Chapter VII: Part ONE: I (6)

Left to myself I strolled leisurely along the stony but clearly perceptible track, which from this elevation began to wind down the mountain slope towards the coast. I had not walked much above a mile when a sound, at first faint but ever growing in intensity, smote upon my alert ears. I stood still to listen, and soon recognised voices calling in unison, together with the barking and yapping of dogs. It was evidently the search-party that was on its way to rescue me in the forest. Calmly I proceeded, and at a turn in the pathway I could just detect the advancing throng of men, both mounted and a-foot. So soon as these had realised the identity of the figure approaching in the subdued starlight, the whole band halted an instant as if struck stupid, and then from their midst rushed forth Hiridia with a shrill cry of delight and threw himself on the rough ground at my feet, which he covered with kisses. The other members of the party now hurried towards me to show their joy and relief in a manner fully as rapturous if more restrained. I received their felicitations and answered their questions in an indifferent tone, making light of my late misadventure and only expressing concern for the loss of my favourite horse, which however they assured me had been caught riderless in the woods. Apparently the notion of the wild beasts roaming in the thickets had chiefly aroused their anxiety for me, but this last suggestion I repudiated with quiet scorn. "What has the Child of the Sun," I asked, "to fear from his Father's humblest subjects, the beasts of the forest? Would they have dared to approach his sacred person save to crouch at his feet and lick them in token of his divinity?" At this rebuke all my attendants stood crestfallen and ashamed. Nevertheless, they ventured to express concern for my presumed state of hunger--the Meleagrian is invariably a good and frequent trencherman--but I merely remarked that in no wise was I suffering from want of food: a state of things by the way which was by no means so remarkable as it appeared to my devoted retainers, in view of the hearty meal I had swallowed at d'Aragno's house, that I naturally forbore to mention. Altogether the genuine pleasure and the awestruck feelings wherewith I had been received by my followers afforded me no little satisfaction, as, mounted on a pony with Hiridia proudly holding my bridle, I was escorted by this adoring throng down the steep circling path that led towards the capital. The night was well advanced when finally we arrived at our destination, where I found the whole household in a condition of intense alarm, which speedily was converted into a frantic demonstration of joy on the news of my safe return and the subsequent sight of myself in their midst. I thought it prudent to attend the public supper in the great hall despite the lateness of the hour, although after my recent refreshment at d'Aragno's I had little appetite left.

The ensuing morning I was visited by the Arch-priest, to whose ears had been brought tidings of my mishap of the previous day. He came ostensibly to inquire for my health, but his face betrayed not a little anxiety. I was able to soothe him however, telling him the story of my accident had been grossly exaggerated by the palace servants, and that I was none the worse for a few hours' solitary wandering on foot in the woods, and that I had already chanced upon the right path before ever I had met with the party of searchers. By thus truthfully reciting the half (in this case so much more valuable than the whole!) of my late movements, I was easily enabled to set his fears or suspicions at rest, and after some further conversation on other topics he left my apartment wholly satisfied with his interview.

XV

I am writing these last few lines by the light of my flickering lamp, as I sit in my favourite gallery that overlooks the city and the harbour of Tamarida. There is a multitude of things I still dearly long to add to what I have already written, but the swift flight of time and this closely covered scroll forbid any such intention on my part. There are, however, two matters, one of public and the other of personal concern, that I should like to hint at before I finally consign my manuscript to its appointed bourne within the next few hours.

First of all, in my bald, inadequate account of the people and polity of Meleager, I fear I have not dwelt sufficiently on the unswerving loyalty of the hierarchy to their own order and to their fixed devotion to what they consider the perfect common-weal; to the general happiness and content of the whole population, and to the universal sense of peace and plenty that prevails here. But remember, I neither praise nor blame, neither approve nor condemn the system that produces ends so desirable in themselves, which form the recognised aim of every conscientious statesman. I have merely described things in Meleager as I have found them. I have made no comment thereon, but only suggest to the thinkers and politicians of the Earth to discover better and more honourable methods of attaining equal results.

The other question that vexes my mind is purely personal, or rather egoistic. I wonder greatly whether my present plight in Meleager will excite feelings of pity, of contempt or of envy in the minds of my readers. As to the first, I am cut off from all domestic ties and affections; I am unspeakably lonely with the oppressive sense of solitude in a crowd; in certain lights I may even be regarded as a prisoner on parole; I am perpetually spied upon, and every action on my part, however innocent or well-intentioned, is apt to be regarded with uneasy suspicion by those who are my real masters. Again I am in the position of a conscious participant in that gigantic scheme of fraud, The Secret, by means of which all the state craft of Meleager is worked. I am also, to fit me for the continuance of my royal office, subjected at fairly short intervals to a series of personal indignities that may endow me with the requisite strength and youth at the moment when my body is beginning to exhibit signs of languor and dissolution. In compensation for these trials and disadvantages, I enjoy perfect health; I dwell in a magnificent palace surrounded by adoring courtiers and servants; I even experience the inestimable delight of performing public duties which are gratefully and rapturously accepted by my deluded subjects; I taste the sweets of divine honours, and at the same time can gratify some of the natural tastes of a mortal man. It amuses me to leave to others I shall never meet the solution of a question I cannot answer for myself!

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As I lift my eyes from my parchment, I note a thin streak of oriflamme above the eastern horizon, and I know that very soon the new-born day will be heralded by clarion and cannon from the battlements of the great temple overhead. I have but time and space left me to add the word Farewell and the name I bore on Earth....