the provisions and some water in a kid's skin.When this was done _i_ She _i_ bade Billali and the six bearer mutes to retreat behind a grove of flowering magnolias about a hundred yards away, and remain there under pain of death till we had vanished.They bowed humbly, and went, and, as he departed, old Billali gave me a friendly shake of the hand, and whispered that he had rather that it was I than he who was going on this wonderful expedition with " _i_ She _i_ -who-must-be-obeyed," and upon my word I felt inclined to agree with him.In another minute they were gone, and then, having briefly asked us if we were ready, Ayesha turned, and gazed up the towering cliff.
