登陆注册
5591200000022

第22章 AWAY!AWAY!

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 it was 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 an actual hand-to-hand combat.The distinguishing scenic effect from that distance was the countless distinct flashes of light reflected from the swords and spears,otherwise the panorama was not so grand as might have been expected.

The great green lap of sward in which the struggle was being fought out,the bold round outline of the hills behind,and the wide sweep of the plain beyond,seemed to dwarf it;and what was tremendous enough when one was in it,grew insignificant when viewed from the distance.But is it not thus with all the affairs and doings of our race about which we blow the loud trumpet and make such a fuss and worry?How utterly antlike,and morally and physically insignificant,must they seem to the calm eyes that watch them from the arching depths above!

'We win the day,Macumazahn,'said old Umslopogaas,taking in the whole situation with a glance of his practised eye.'Look,the Lady of the Night'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.But alas!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 shook his head sadly.

'But,'he added,'I do not think that they will fight again.

We have fed them with too strong a meat.Ah!it is well to have lived!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 I told him what our mission was,and how that,if it failed,all the lives that 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 to be 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,be my mother alive or dead,will I split him to the beard.Ay,by T'Chaka's head I swear it!'and he shook Inkosi-kaas as he galloped.By now the darkness 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 bestrode had got their wind by this,and were sweeping along with a wide steady stride that neither failed nor varied for mile upon mile.

Down the side of slopes we galloped,across wide vales that stretched to the foot of far-off hills.Nearer and nearer grew the blue hills;now we were travelling up their steeps,and now we were over and passing towards others that sprang up like visions in the far,faint distance beyond.

On,never pausing or drawing rein,through the perfect quiet of the night,that was set like a song to the falling music of our horses'hoofs;on,past deserted villages,where only some forgotten starving dog howled a melancholy welcome;on,past lonely moated dwellings;on,through the white patchy moonlight,that lay coldly upon the wide bosom of the earth,as though there was no warmth in it;on,knee to knee,for hour after hour!

We spake not,but bent us forward on the necks of those two glorious horses,and listened to their deep,long-drawn breaths as they filled their great lungs,and to the regular unfaltering ring of their round hoofs.Grim and black indeed did old Umslopogaas look beside me,mounted upon the great white horse,like Death in the Revelation of St John,as now 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 beginning to give out.I looked at my watch;it was nearly midnight,and we were considerably more than half way.On the top of a rise was a little spring,which I remembered because I had slept by it a few nights before,and here I motioned to Umslopogaas to pull up,having determined to 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 me off,for what with fatigue,stiffness,and the pain of my wound,I could not 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 night air.

Leaving Umslopogaas to hold the horses,I hobbled to the spring and drank deep of its sweet waters.I had had nothing but a single mouthful of 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,having laved my fevered head and hands,I returned,and the Zulu went and drank.Next we allowed the horses to take a couple of mouthfuls each --no more;and oh,what a struggle we had to get the poor beasts away from the water!

There were yet two minutes,and I employed it in hobbling up and down to try and relieve my stiffness,and in inspecting the condition of the horses.My mare,gallant animal though she was,was evidently much distressed;she hung her head,and her eye looked sick and dull;but Daylight,Nyleptha's glorious horse --who,if he is served aright,should,like the steeds who saved great Rameses in his need,feed for the rest of his days out of a golden manger --was still comparatively speaking fresh,notwithstanding the fact that he had had by far the heavier weight to carry.He was 'tucked up',indeed,and his legs were weary,but his eye was bright and clear,and he held his shapely head up and gazed out into the darkness round him in a way that seemed to say that whoever failed he was good for those five-and-forty miles that yet lay between us and Milosis.Then Umslopogaas helped me into the saddle and --vigorous old savage that he was!--vaulted into his own without touching a stirrup,and we were off once more,slowly at first,till the horses got into their stride,and then more swiftly.So we passed over another ten miles,and then came a long,weary rise of some six or seven miles,and three times did my poor black mare nearly come to the ground with me.But on the top she seemed to gather herself together,and rattled down the slope with long,convulsive strides,breathing in gasps.We did that three or four miles more swiftly than any since we had started on our wild ride,but I felt it to be a last effort,and I was right.Suddenly my poor horse took the bit between her teeth and bolted furiously along a stretch of level ground for some three 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 rolling myself free as she did so.As I struggled to my feet the brave beast raised her head and looked at me with piteous bloodshot eyes,and then her 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 we to do it with one horse?It seemed hopeless,but I had forgotten the old Zulu's extraordinary running powers.

Without a single word he sprang from the saddle and began to hoist me into 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 relief it was to me to get that change of horses!Anybody who has ever ridden against time will know what it meant.

Daylight sped along at a long stretching hand-gallop,giving the gaunt Zulu a lift at every stride.It was a wonderful thing to see old Umslopogaas run mile after mile,his lips slightly parted and his nostrils agape like the horse's.Every five miles or so we stopped for a few minutes to let him get his breath,and then flew on again.

'Canst thou go farther,'I said at the third of these stoppages,'or shall I leave thee to follow me?'

He pointed with his axe to a dim mass before us.It was the Temple of the 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 my legs,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 suffering very much from the blow I had received on my left side;it seemed as though a piece of bone or something was slowly piercing into my lung.Poor Daylight,too,was pretty nearly finished,and no wonder.But there was a smell of dawn in the air,and we might not stay;better that all three of us should die upon the road than that we should linger while there was life in us.The air was thick and heavy,as it sometimes is before the dawn breaks,and --another infallible sign in certain parts of Zu-Vendis that sunrise is at hand --hundreds of little spiders pendant on the end of long tough webs were floating about in it.These early-rising creatures,or rather their webs,caught upon the horse's and our own forms by scores,and,as we had neither the time nor the energy to brush them off,we rushed along covered with hundreds of long grey threads that streamed out a yard or more behind us --and a very strange appearance they must have given us.

And now before us are the huge brazen gates of the outer wall of the Frowning City,and a new and horrible doubt strikes me:

What if they will not let us in?

'Open!open!'I shout imperiously,at the same time giving the royal password.'Open!open!a messenger,a messenger with tidings of the war!'

'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 who runs 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 with a 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 was gone.

One more effort,gallant horse,and yet more gallant man!

So,fall not now,Daylight,and hold thy life in thee for fifteen short minutes more,old Zulu war-dog,and ye shall both live for ever in the annals of the land.

On,clattering through the sleeping streets.We are passing the Flower Temple now --one mile more,only one little mile --hold on,keep your life 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 on gallantly.

'Thank God,the palace at last!'and see,the first arrows of the dawn are striking on the Temple's golden dome.{Endnote 21}

But shall I get in 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 joy I recognize it as belonging to Kara,a fellow-officer of Nyleptha's guards,a man I know to be as honest as the light --indeed,the same whom Nyleptha 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 the bridge and throw wide the gate.Quick,quick!'

Then followed a space that seemed to me endless,but at length the bridge fell and one half of the gate opened and we got into the courtyard,where at last poor Daylight fell down beneath me,as I thought,dead.Except Kara,there was nobody to be seen,and his look was wild,and his garments were all torn.

He had opened the gate and let down the bridge alone,and was now getting them up and shut again (as,owing to a very ingenious arrangement of cranks and levers,one man could easily do,and indeed generally did do).

'Where are the guard?'I gasped,fearing his answer as I never feared anything before.

'I know not,'he answered;'two hours ago,as I slept,was Iseized and bound by the watch under me,and but now,this very moment,have I freed myself 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,through the 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!The silence and solitude of those great chambers was dreadful,and weighed me down like an evil dream.On,right into Nyleptha's chamber we rushed and staggered,sick at heart,fearing the very worst;we saw there was a light in it,ay,and a figure bearing the light.Oh,thank God,it is the White Queen herself,the Queen unharmed!There she stands in her night gear,roused,by the clatter of our coming,from her bed,the heaviness of sleep yet in her eyes,and a red blush of fear and shame mantling 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 --and my 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 last night at sundown;therefore let thy heart have rest.

Sorais is beaten back all along her lines,and thy arms prevail.'

'I knew it,'she cried in triumph.'I knew that he would win;and they called him Outlander,and shook their wise heads when I gave him the command!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 wine to drink;ay,and call thy maidens quick if thou wouldst save thyself alive.Nay,stay not.'

Thus adjured she ran and called through the curtains towards some room beyond,and then hastily put on her sandals and a thick cloak,by which time 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 wondering eyes,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 we are near to death.'

The room was used as a mess-room for the officers of the guards,and from a cupboard some flagons of wine and some cold flesh were brought forth,and Umslopogaas and I drank,and felt life flow back into our veins as the good red wine went down.

'Hark to me,Nyleptha,'I said,as I put down the empty tankard.

'Hast thou 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 thou canst 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 the maids.'

She turned,and selecting two of the crowd of damsels,repeated the words I had uttered,giving them besides a list of the names of the men to 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 at the door leading from the great courtyard on to the stairway as soon as he had made fast behind the girls.Thither,too,Umslopogaas and I made our way,followed by the Queen and her women.As we went we tore off mouthfuls of food,and between them I told her what I knew of the danger which encompassed her,and how we found Kara,and how all the guards and men-servants were gone,and she was alone with her women in that great place;and she told me,too,that a rumour had spread through the town that our army had been utterly destroyed,and that Sorais was marching in triumph on Milosis,and how in consequence thereof all men had fallen away from her.

Though all this takes some time to tell,we had not been but six or seven minutes in the palace;and notwithstanding that the golden roof of the 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 in the courtyard now,and here my wound pained me so that I had to take Nyleptha's arm,while Umslopogaas rolled along after us,eating as he went.

Now we were across it,and had reached the narrow doorway through the palace 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 been taken from their hinges,and as we afterwards found,hurled from the stairway to the ground two hundred feet beneath.There in front of us was the semicircular standing-space,about twice the size of a large oval dining-table,and the ten curved black marble steps leading on to the main stair --and that was all.

同类推荐
  • 清诗别裁集

    清诗别裁集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明语林

    明语林

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说救拔焰口饿鬼陀罗尼经

    佛说救拔焰口饿鬼陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 冬日有怀李贺长吉

    冬日有怀李贺长吉

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 三洞赞颂灵章

    三洞赞颂灵章

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 侯门嫡妻:夫人,拜个堂

    侯门嫡妻:夫人,拜个堂

    单清霜恨死那个戴面具的,那个一言不发就把她抢走的人,偏生又是如此的霸道,他还说,要抢她一辈子。温侯:我家财万贯,一人之下,万人之上单清霜:你喜欢我温侯:我是侯爷!要不了多久还会是国公单清霜:你喜欢我温侯:我迷倒万千少女,多少人喊着要给我生猴子单清霜:你喜欢我温侯:能换一句么,我好歹也是穿越者……单清霜:我救过你,有两世记忆,一品诰命夫人,皇后是我姐姐……温侯:没错,我喜欢你,什么时候结婚?……
  • 凤府选婿

    凤府选婿

    什么?与学长阳台接吻,竟然摔回古代?好吧!横竖都是活,那她继续玩强的生存吧!活一次也不容易,据说古代流行三妻四妾。那。。。那她一女多夫可不可以啊!某女一脸色相贪婪的问老天。有句话怎么说来着,努力就是一定有收获,事实证明这句话是真理,通过吭蒙拐骗色诱俱全,加上软磨硬泡带粘性,美男是一定逃不掉的。。。不管你是王室贵族,还是江湖杀手,管你是黑白两道,或是武林剑客,她通杀。吃干抹尽的下场一般很惨,当九个出色男人摸上她家时,只有一个要求,负责。可怜的她只有泪流满面,乖乖将九男送入后宫,今后,慢慢侍奉。。
  • 暗界神使

    暗界神使

    主人公姜爻为寻找失踪的友人萧远,偷偷潜入一幢废弃别墅调查,却阴差阳错地被一道神秘黑影所盯上,差点万劫不复。然而这却只是厄运的开始,连环事件的背后,姜爻逐渐发现跟着自己的,竟是一个“本不该存在”之人。如影随形的危机,友人失踪的真相,潜藏的异能者组织……离奇事件的背后,一场跨越千年的阴谋已悄然苏醒,正与邪的较量即将展开。
  • 晚秋

    晚秋

    宋品仲,男,1962年生于河北省香河县,汉族。先后毕业于廊坊师范学校、廊坊市委党校、河北大学。曾在小学、中学任教,后在乡镇、县城街道办事处任职,目前在香河县城区管理综合执法局工作。诗歌作品曾在《廊坊都市报》《北方文学》等多家媒体刊发。这本《晚秋》收录了由其创作的诗歌作品。
  • 赢在0.01秒

    赢在0.01秒

    机会稍纵即逝,只有行动迅速果断的人才能及时抓住机会,只有把握机会的人才能获得成功。即使你的行动出现了挫折,即使你的行动最终没能为你带来快乐与成功,但请记住一句话:不怕错,就怕拖。行动了不一定能成功,但是不行动却注定不能成功。好的开始是成功的一半,只要你愿意开始做某件事,那么你就已经得到了成功的机会,行动,从现在开始。
  • 柯岩文集第四卷(中短篇小说)

    柯岩文集第四卷(中短篇小说)

    《柯岩文集》第四卷,主要是柯岩的中、短篇小说集。作品充满了纯真的童心和女作家常有的细腻情感,反映了现实生活中的一些问题,既有着力对光明的歌颂又不回避光明下的阴影,写出了主人公的苦恼、忧虑、复杂的心理变化等。
  • 四明十义书

    四明十义书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 七杀楼

    七杀楼

    江湖,一把剑,一个人,一杯酒,一颗心,刀光剑影,血洗残阳。心中有一个天下,便是一世的江湖。七杀楼,执武林之耳,杀伐独断,一枚诛杀令,澄清武林之事,自洛水大战之后,邪教被迫与七杀楼定下城下之盟,使九十多年来的中原武林未起波澜。可是树欲静而风不止,一场猎杀,又将这平衡已久的江湖卷进了一场腥风血雨!江湖,从此又成了江湖!
  • 侧妃罪

    侧妃罪

    *【片段一】“王爷,这是玉侧妃的骨灰。”他闭着眼睛靠在椅背上,双眉紧锁,俊脸死灰,抬抬手,“下去吧。”他送她去那么远的地方,是让她等他,却没想到她总是要先他一步。【片段二】"为何要刺杀我母后,为何不还手?"悬崖边上,他只来得及抓住她的衣袖。看着他黑眸中的痛楚,她凄然一笑,挣脱他的手。一身断袖红衣,凄美如蝶,轻轻飘落滚滚玉帛河。却也,撕碎了他的心。*她本是玉峰山上与世无争的女子,一次心疾发作,香销玉殒。却将灵魂依附在了一个侧王妃身上。他是天朝国王爷,俊美异常,权倾朝野。却也对她,冷漠有加,深恶痛绝。只因,她这具身子的前任主人亲手杀了他的正妃。兜兜转转、离离合合,当他由恨生爱,由欲到爱,他的正妃却突然出现……他的选择是,送她走。然,半年后接回来的,却是她的骨灰。再相见,她成为他的皇弟媳,插手政事、权倾后宫,却也以另一个身份与他处处作对,刺杀他母后……【注】本文非悲剧,过程小虐。且此文已设置为半价,看完全本只需两块几毛钱。推荐自己的完结文《契约哑妻》黯香的新文《虐妃》已完结《罪妾》
  • 新闻传播伦理与法规教程

    新闻传播伦理与法规教程

    新闻传播是社会活动主体间相互传达信息的交流活动,是社会结构体系中新闻传播机构利用媒介向广大受众发布和传递新近发生的事实的信息、报道的传播活动。人们在新闻信息传播活动中的行为应该如何的规范,即是新闻伦理研究的内容。新闻传播行为的法律制度,主要包括确认新闻事业体制和隶属关系等因素的法律地位,建立业务组织、管理体系,划定新闻从业人员在法律上的职责关系,调节和监督新闻传播行为的指向,解决新闻机构间的纠纷,规定新闻传播行为的法律后果特别是违法行为的法律制裁以及规定和保障新闻工作程序。在本书的论述及分析中,我们将深入了解到这伦理与法规在新闻传播活动中的深刻内涵。