Prester John by John Buchan

  CHAPTER XVII

  A DEAL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

  My eyes were bandaged tight, and a thong was run round my right wristand tied to Laputa's saddle-bow. I felt the glare of the afternoon sunon my head, and my shins were continually barked by stones and trees;but these were my only tidings of the outer world. By the sound of hispaces Laputa was riding the _schimmel_, and if any one thinks it easy togo blindfold by a horse's side I hope he will soon have the experience.In the darkness I could not tell the speed of the beast. When I ran Iovershot it and was tugged back; when I walked my wrist was dislocatedwith the tugs forward.

  For an hour or more I suffered this breakneck treatment. We weredescending. Often I could hear the noise of falling streams, and oncewe splashed through a mountain ford. Laputa was taking no risks, for heclearly had in mind the possibility of some accident which would set mefree, and he had no desire to have me guiding Arcoll to his camp.

  But as I stumbled and sprawled down these rocky tracks I was notthinking of Laputa's plans. My whole soul was filled with regret forColin, and rage against his murderer. After my first mad rush I hadnot thought about my dog. He was dead, but so would I be in an hour ortwo, and there was no cause to lament him. But at the first revival ofhope my grief had returned. As they bandaged my eyes I was wishingthat they would let me see his grave. As I followed beside Laputa Itold myself that if ever I got free, when the war was over I would goto Inanda's Kraal, find the grave, and put a tombstone over it inmemory of the dog that saved my life. I would also write that the manwho shot him was killed on such and such a day at such and such a placeby Colin's master. I wondered why Laputa had not the wits to see thePortugoose's treachery and to let me fight him. I did not care whatwere the weapons--knives or guns, or naked fists--I would certainlykill him, and afterwards the Kaffirs could do as they pleased with me.Hot tears of rage and weakness wet the bandage on my eyes, and the sobswhich came from me were not only those of weariness.

  At last we halted. Laputa got down and took off the bandage, and Ifound myself in one of the hill-meadows which lie among the foothillsof the Wolkberg. The glare blinded me, and for a little I could onlysee the marigolds growing at my feet. Then I had a glimpse of the deepgorge of the Great Letaba below me, and far to the east the flatsrunning out to the hazy blue line of the Lebombo hills. Laputa let mesit on the ground for a minute or two to get my breath and rest myfeet. 'That was a rough road,' he said. 'You can take it easier now,for I have no wish to carry you.' He patted the _schimmel_, and thebeautiful creature turned his mild eyes on the pair of us. I wonderedif he recognized his rider of two nights ago.

  I had seen Laputa as the Christian minister, as the priest and king inthe cave, as the leader of an army at Dupree's Drift, and at the kraalwe had left as the savage with all self-control flung to the winds. Iwas to see this amazing man in a further part. For he now became afriendly and rational companion. He kept his horse at an easy walk,and talked to me as if we were two friends out for a trip together.Perhaps he had talked thus to Arcoll, the half-caste who drove hisCape-cart.

  The wooded bluff above Machudi's glen showed far in front. He told methe story of the Machudi war, which I knew already, but he told it as asaga. There had been a stratagem by which one of the Boer leaders--aGrobelaar, I think--got some of his men into the enemy's camp by hidingthem in a captured forage wagon.

  'Like the Trojan horse,' I said involuntarily.

  'Yes,' said my companion, 'the same old device,' and to my amazement hequoted some lines of Virgil.

  'Do you understand Latin?' he asked.

  I told him that I had some slight knowledge of the tongue, acquired atthe university of Edinburgh. Laputa nodded. He mentioned the name ofa professor there, and commented on his scholarship.

  'O man!' I cried, 'what in God's name are you doing in this business?You that are educated and have seen the world, what makes you try toput the clock back? You want to wipe out the civilization of athousand years, and turn us all into savages. It's the more shame toyou when you know better.'

  'You misunderstand me,' he said quietly. 'It is because I have suckedcivilization dry that I know the bitterness of the fruit. I want asimpler and better world, and I want that world for my own people. Iam a Christian, and will you tell me that your civilization pays muchattention to Christ? You call yourself a patriot? Will you not giveme leave to be a patriot in turn?'

  'If you are a Christian, what sort of Christianity is it to deluge theland with blood?'

  'The best,' he said. 'The house must be swept and garnished before theman of the house can dwell in it. You have read history. Such apurging has descended on the Church at many times, and the world hasawakened to a new hope. It is the same in all religions. The templesgrow tawdry and foul and must be cleansed, and, let me remind you, thecleanser has always come out of the desert.'

  I had no answer, being too weak and forlorn to think. But I fastenedon his patriotic plea.

  'Where are the patriots in your following? They are all red Kaffirscrying for blood and plunder. Supposing you were Oliver Cromwell youcould make nothing out of such a crew.'

  'They are my people,' he said simply.

  By this time we had forded the Great Letaba, and were making our waythrough the clumps of forest to the crown of the plateau. I noticedthat Laputa kept well in cover, preferring the tangle of woodedundergrowth to the open spaces of the water-meadows. As he talked, hiswary eyes were keeping a sharp look-out over the landscape. I thrilledwith the thought that my own folk were near at hand.

  Once Laputa checked me with his hand as I was going to speak, and insilence we crossed the kloof of a little stream. After that we struck along strip of forest and he slackened his watch.

  'If you fight for a great cause,' I said, 'why do you let a miscreantlike Henriques have a hand in it? You must know that the man's onlyinterest in you is the chance of loot. I am for you against Henriques,and I tell you plain that if you don't break the snake's back it willsting you.'

  Laputa looked at me with an odd, meditative look.

  'You misunderstand again, Mr Storekeeper. The Portuguese is what youcall a "mean white." His only safety is among us. I am campaignerenough to know that an enemy, who has a burning grievance against myother enemies, is a good ally. You are too hard on Henriques. You andyour friends have treated him as a Kaffir, and a Kaffir he is ineverything but Kaffir virtues. What makes you so anxious thatHenriques should not betray me?'

  'I'm not a mean white,' I said, 'and I will speak the truth. I hope,in God's name, to see you smashed; but I want it done by honest men,and not by a yellow devil who has murdered my dog and my friends.Sooner or later you will find him out; and if he escapes you, andthere's any justice in heaven, he won't escape me.'

  'Brave words,' said Laputa, with a laugh, and then in one second hebecame rigid in the saddle. We had crossed a patch of meadow andentered a wood, beyond which ran the highway. I fancy he was out in hisreckoning, and did not think the road so near. At any rate, after amoment he caught the sound of horses, and I caught it too. The woodwas thin, and there was no room for retreat, while to recross themeadow would bring us clean into the open. He jumped from his horse,untied with amazing quickness the rope halter from its neck, andstarted to gag me by winding the thing round my jaw.

  I had no time to protest that I would keep faith, and my right hand wastethered to his pommel. In the grip of these great arms I washelpless, and in a trice was standing dumb as a lamp-post; whileLaputa, his left arm round both of mine, and his right hand over the_schimmel_'s eyes, strained his ears like a sable antelope who hasscented danger.

  There was never a more brutal gagging. The rope crushed my nose anddrove my lips down on my teeth, besides gripping my throat so that Icould scarcely breathe. The pain was so great that I became sick, andwould have fallen but for Laputa. Happily I managed to get my teethapart, so that one coil slipped between, and eased the pain of thejaws. But the rest was bad eno
ugh to make me bite frantically on thetow, and I think in a little my sharp front teeth would have severedit. All this discomfort prevented me seeing what happened. The wood,as I have said, was thin, and through the screen of leaves I had aconfused impression of men and horses passing interminably. There canonly have been a score at the most; but the moments drag if a cord isgripping your throat. When Laputa at length untied me, I had anotherfit of nausea, and leaned helplessly against a tree.

  Laputa listened till the sound of the horses had died away; thensilently we stole to the edge of the road, across, and into the thickerevergreen bush on the far side. At a pace which forced me to run hard,we climbed a steepish slope, till ahead of us we saw the bald greencrown of the meadowlands. I noticed that his face had grown dark andsullen again. He was in an enemy's country, and had the air of thehunted instead of the hunter. When I stopped he glowered at me, andonce, when I was all but overcome with fatigue, he lifted his hand in athreat. Had he carried a sjambok, it would have fallen on my back.

  If he was nervous, so was I. The fact that I was out of the Kaffircountry and in the land of my own folk was a kind of qualified liberty.At any moment, I felt, Providence might intervene to set me free. Itwas in the bond that Laputa should shoot me if we were attacked; but apistol might miss. As far as my shaken wits would let me, I began toforecast the future. Once he got the jewels my side of the bargain wascomplete. He had promised me my life, but there had been nothing saidabout my liberty; and I felt assured that Laputa would never allow onewho had seen so much to get off to Arcoll with his tidings. But backto that unhallowed kraal I was resolved I would not go. He was armed,and I was helpless; he was strong, and I was dizzy with weakness; hewas mounted, and I was on foot: it seemed a poor hope that I should getaway. There was little chance from a wandering patrol, for I knew if wewere followed I should have a bullet in my head, while Laputa got offon the _schimmel_. I must wait and bide events. At the worst, a cleanshot on the hillside in a race for life was better than the unknownmysteries of the kraal. I prayed earnestly to God to show me Hismercy, for if ever man was sore bested by the heathen it was I.

  To my surprise, Laputa chose to show himself on the greenhill-shoulder. He looked towards the Wolkberg and raised his hands.It must have been some signal. I cast my eyes back on the road we hadcome, and I thought I saw some figures a mile back, on the edge of theLetaba gorge. He was making sure of my return.

  By this time it was about four in the afternoon, and as heavenlyweather as the heart of man could wish. The meadows were full ofaromatic herbs, which, as we crushed them, sent up a delicate odour.The little pools and shallows of the burns were as clear as a Lothiantrout-stream. We were now going at a good pace, and I found that myearlier weariness was growing less. I was being keyed up for somegreat crisis, for in my case the spirit acts direct on the body, andfatigue grows and ebbs with hope. I knew that my strength was not farfrom breaking-point; but I knew also that so long as a chance was leftme I should have enough for a stroke.

  Before I realized where we were we had rounded the hill, and werelooking down on the green cup of the upper Machudi's glen. Far down, Iremember, where the trees began, there was a cloud of smoke. SomeKaffir--or maybe Arcoll--had fired the forest. The smoke was driftingaway under a light west wind over the far plains, so that they wereseen through a haze of opal.

  Laputa bade me take the lead. I saw quite clear the red kloof on thefar side, where the collar was hid. To get there we might have riddenstraight into the cup, but a providential instinct made me circle roundthe top till we were on the lip of the ravine. This was the road someof Machudi's men had taken, and unthinkingly I followed them. Twentyminutes' riding brought us to the place, and all the while I had nokind of plan of escape. I was in the hands of my Maker, watching, likethe Jews of old, for a sign.

  Laputa dismounted and looked down into the gorge.

  'There is no road there,' I said. 'We must go down to the foot andcome up the stream-side. It would be better to leave your horse here.'He started down the cliff, which from above looks a sheer precipice.Then he seemed to agree with me, took the rope from the _schimmel_'sneck, and knee-haltered his beast. And at that moment I had aninspiration.

  With my wrist-rope in his hand, he preceded me down the hill till wegot to the red screes at the foot of the kloof. Then, under myguidance, we turned up into the darkness of the gorge. As we entered Ilooked back, and saw figures coming over the edge of the greencup--Laputa's men, I guessed. What I had to do must be done quickly.

  We climbed up the burn, over the succession of little cataracts, tillwe came to the flat space of shingle and the long pool where I had beentaken that morning. The ashes of the fire which Machudi's men had madewere plain on the rock. After that I had to climb a waterfall to get tothe rocky pool where I had bestowed the rubies.

  'You must take off this thong,' I said. 'I must climb to get thecollar. Cover me with a pistol if you like. I won't be out of sight.'

  Laputa undid the thong and set me free. From his belt he took apistol, cocked it, and held it over his left hand. I had seen this wayof shooting adopted by indifferent shots, and it gave me a wild hopethat he might not be much of a marksman.

  It did not take me long to find the pool, close against the blackenedstump of a tree-fern. I thrust in my hand and gathered up the jewelsfrom the cool sand. They came out glowing like living fires, and for amoment I thrilled with a sense of reverence. Surely these were nocommon stones which held in them the very heart of hell. Clutchingthem tightly, I climbed down to Laputa.

  At the sight of the great Snake he gave a cry of rapture. Tearing itfrom me, he held it at arm's length, his face lit with a passionatejoy. He kissed it, he raised it to the sky; nay, he was on his kneesbefore it. Once more he was the savage transported in the presence ofhis fetich. He turned to me with burning eyes.

  'Down on your knees,' he cried, 'and reverence the _Ndhlondhlo_. Down,you impious dog, and seek pardon for your sacrilege.'

  'I won't,' I said. 'I won't bow to any heathen idol.'

  He pointed his pistol at me.

  'In a second I shoot where your head is now. Down, you fool, orperish.'

  'You promised me my life,' I said stubbornly, though Heaven knows why Ichose to act thus.

  He dropped the pistol and flung himself on me. I was helpless as ababy in his hands. He forced me to the ground and rolled my face inthe sand; then he pulled me to my feet and tossed me backward, till Ialmost staggered into the pool. I saved myself, and staggered insteadinto the shallow at the foot of it, close under the ledge of theprecipice.

  That morning, when Machudi's men were cooking breakfast, I had figuredout a route up the cliff. This route was now my hope of escape.Laputa had dropped his pistol, and the collar had plunged him in anecstasy of worship. Now, if ever, was my time. I must get on theshelf which ran sideways up the cliff, and then scramble for dear life.

  I pretended to be dazed and terrified.

  'You promised me my life,' I whimpered.

  'Your life,' he cried. 'Yes, you shall have your life; and before longyou will pray for death.'

  'But I saved the Collar,' I pleaded. 'Henriques would have stolen it.I brought it safe here, and now you have got it.'

  Meantime I was pulling myself up on the shelf, and loosening with onehand a boulder which overhung the pool.

  'You have been repaid,' he said savagely. 'You will not die.'

  'But my life is no use without liberty,' I said, working at the bouldertill it lay loose in its niche.

  He did not answer, being intent on examining the Collar to see if ithad suffered any harm.

  'I hope it isn't scratched,' I said. 'Henriques trod on it when I hithim.'

  Laputa peered at the gems like a mother at a child who has had a fall.I saw my chance and took it. With a great heave I pulled the boulderdown into the pool. It made a prodigious splash, sending a shower ofspray over Laputa and the Collar. In cover of it I raced u
p the shelf,straining for the shelter of the juniper tree.

  A shot rang out and struck the rock above me. A second later I hadreached the tree and was scrambling up the crack beyond it.

  Laputa did not fire again. He may have distrusted his shooting, orseen a better way of it. He dashed through the stream and ran up theshelf like a klipspringer after me. I felt rather than saw what washappening, and with my heart in my mouth I gathered my dregs of energyfor the last struggle.

  You know the nightmare when you are pursued by some awful terror, and,though sick with fear, your legs have a strange numbness, and youcannot drag them in obedience to the will. Such was my feeling in thecrack above the juniper tree. In truth, I had passed the bounds of myendurance. Last night I had walked fifty miles, and all day I hadborne the torments of a dreadful suspense. I had been bound and gaggedand beaten till the force was out of my limbs. Also, and above all, Ihad had little food, and I was dizzy with want of sleep. My feet seemedleaden, my hands had no more grip than putty. I do not know how Iescaped falling into the pool, for my head was singing and my heartthumping in my throat. I seemed to feel Laputa's great hand everysecond clawing at my heels.

  I had reason for my fears. He had entered the crack long before I hadreached the top, and his progress was twice as fast as mine. When Iemerged on the topmost shelf he was scarcely a yard behind me. But anoverhang checked his bulky figure and gave me a few seconds' grace. Ineeded it all, for these last steps on the shelf were the totterings ofan old man. Only a desperate resolution and an extreme terror made medrag one foot after the other. Blindly I staggered on to the top ofthe ravine, and saw before me the _schimmel_ grazing in the light of thewestering sun.

  I forced myself into a sort of drunken run, and crawled into thesaddle. Behind me, as I turned, I could see Laputa's shoulders risingover the edge. I had no knife to cut the knee-halter, and the horsecould not stir.

  Then the miracle happened. When the rope had gagged me, my teeth musthave nearly severed it at one place, and this Laputa had not noticedwhen he used it as a knee-halter. The shock of my entering the saddlemade the _schimmel_ fling up his head violently, and the rope snapped. Icould not find the stirrups, but I dug my heels into his sides, and heleaped forward.

  At the same moment Laputa began to shoot. It was a foolish move, forhe might have caught me by running, since I had neither spurs nor whip,and the horse was hampered by the loose end of rope at his knee. Inany case, being an indifferent shot, he should have aimed at the_schimmel_, not at me; but I suppose he wished to save his charger. Onebullet sang past my head; a second did my business for me. It passedover my shoulder, as I lay low in the saddle, and grazed the beast'sright ear. The pain maddened him, and, rope-end and all, he plungedinto a wild gallop. Other shots came, but they fell far short. I sawdimly a native or two--the men who had followed us--rush to interceptme, and I think a spear was flung. But in a flash we were past them,and their cries faded behind me. I found the bridle, reached for thestirrups, and galloped straight for the sunset and for freedom.