The Ivory Child by H. Rider Haggard
CHAPTER XX
ALLAN WEEPS
On they came, slowly and steadily, preceded by a cloud of skirmishers--athousand or more of these--who kept as open an order as the narrowground would allow and carried, each of them, a bundle of throwingspears arranged in loops or sockets at the back of the shield. Whenthese men were about a hundred yards away we opened fire and killed agreat number of them, also some of the marshalled troops behind. Butthis did not stop them in the least, for what could fifty rifles doagainst a horde of brave barbarians who, it seemed, had no fear ofdeath? Presently their spears were falling among us and a few casualtiesbegan to occur, not many, because of the protecting wall, but stillsome. Again and again we loaded and fired, sweeping away those in frontof us, but always others came to take their places. Finally at some wordof command these light skirmishers vanished, except whose who were deador wounded, taking shelter behind the advancing regiments which now werewithin fifty yards of us.
Then, after a momentary pause another command was shouted out and thefirst regiment charged in three solid ranks. We fired a volley pointblank into them and, as it was hopeless for fifty men to withstand suchan onslaught, bolted during the temporary confusion that ensued, takingrefuge, as it had been arranged that we should do, at a point of vantagefarther down the line of fortifications, whence we maintained ourgalling fire.
Now it was that the main body of the White Kendah came into action underthe leadership of Ragnall and Harut. The enemy scrambled over the firstwall, which we had just vacated, to find themselves in a network ofother walls held by our spearmen in a narrow place where numbers gave nogreat advantage.
Here the fighting was terrible and the loss of the attackers great, foralways as they carried one entrenchment they found another a few yardsin front of them, out of which the defenders could only be driven atmuch cost of life.
Two hours or more the battle went on thus. In spite of the desperateresistance which we offered, the multitude of the Black Kendah, who Imust say fought magnificently, stormed wall after wall, leaving hundredsof dead and wounded to mark their difficult progress. Meanwhile I andmy riflemen rained bullets on them from certain positions which we hadselected beforehand, until at length our ammunition began to run low.
At half-past eight in the morning we were driven back over the openground to our last entrenchment, a very strong one just outside of theeastern gate of the temple which, it will be remembered, was set ina tunnel pierced through the natural lava rock. Thrice did the BlackKendah come on and thrice we beat them off, till the ditch in front ofthe wall was almost full of fallen. As fast as they climbed to the topof it the White Kendah thrust them through with their long spears, or weshot them with our rifles, the nature of the ground being such that onlya direct frontal attack was possible.
In the end they drew back sullenly, having, as we hoped, given up theassault. As it turned out, this was not so. They were only restingand waiting for the arrival of their reserve. It came up shouting andsinging a war-song, two thousand strong or more, and presently once morethey charged like a flood of water. We beat them back. They reformed andcharged a second time and we beat them back.
Then they took another counsel. Standing among the dead and dying at thebase of the wall, which was built of loose stones and earth, where wecould not easily get at them because of the showers of spears whichwere rained at anyone who showed himself, they began to undermine it,levering out the bottom stones with stakes and battering them withpoles.
In five minutes a breach appeared, through which they pouredtumultuously. It was hopeless to withstand that onslaught of so vast anumber. Fighting desperately, we were driven down the tunnel and throughthe doors that were opened to us, into the first court of the temple.By furious efforts we managed to close these doors and block themwith stones and earth. But this did not avail us long, for, bringingbrushwood and dry grass, they built a fire against them that soon caughtthe thick cedar wood of which they were made.
While they burned we consulted together. Further retreat seemedimpossible, since the second court of the temple, save for a narrowpassage, was filled with corn which allowed no room for fighting,while behind it were gathered all the women and children, more than twothousand of them. Here, or nowhere, we must make our stand and conqueror die. Up to this time, compared with what which we had inflicted uponthe Black Kendah, of whom a couple of thousand or more had fallen, ourloss was comparatively slight, say two hundred killed and as many morewounded. Most of such of the latter as could not walk we had managed tocarry into the first court of the temple, laying them close against thecloister walls, whence they watched us in a grisly ring.
This left us about sixteen hundred able-bodied men or many more than wecould employ with effect in that narrow place. Therefore we determinedto act upon a plan which we had already designed in case such anemergency as ours should arise. About three hundred and fifty of thebest men were to remain to defend the temple till all were slain. Therest, to the number of over a thousand, were to withdraw through thesecond court and the gates beyond to the camp of the women and children.These they were to conduct by secret paths that were known to them towhere the camels were kraaled, and mounting as many as possible ofthem on the camels to fly whither they could. Our hope was that thevictorious Black Kendah would be too exhausted to follow them across theplain to the distant mountains. It was a dreadful determination, but wehad no choice.
"What of my wife?" Ragnall asked hoarsely.
"While the temple stands she must remain in the temple," replied Harut."But when all is lost, if I have fallen, do you, White Lord, go to thesanctuary with those who remain and take her and the Ivory Child andflee after the others. Only I lay this charge on you under pain of thecurse of Heaven, that you do not suffer the Ivory Child to fall into thehands of the Black Kendah. First must you burn it with fire or grind itto dust with stones. Moreover, I give this command to all in case ofthe priests in charge of it should fail me, that they set flame to thebrushwood that is built up with the stacks of corn, so that, after all,those of our enemies who escape may die of famine."
Instantly and without murmuring, for never did I see more perfectdiscipline than that which prevailed among these poor people, the ordersgiven by Harut, who in addition to his office as head priest was a kindof president of what was in fact a republic, were put in the way ofexecution. Company by company the men appointed to escort the women andchildren departed through the gateway of the second court, each companyturning in the gateway to salute us who remained, by raising theirspears, till all were gone. Then we, the three hundred and fifty whowere left, marshalled ourselves as the Greeks may have done in the Passof Thermopylae.
First stood I and my riflemen, to whom all the remaining ammunition wasserved out; it amounted to eight rounds per man. Then, ranged acrossthe court in four lines, came the spearmen armed with lances and swordsunder the immediate command of Harut. Behind these, near the gate of thesecond court so that at the last they might attempt the rescue of thepriestess, were fifty picked men, captained by Ragnall, who, I forgotto say, was wounded in two places, though not badly, having receiveda spear thrust in the left shoulder and a sword cut to the left thighduring his desperate defence of the entrenchment.
By the time that all was ready and every man had been given to drinkfrom the great jars of water which stood along the walls, the massivewooden doors began to burn through, though this did not happen for quitehalf an hour after the enemy had begun to attempt to fire them. Theyfell at length beneath the battering of poles, leaving only the mound ofearth and stones which we had piled up in the gateway after the closingof the doors. This the Black Kendah, who had raked out the burningembers, set themselves to dig away with hands and sticks and spears, atask that was made very difficult to them by about a score of our peoplewho stabbed at them with their long lances or dashed them down withstones, killing and disabling many. But always the dead and wounded weredragged off while others took their places, so that at last the gatewaywas practic
I had not long to wait. With a rush and a roar a great company of theBlack Kendah charged the gateway. Just as they began to emerge into thecourt I gave the word to fire, sending fifty Snider bullets tearing intothem from a distance of a few yards. They fell in a heap; they fell likecorn before the scythe, not a man won through. Quickly we reloaded andwaited for the next rush. In due course it came and the dreadful scenerepeated itself. Now the gateway and the tunnel beyond were so chokedwith fallen men that the enemy must drag these out before they couldcharge any more. It was done under the fire of myself, Hans and a fewpicked shots--somehow it was done.
Once more they charged, and once more were mown down. So it went ontill our last cartridge was spent, for never did I see more magnificentcourage than was shown by those Black Kendah in the face of terrificloss. Then my people threw aside their useless rifles and armingthemselves with spears and swords fell back to rest, leaving Harut andhis company to take their place. For half an hour or more raged thatawful struggle, since the spot being so narrow, charge as they would,the Black Kendah could not win through the spears of despairingwarriors defending their lives and the sanctuary of their god. Nor, theencircling cliffs being so sheer, could they get round any other way.
At length the enemy drew back as though defeated, giving us time to dragaside our dead and wounded and drink more water, for the heat in theplace was now overwhelming. We hoped against hope that they had given upthe attack. But this was far from the case; they were but making a newplan.
Suddenly in the gateway there appeared the huge bulk of the elephantJana, rushing forward at speed and being urged on by men who pricked itwith spears behind. It swept through the defenders as though they werebut dry grass, battering those in front of it with its great trunkfrom which swung the iron balls that crushed all on whom they fell, andpaying no more heed to the lance thrusts than it might have done to thebites of gnats. On it came, trumpeting and trampling, and after it in aflood flowed the Black Kendah, upon whom our spearmen flung themselvesfrom either side.
At the time I, followed by Hans, was just returning from speaking withRagnall at the gate of the second court. A little before I had retiredexhausted from the fierce and fearful fighting, whereon he took my placeand repelled several of the Black Kendah charges, including the last. Inthis fray he received a further injury, a knock on the head from a stickor stone which stunned him for a few minutes, whereon some of our peoplehad carried him off and set him on the ground with his back against oneof the pillars of the second gate. Being told that he was hurt I ranto see what was the matter. Finding to my joy that it was nothing veryserious, I was hurrying to the front again when I looked up and saw thatdevil Jana charging straight towards me, the throng of armed men partingon each side of him, as rough water does before the leaping prow of astorm-driven ship.
To tell the truth, although I was never fond of unnecessary risks, Irejoiced at the sight. Not even all the excitement of that hideous andprolonged battle had obliterated from my mind the burning sense of shameat the exhibition which I had made of myself by missing this beast withfour barrels at forty yards.
Now, thought I to myself with a kind of exultant thrill, now, Jana,I will wipe out both my disgrace and you. This time there shall be nomistake, or if there is, let it be my last.
On thundered Jana, whirling the iron balls among the soldiers, who fledto right and left leaving a clear path between me and him. To make quitesure of things, for I was trembling a little with fatigue and somewhatsick from the continuous sight of bloodshed, I knelt down upon my rightknee, using the other as a prop for my left elbow, and since I couldnot make certain of a head shot because of the continual whirling ofthe huge trunk, got the sight of my big-game rifle dead on to the beastwhere the throat joins the chest. I hoped that the heavy conicalbullet would either pierce through to the spine or cut one of the largearteries in the neck, or at least that the tremendous shock of itsimpact would bring him down.
At about twenty paces I fired and hit--not Jana but the lame priest whowas fulfilling the office of mahout, perched upon his shoulders manyfeet above the point at which I had aimed. Yes! I hit him in the head,which was shattered like an eggshell, so that he fell lifeless to theground.
In perfect desperation again I aimed, and fired when Jana was not morethan thirty feet away. This time the bullet must have gone wide tothe left, for I saw a chip fly from the end of the animal's broken anddeformed tusk, which stuck out in that direction several feet clear ofits side.
Then I gave up all hope. There was no time to gain my feet and escape;indeed I did not wish to do so, who felt that there are some failureswhich can only be absolved by death. I just knelt there, waiting for theend.
In an instant the giant creature was almost over me. I remember lookingup at it and thinking in a queer sort of a way--perhaps it was someancestral memory--that I was a little ape-like child about to be slainby a primordial elephant, thrice as big as any that now inhabit theearth. Then something appeared to happen which I only repeat to show howat such moments absurd and impossible things seem real to us.
The reader may remember the strange dream which Hans had related to methat morning.
One incident of this phantasy was that he had met the spirit of the Zululady Mameena, whom I knew in bygone years, and that she bade him tell meshe would be with me in the battle and that I was to look for her whendeath drew near to me and "Jana thundered on," for then perchance Ishould see her.
Well, no doubt in some lightning flash of thought the memory of thesewords occurred to me at this juncture, with the ridiculous result thatmy subjective intelligence, if that is the right term, actually createdthe scene which they described. As clearly, or perhaps more clearly thanever I saw anything else in my life, I appeared to behold the beautifulMameena in her fur cloak and her blue beads, standing between Jana andmyself with her arms folded upon her breast and looking exactly as shedid in the tremendous moment of her death before King Panda. I evennoted how the faint breeze stirred a loose end of her outspread hairand how the sunlight caught a particular point of a copper bangle on herupper arm.
So she stood, or rather seemed to stand, quite still; and as ithappened, at that moment the giant Jana, either because something hadfrightened him, or perhaps owing to the shock of my bullet striking onhis tusk having jarred the brain, suddenly pulled up, sliding along alittle with all his four feet together, till I thought he was going tosit down like a performing elephant. Then it appeared to me as thoughMameena turned round very slowly, bent towards me, whispering somethingwhich I could not hear although her lips moved, looked at me sweetlywith those wonderful eyes of hers and vanished away.
A fraction of a second later all this vision had gone and something thatwas no vision took its place. Jana had recovered himself and was at meagain with open mouth and lifted trunk. I heard a Dutch curse and sawa little yellow form; saw Hans, for it was he, thrust the barrels ofmy second elephant rifle almost into that red cave of a mouth, whichhowever they could not reach, and fire, first one barrel, then theother.
Another moment, and the mighty trunk had wrapped itself about Hans andhurled him through the air to fall on to his head and arms thirty orforty feet away.
Jana staggered as though he too were about to fall; recovered himself,swerved to the right, perhaps to follow Hans, stumbled on a few paces,missing me altogether, then again came to a standstill. I wriggledmyself round and, seated on the pavement of the court, watched whatfollowed, and glad am I that I was able to do so, for never shall Ibehold such another scene.
First I saw Ragnall run up with a rifle and fire two barrels at thebrute's head, of which he took no notice whatsoever. Then I saw hiswife, who in this land was known as the Guardian of the Child, issuingfrom the portals of the second court, dressed in her goddess robes,wearing the cap of bird's feathers, attended by the two priestesses alsodressed as goddesses, as we had seen her
On she came quite quietly, her wide, empty eyes fixed upon Jana. As sheadvanced the monster seemed to grow uneasy. Turning his head, he liftedhis trunk and thrust it along his back until it gripped the ankle of theKing Simba, who all this while was seated there in his chair making nomovement.
With a slow, steady pull he dragged Simba from the chair so that he fellupon the ground near his left foreleg. Next very composedly he wound histrunk about the body of the helpless man, whose horrified eyes I can seeto this day, and began to whirl him round and round in the air, gentlyat first but with a motion that grew ever more rapid, until the brightchains on the victim's breast flashed in the sunlight like a silverwheel. Then he hurled him to the ground, where the poor king lay a mereshattered pulp that had been human.
Now the priestess was standing in front of the beast-god, apparentlyquite without fear, though her two attendants had fallen back. Ragnallsprang forward as though to drag her away, but a dozen men leapt on tohim and held him fast, either to save his life or for some secret reasonof their own which I never learned.
Jana looked down at her and she looked up at Jana. Then he screamedfuriously and, shooting out his trunk, snatched the Ivory Child from herhands, whirled it round as he had whirled Simba, and at last dashed itto the stone pavement as he had dashed Simba, so that its substance,grown brittle on the passage of the ages, shattered into ten thousandfragments.
At this sight a great groan went up from the men of the White Kendah,the women dressed as goddesses shrieked and tore their robes, and Harut,who stood near, fell down in a fit or faint.
Once more Jana screamed. Then slowly he knelt down, beat his trunk andthe clattering metal balls upon the ground thrice, as though he weremaking obeisance to the beautiful priestess who stood before him,shivered throughout his mighty bulk, and rolled over--dead!