Through Veld and Forest Part 14

Upon finding ourselves thus suddenly confronted with this extraordinary array, we promptly reined our horses back upon their haunches, while I with equal prompt.i.tude unslung my rifle and brought it to the "present", more by instinct than anything else, for of course the idea of successfully resisting fifty of even such little fellows as these, if they were evilly disposed toward us and were possessed of only ordinary courage, was absurd. But their chief, or leader, quickly set our minds at rest, for without moving from his place in the front of his troop he threw up his right hand and exclaimed, in a rather high-pitched voice, and in the Bantu dialect with which I happened to be acquainted:

"Nay, mighty and n.o.ble lord, slay us not with thy lightnings, I pray thee, for we mean naught but good to thee and thine! I, Pousa, captain of the queen's bodyguard, have been dispatched by Bimbane, the Deathless One, the Possessor of all Knowledge, the Reader of all Secrets, the High and Mighty Queen of the Bandokolo, to bid thee welcome to her country and to conduct thee in all honour to her gracious presence."

"It is well, O Pousa, and I thank you," answered I, as I lowered my rifle. "But tell me, I pray you, how came Bimbane to know that it is my purpose to visit her, and how came you to know where you would find me?"

"The queen knows all things; there is no secret hidden from her,"

answered Pousa simply. "She has long known of thy coming and the reason for it, and at first she was minded to destroy thee and thy following and seize all thy belongings. Then she changed her mind and determined to forbid thine entrance into her country. And now, quite recently, she has again changed her mind, and has decided to receive thee in peace, with all honour. She it was who directed me how and when to come and where to lie in wait for thee. Ay, she even knows that Siluce, the outlawed rebel, went out upon the Dark Path from thine arms."

"The d.i.c.kens she does!" exclaimed I in English, in the height of my astonishment. "Nay, but how can that be, seeing that no one has pa.s.sed from me to her to tell her so?" I continued in Bantu.

"It matters not, she knows," answered Pousa; adding, with just a touch of impatience: "Do I not tell thee that she knows all things?"

"Yes," I answered, "you certainly tell me so, but--"

I checked myself abruptly, realising that I was on the point of saying something that might easily be construed as offensive. "It will give me great pleasure to make the acquaintance of your queen," I continued; "for a woman who possesses such an extraordinary gift of knowledge must be very well worth knowing. There are one or two matters upon which I am badly in need of reliable information. Perhaps she may be induced to give me that information?"

"She will, without doubt--if it so pleases her," answered Pousa. "But,"

he continued, "where is thy house that travels, being drawn of oxen, and where are the rest of thy followers? The queen told me that there were with thee four black ones, and that--"

"My wagon--which you call a house that travels--and the remaining three of my followers are behind," I answered. "They will doubtless be with us in the course of a few minutes. I shall outspan here, so that my oxen may rest in the shade of the gorge. Will you not direct your men to dismount and rest their zebras? We shall not resume our march for about three hours."

Pousa regarded me for a moment, a little doubtfully I thought; then as I calmly dismounted and turned Prince over to Piet to be off-saddled, the little soldier gave a few crisp orders, in a tongue of which I was ignorant, and his troopers at once dismounted, stripped their zebras of their trappings, hobbled them, and turned them loose to graze; then the men, arranging themselves in small parties, proceeded to open their ration sacks and refresh themselves with a meal consisting, as I noticed, of sun-dried meat and small cakes. Pousa very politely invited me to share his ration with him; but as I just then caught the sounds of Jan's shrieks to his oxen, and the cracking of his long whip, I as politely declined, inviting him in return to defer his meal for a time and join me at luncheon, which invitation he eagerly accepted, somewhat to my surprise, I confess, seeing that the little chap could not possibly guess what kind of food he would be offered, or whether he would like it when it was placed before him.

A few minutes later the wagon arrived and was outspanned, its appearance exciting the utmost curiosity and admiration of the Bandokolo, who, I now learned, had never before seen a wheeled vehicle, and were profoundly interested when I endeavoured to explain the principle of the wheel to them. But they were infinitely more interested and amazed when 'Mfuni, having collected a quant.i.ty of dry leaves and sticks with which to build a fire, came to me, and, receiving from me the burning-gla.s.s which I habitually carried in my pocket, calmly proceeded to kindle the fire with its aid as usual, it being our regular practice to economise our flint and steel as much as possible by never using it when a burning-gla.s.s could be made to serve the same purpose. The Bandokolo, it appeared, used fire for a number of purposes, but possessed no knowledge of how to produce it, and were therefore obliged to conserve it by keeping lamps perpetually burning; and I could readily understand that, as Pousa explained, there were occasions when, as in times of violent storm and heavy rain, they were put to the gravest inconvenience through their inability to convey a lighted lamp from one place to another.

While we were partaking of luncheon--for which, by the way, Pousa displayed great relish, after regarding the roast deer flesh for a moment or two rather dubiously--I endeavoured to pump my guest with regard to the character and disposition of Her Majesty Queen Bimbane; but I found the old fellow rather inclined to be reticent upon the subject, and uneasy when I began to question him, the reason being--as he presently informed me furtively in a whisper--that, as likely as not, the queen would be with us in spirit, listening to our conversation, and that he had no wish to offend the lady by affording information that she would perhaps prefer should be withheld. Despite his disinclination to talk, however, I contrived to extract a little information from him, learning, among other things, that I was not the first white man who had been permitted to enter the Bandokolo country, one other having arrived when Pousa was quite a young man, and died somewhat mysteriously soon afterward. I was also given to understand that the Bandokolo generally strongly objected to strangers visiting them, and were indeed in the habit of resorting to the most drastic measures for preventing such visits, or, at all events, for preventing the departure of unwelcome visitors from their country alive. As for Bimbane, what little I could induce him to say about her only went to confirm the astounding account of her that Siluce had given; and I confess that once or twice during the progress of that conversation I very seriously asked myself whether, after all, it would not be wiser on my part to turn back there and then, instead of pus.h.i.+ng on any farther into so extraordinary a country, and placing myself in the power of so extraordinary a woman. But I do not like to be beaten, and could not bring myself to abandon my purpose ignominiously after having come so far; therefore about two o'clock in the afternoon I gave the order to inspan, and we resumed our journey.

Still closely following the course of the river across the open plain, Pousa and I rode side by side at the head of the cavalcade, with the wagon bringing up the rear; and I soon found that, apart from anything relating to Queen Bimbane, my companion was quite willing to be communicative, telling me many things of an exceedingly interesting nature with regard to his extraordinary country. I was naturally anxious to know whether gold and "s.h.i.+ning stones" were as plentiful as I had been led to believe, and I was gratified to learn that they were, gold indeed being so abundant that it was used for every purpose where metal was needed, the Bandokolo having learned to harden and temper it in such a manner that it afforded a very fair subst.i.tute for steel, in proof of which he showed me his sword. I took the weapon in my hands, examined it, and found that it was made entirely of hardened gold, and that it had been treated in such a manner as not only to possess a certain elasticity but also to be capable of receiving a fairly sharp edge. The scales of their armour, I was told, were also treated in the same way, and were so hard that it was impossible to pierce them either with sword or spear. Then I exhibited my hunting knife, which excited Pousa's highest admiration, and also a certain amount of apprehension when, of set purpose, I casually mentioned my conviction that I could drive the blade through the best scale armour that the Bandokolo could produce. "s.h.i.+ning stones", also, it seemed, were fairly abundant, but they had no particular use for these excepting as adornments, the stones being admired because of the extreme brilliancy with which they reflected light and colour.

We had been trekking a little more than an hour when, suddenly, without the least warning, an enormous two-horned rhinoceros hove himself up out of the long gra.s.s about a hundred and fifty yards in front of us, and stood regarding us doubtfully, with his little eyes gleaming and his tail switching angrily. At this unexpected apparition we all drew bridle, as with one accord, to await developments, while I quickly unslung my rifle and prepared for action. I could not help noticing that Pousa viewed the creature with considerable trepidation, while as for the troopers in our rear, with one accord they wheeled their zebras, with the evident intention of making a bolt if necessary. And that it would be necessary soon became evident, for rhino, instead of being alarmed at our imposing display of force, and making himself scarce, was clearly annoyed at our presumption in daring to disturb him; and presently he lowered his head and, with loud squeals of rage, came charging straight down upon us, whereupon our escort incontinently dug their heels into the ribs of their frightened zebras and dashed off, scattering in all directions, to my intense amus.e.m.e.nt. But the wagon was not very far in our rear, and if rhino were allowed to get past us, and should choose to attack it, he might easily play havoc with my diminished team of oxen; therefore, hastily dismounting, lest Prince, despite his training, should flinch and swerve at the critical moment and so spoil my aim, I raised my rifle to my shoulder, and, waiting until the now thoroughly exasperated beast was within ten yards of me, fired and sent a bullet through his right eye into the brain, bowling him over like a rabbit. Then, quickly reloading my rifle, I quietly waited for Pousa to rejoin me, which he presently did, after re-forming his scattered command, without seeming to be in the slightest degree abashed at his desertion of me.

Approaching me with considerable circ.u.mspection, as I stood over the fallen brute, with Prince beside me, he raised his right hand and saluted, as he exclaimed:

"Truly, white lord, thou art well named Smiter with Lightning, for I beheld the flash wherewith thou didst slay this fierce and terrible beast, before whose anger not even the bravest warrior of the Bandokolo may stand! Thou art as mighty a wizard as the Deathless One, for thou canst slay without fighting, even as she can."

"It is true, Pousa, I can," answered I, willing to avail myself to the utmost of the opportunity that had been afforded me to display my power.

"But," I continued, "who told thee that I was named Smiter with Lightning?"

"Who but the Wise One, even Bimbane, the queen?" retorted Pousa, in tones which seemed to suggest: "Who else do you suppose it can possibly have been?"

"Not only did she tell me how thou wert called, but she described thee to me, told me of thy huge stature and immense strength, how thou wert clothed, the wonderful weapon from which thou dost discharge thy lightnings, and even the great black beast which thou dost bestride!"

I fell into a rather uneasy reverie. Could this man be by any possibility telling the truth? The story was so astounding, so utterly incredible--and yet it was told so simply, and with such an utter lack of all straining after effect: the man made no attempt to impress me with the marvel of it all; his tone and manner were those of one who told of the most matter-of-fact, everyday occurrences. Besides, if he were not telling the truth, how could he possibly have come to know the name which had been given me by Lomalindela, the King of the Mashona?-- for I was perfectly certain that he had had no opportunity to learn it from either of my own "boys."

But if this and the other things that he had told me concerning Bimbane were indeed true, she must be a most extraordinary woman, endowed with strange and wonderful powers, and it might be that I should find her rather more than I could manage before I had done with her. To admit the possibility that she might indeed possess such uncanny powers led inevitably toward several very unpleasantly suggestive reflections; but with an effort I threw them off, for I had already determined to go through with the adventure, and would not allow myself to be diverted from my purpose by the thought of any possibilities, however unpleasant.

Therefore I roused myself and continued my conversation with Pousa by describing the fight between the men-monkeys and its awful conclusion, and asked him to tell me what he could about both the beasts and the trees. He could not tell me much about either, but what he did tell was grim enough; for, with regard to the monkeys, he informed me that they were well known as the most ferocious beasts to be found in Bandokolo, and that a certain number were captured by means of pitfalls, in which they were permitted to remain until they were all but dead from starvation, when they were removed to Masakisale (the capital city), and carefully tended until they were restored to a condition of normal health and strength. Then they were used to test the guilt or otherwise of persons charged with offences of exceptional enormity; the test being made by setting the accused to fight with one or more of the brutes, when, if he conquered, it was presumed that he was innocent.

I naturally enquired whether anyone had ever thus succeeded in demonstrating his innocence, and was not surprised to be answered in the negative. Then I asked why, if Bimbane really knew all things, it was necessary to subject a suspect to such a test in order to determine his guilt or innocence, to which Pousa replied that, of course, the test was quite unnecessary, for the queen could always tell whether or not a man was guilty, and to sentence a prisoner to such an ordeal was equivalent to p.r.o.nouncing him guilty and ordering his execution; but the form of trial was retained since it was one of the inst.i.tutions of the country which had existed from time immemorial.

As to the tree, into the foliage of which the victorious monkey had flung his antagonist, I was told that it, like the monkeys, was indigenous to Bandokolo, and that one of its most gruesome peculiarities was the ghoulish avidity with which it enveloped any unfortunate individual or animal in its tentacle-like leaves and forthwith proceeded to absorb its victim into itself. These trees, Pousa added, were sometimes employed instead of the monkeys as a means for the disposal of criminals. "A truly charming country and people," thought I, "apparently abounding in the most delightful characteristics!"

About half an hour before sunset we reached the foot of the mountains toward which we had been trekking all through the afternoon, and outspanned on the veld at the entrance to a pa.s.s which had revealed itself about an hour earlier.

The scenery in this pa.s.s, when we entered it on the following morning, proved to be very similar in character to that of the gorge through which we had pa.s.sed on the previous day, before encountering Pousa and his troopers, but, if anything, even more wild, gloomy, and sombre; and I was not sorry when, about eleven o'clock, we emerged from it into a kind of basin, hemmed in on all sides by hills. Through the centre of this basin a narrow road ran, bordering a tiny rivulet which had its rise somewhere among the adjacent hills; and on either hand the ground was cultivated, maize, sugar cane, ca.s.sava, and fruit of various kinds being among its products, while the far end of the basin consisted of pasture land, upon which a herd of quite a thousand cattle were grazing.

There were a few people at work in the field and orchards, pygmies, like Pousa and his band, but at sight of us they hastily retired, having been previously ordered--as I subsequently learned--to keep well out of our way and not intrude their presence upon us. There was no sign of buildings of any description, but when I questioned Pousa on the subject he drew my attention to a large number of almost invisible openings in the rocky sides of the encircling hills, which he told me were the entrances to the cave dwellings of this extraordinary people; and when I examined them through my telescope I discovered that the reason why these openings were so difficult to detect was because they were each choked with people staring intently out at us as we wound our way through the valley far below them. My telescope enabled me to discover that almost every opening, however small, was decorated with more or less carving, executed in the living rock; and beneath each I also noticed the little heap of debris which had been thrown out by the owner when he took possession of his cave and proceeded to enlarge its interior according to his wants.

We outspanned at the far end of the valley, where the pasture had been reserved, and spent the night there, having made a sort of forced march through the valley in order to reach gra.s.s for the cattle--that forced march, by the way, costing me one of my rapidly diminis.h.i.+ng team of oxen.

On the following day we pa.s.sed another of the extraordinary Bandokolo villages, and, on the day following that, two more, each being considerably larger than the preceding one, while the distance between them steadily decreased, so that on the tenth day after Pousa found us we pa.s.sed through no less than five villages, the last two being within three miles of each other, and of such extent that I estimated each of them to contain at least four thousand inhabitants, if not more. And now, as every mile brought us appreciably nearer to Masakisale, the capital and the abode of the mysterious and redoubtable Queen Bimbane, it was no longer possible to keep the people at a distance, and I had abundant opportunity to study their appearance, manners, dress, and customs generally.

I feel bound to say that, taking into consideration all that I had heard about them, my first impression was distinctly favourable. For, pygmies though they were, they were as a rule perfectly formed; their colour was so light that it soon became scarcely noticeable; their expression was intelligent, and by no means unamiable, at least in the case of the women, while as for the latter, though real beauty might be rare it was certainly not entirely absent, and many of the younger ones were quite good-looking, if not actually pretty. In the matter of attire, the dress generally worn was admirably adapted to the tropical climate in which the wearers lived, that of the men consisting simply of a pair of tight-fitting drawers reaching to just above the knee, over which was worn a sleeveless s.h.i.+rt of thick silk, confined at the waist by a belt; while that of the women appeared to be a single garment of thick silk, generally white, but occasionally dyed, the favourite colours being a rich crimson, a sea green, and a very pale blue. But, apart from the soldiers, neither s.e.x wore any head covering, their thick hair seeming to afford them all the protection needed from the fierce rays of the vertical sun; but both s.e.xes wore a kind of buskin of soft leather reaching to just below the knee, the sole consisting of a shaped piece of thick hide st.i.tched on to the under part of the buskin.

The abundance of gold in the country was amply testified by the fact that all adorned themselves more or less with ornaments, such as belts, bracelets, armlets, or necklaces, made of the metal, many of the women wearing, in addition, small plaques or bosses of hammered gold st.i.tched to the hems of their dresses, while others wore a kind of coronet, formed of hammered or chiselled gold, in their hair. A rather sinister feature which quickly attracted my attention was that, with scarcely a solitary exception, the men went armed, each with a heavy, murderous-looking knife of hardened gold thrust into his belt. Diamonds also now came in evidence, a few of the women wearing the rough, uncut stones set in gold, as necklaces, in their belts, or as adjuncts to their coronets. And now, too, for the first time, I had an opportunity to see the kind of vehicle in general use among the Bandokolo, this consisting of a rough kind of sleigh, usually drawn by a single elephant, although I encountered, here and there, sleighs big enough to need, when fully loaded, two elephants to draw them. The horse was a hitherto unknown beast among them, and it was amusing to note the wonder and admiration which my animals excited among the people as we pa.s.sed.

But they had contrived completely to domesticate the zebra, which seemed to be quite common among them, although it was used exclusively as a saddle animal.

Up to the present I had been afforded no opportunity to view the interior of the rock dwellings of this extraordinary people; but as we drew ever nearer to the capital I could not help feeling impressed by the increasing elaboration of the decoration of the entrances, and the high degree of artistic taste displayed. Some of the dwellings, indeed, seemed to be wholly artificial, that is to say, the owner appeared to have chosen a particular spot on the face of the living rock, and, attacking it, had begun work by hewing out first the entrance--which was usually rectangular in shape, ornamented with columns supporting a sculptured pediment--and thence proceeding to excavate inward as many apartments as were needed for the accommodation of his family. Such a structure would, if executed by the members of the family alone, require many years of continuous labour to complete; but Pousa informed me that the usual practice was for a young man to start his house as soon as he attained the age of two hundred and thirty-four moons (eighteen years), leaving the exterior ornamentation quite rough, to be completed at his leisure, and, hewing out a central pa.s.sage, to employ others to help him in excavating the interior apartments, adding to their number from time to time as the need for them arose.

About mid-afternoon on the eleventh day after Pousa and his detachment had taken charge of us, we reached the city of Masakisale, the capital of Bandokolo; and after what has already been said with regard to this remarkable people, the reader will not be surprised to learn that it was far and away the most extraordinary city that I had ever seen or heard of. It was situated in a kind of basin about eight miles wide by about twenty-two miles long, hemmed in on every side by precipitous mountains, and approached through one of the weirdest, wildest, and most forbiddingly picturesque gorges that it is possible for the mind of man to imagine. A mountain torrent foamed and raged over a rocky bed through this gorge into the basin, and finally discharged itself into a gloomy tarn, about two miles wide by three and a half miles long, which occupied the whole of the lower or northern end of the valley. A wide, straight road ran lengthwise through the valley from end to end, and was intersected, at intervals of about a mile, by cross roads, between which the whole of the valley was under cultivation, except for a patch of about five miles long adjoining the tarn, one-third of which was pasture land, while the remainder was devoted to the raising of hay, four crops of which were cut every year. A road, with which the intersecting roads communicated, ran right round the valley, at the base of the precipitous mountain slopes which formed the sides of the basin, and from it other roads zigzagged up the slopes to the very summit.

These zigzag roads gave access to the rock dwellings honeycombing the mountains, the sculptured entrances to which were clearly discernible through the variegated colours that splashed the slopes, these variegated colours being due to the fact that the mountain slopes had been terraced from base to summit, filled with earth where required, and converted into gardens and fruit orchards.

The industrial portion of the city was situated at the northern end of the valley, the prevailing wind here being from the south; thus the smoke of the factory furnaces was carried away out of the valley at its northern end, which obviated all nuisance. The population of Masakisale numbered fully twenty thousand, according to Pousa; and I afterward had reason to believe that he was very far within the mark, for I roughly estimated that there must be nearly that number of dwellings in the valley, and they would accommodate, on an average, at least four persons each. There appeared to be nearly or quite five thousand people at work in the fields when we entered the valley, a.s.sisted by some forty or fifty elephants, which seemed to be employed here and there in ploughing up the land and preparing it for a new crop. There was also a considerable amount of traffic, pedestrian and vehicular, on the various roads; and when the news of our arrival spread through the valley--which it appeared to do with marvellous celerity--this traffic increased a hundredfold at least, so that within an hour of our arrival it seemed as though every man, woman, and child in the valley had turned out to stare at us. And I confess that I was by no means favourably impressed with the manner in which the men at least of Masakisale regarded my appearance among them, for if I correctly interpreted the expression of their countenances it was made up, in about equal proportions, of hatred and fear; while that of the women, on the other hand, seemed chiefly to indicate wonder, probably at my stature, for, compared with their fifty-four inches, my seventy-four must have appeared gigantic.

There was no difficulty at all in identifying the royal palace; for whereas most of the other dwellings in the valley were indicated merely by a more or less elaborately sculptured doorway hewn out of the living rock, the abode of Queen Bimbane measured--judging by the eye alone--at least five hundred feet long by sixty feet high, the whole surface of which was sculptured into the form of a house front, consisting of a doorway with window openings on either side of it, and, above that, two other tiers of window openings giving upon wide projecting balconies, the whole very elaborately decorated with mouldings, bal.u.s.ters, architraves, pediments, columns, entablatures, and other architectural features, in a style quite strange to me, yet very handsome and impressive, and representing, I should say, the life's work of several hundred masons. Moreover, there was a banner flying over the centre of the building, consisting of a replica, upon a very much larger scale, of that borne by the standard-bearer who accompanied my escort.

This remarkable building--if indeed it may so be called--was situated about three miles down the valley, on its western side and consequently facing east, so that for the greater part of the day it was in shadow, while every one of its window openings was shaded from the morning sun by awnings of some material (which I afterward found was silk) arranged in alternate stripes of green and white. I sighted and identified it at a distance of more than a mile away; and when we arrived opposite it I found that, as of course might be expected, one of the intersecting roads crossing the main road led up to it. But there was this difference between that particular road and all the others, that whereas the others had cultivated fields on either side of them, this road was bordered on either hand by beautiful smooth gra.s.sy lawns, kept cut quite close, interspersed at frequent intervals with great, fancifully shaped beds of flowers, while here and there enormous shade trees had been left, beneath which quite a large number of handsomely attired men and women were lounging. These were, of course, the palace gardens; and when I enquired, Pousa informed me that the loungers belonged to the queen's retinue, the general public being rigorously excluded from them.

Upon our arrival at the point where the road leading to the palace branched off from the main road, Pousa informed me that I must now bid a temporary adieu to the wagon and my followers, these being destined to the lower end of the valley, where the pasture was situated, while, by command of the queen, I was to be lodged in the palace; therefore if I would indicate such of my personal belongings as I wished to have taken to my new quarters, he would see that they were duly conveyed thither.

I rather demurred at this, not caring to be separated from Piet and 'Mfuni; but upon learning that the arrangement had been ordered by the queen, and could not now be altered, I yielded, with the best grace I could muster, and gave instructions that all my spare guns and a plentiful supply of ammunition should be conveyed to my destined quarters with the utmost circ.u.mspection, and there deposited.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE PLOT THICKENS.

Separated from the wagon, and thus under no further obligation to regulate our pace by that of the slow-moving oxen, we now, at Pousa's command, advanced at a trot along the road leading directly to the palace; and as we rapidly approached that structure I became increasingly impressed by the remarkable grace and beauty of its architectural decorations, the exquisite details of which forced themselves more insistently upon my attention with every foot of our progress. For instance, I saw now that certain irregularities in the surface of the walls and the shafts of the columns, which in the distance I had taken as due to the effect of weather, were really a vast number of small pictures, sculptured in very low relief, representing scenes in the history of Bandokolo, many of those scenes being, naturally, battles. And although the figures were conventionally drawn, the vigour of action and the truth to nature of the att.i.tudes portrayed evidenced the work of an artist of no mean power.

But I had no opportunity just then to study the sculptures at leisure, for Pousa was evidently very anxious to complete his responsible task of delivering me safely within the precincts of the palace. I was therefore obliged to content myself with a hasty glance at the facade as a whole, while dismounting and resigning my horse to the care of a groom who awaited my arrival at the foot of the broad flight of steps leading up to the main entrance. Then, accompanied by Pousa, who also had dismounted, I ascended the steps, fifty in number, and was ushered through a wide and lofty doorway provided with a pair of heavy swing doors of ma.s.sive gold, the panels of which were decorated with figures in high relief, into a cool and lofty hall, where I was received by and formally turned over to an official whom I afterward learned was the major-domo, or master of the queen's household. This individual very cordially welcomed me to Masakisale, in the name of the queen, and, bidding me and the attendants bearing my belongings to follow him, led the way to the rear of the hall, which, as soon as my eyes grew accustomed to the somewhat subdued light, I saw was about fifty feet long by fifty feet high by twenty-five feet wide, with a broad balcony, supported by columns, running all round it at a height of some thirty feet from the pavement.

At the far end of the hall was a ma.s.sive flight of steps, hewn out of the solid rock wall, leading up to the interior balcony, to which we climbed; and, arrived there, I was conducted to a suite of two rooms, which I was given to understand had been a.s.signed for my use by the queen. The larger room of the two was a front room looking out upon the palace gardens, and was evidently intended for day use; while the one behind, which had no window and derived its light from the front room and from a handsome gold lamp suspended from the ceiling, was a combined bathroom and sleeping chamber. This latter room, the stone floor of which was covered with fine matting, contained a very beautiful and s.p.a.cious ivory couch, most luxuriously furnished, a number of elegant and equally luxurious divans, and an immense bath, almost big enough to swim in, sunk into the floor. The official who had me in charge pointed out these various matters to me, as well as a very handsome suit of clothing, evidently made expressly for me, which, he intimated, it was the queen's wish I should wear during my stay in the country; told me that by clapping my hands I could summon a servant who had been detailed to attend upon me; and then bowed himself out.

Left at length to myself, I instructed the people who had brought my belongings where to put them, satisfied myself that nothing was missing, and then, dismissing the men, proceeded to take stock of my surroundings. The apartments a.s.signed to me were very s.p.a.cious, lofty, cool, and airy, and were furnished with a degree of elegance and luxury that was simply astounding, especially in view of the fact that I was in a part of Africa which, so far as I knew, but one white man had ever visited before, and from which no white man had ever emerged; and I felt that I was fully justified in regarding myself as very highly honoured.

Then, when I had completed my inspection, I clapped my hands, and, upon the appearance of the attendant, intimated that I should like a bath; whereupon the man withdrew a wooden plug from a hole in the wall, and in a few minutes the immense bath was full to the brim of bright, cold, sparkling spring water, into which I at once plunged, completely submerging myself for about half a minute, to the amazement and consternation of my attendant, who afterward confessed that he feared I was bent upon drowning myself, none of the Bandokolo, it appeared, possessing the slightest knowledge of natation. My use of soap, too, and the facility with which by its aid I was enabled to remove the dust and grime acc.u.mulated during the day's travel, was another revelation to him; as was also the comb wherewith I arranged my now much too luxuriant locks. My bath towels likewise came in for a share of his admiration; but the thing which, next to my stature, most excited the fellow's astonishment was the whiteness of my skin, where it had been protected by my clothing, compared with the deep bronze of my face and hands.

Having bathed to my satisfaction I proceeded to clothe myself in the new garments which had been so thoughtfully provided for me--and for which I was indeed grateful, for the best of my own clothes were by this time little better than rags. These new garments consisted of a pair of bathing drawers--at least that is what they were like, for they only reached down to just above the knees--a tunic-like, sleeveless s.h.i.+rt, and a pair of buskins made of soft white leather, soled with ox-hide.

The drawers were made quite plain, of thick white silk, and fitted fairly tight to the body; the s.h.i.+rt also was made of the same material, but about the armholes and the hem of it there was st.i.tched a broad band of crimson silk, sewn in a beautiful pattern with gold thread and thickly studded with small gold bosses about the size of ordinary coat b.u.t.tons, each boss being beautifully chiselled with a flower-like pattern in high relief. There was also a waist belt, made of solid gold links fastened together with a sort of hinge, and clasped in front with a pair of ma.s.sive gold sculptured plaques, forming a very handsome adornment to one's person, and very convenient, too, for it happened to be of just the right width to take my pistol holsters. These garments all fitted me as though made to measure, to my great astonishment; and when I asked Langila--that being the name of my new servant--how he accounted for such an extraordinary fact, he further amazed me by saying, as calmly as though it were the most natural thing imaginable, that the articles had all been made according to measurements supplied by the queen! And when I pushed my curiosity farther by asking how Her Majesty could possibly guess so accurately at the proportions of a man whom she had never seen, he simply shrugged his shoulders and repeated Pousa's astounding statement that "the queen knows all things!" After which I requested that I might be left to myself; for I wished to give this statement my most careful consideration, and to endeavour to fathom all that it might possibly mean to me.

Was it possible that this extraordinary woman, reputed to be old far beyond the limits of the age usually ascribed to humanity--this queen of a wonderful people hidden away in the mysterious depths of Africa, the continent of strange and mystic happenings, was really the possessor of the gift of unlimited knowledge? To me, a plain, simple, matter-of-fact Briton, such a thing seemed impossible; yet Pousa had already supplied me with proof that surely ought to have been convincing to any reasonable man. He had been told that on a certain date and at a certain spot he would encounter me, and he had done so; my appearance had been described to him, and the description had proved accurate in every particular, down to the most minute detail; and he had even learned the facts connected with the death of the unhappy Siluce! How had the queen, his informant, become acquainted with all these matters, seeing that even the fact of my impending visit to Bandokolo could not possibly have been made known through any of the ordinary recognised channels of communication? It was an exceedingly disquieting circ.u.mstance; for if Bimbane actually possessed this astounding, supernatural gift of knowledge it practically rendered her all-powerful, and how could any ordinary individual--myself, for instance-- successfully contend with such a being--if contention should ever become necessary? I decided that contention, strife, between her and myself must not be permitted to become necessary: I must cultivate her goodwill and gain her friends.h.i.+p if I could, then all might be well; whereas if I should be so unfortunate as to incur her displeasure--well, there was no use in blinking the fact that she was powerful enough to destroy me.