Chapter XXIV: Walking the Plank

Next day the mutes woke us before the dawn; and by the time that
we had got the sleep out of our eyes, and gone through a
perfunctory wash at a spring which still welled up into the
remains of a marble basin in the centre of the North quadrangle
of the vast outer court, we found _She_ standing by the litter
ready to start, while old Billali and the two bearer mutes were
busy collecting the baggage. As usual, Ayesha was veiled like the
marble Truth (by the way, I wonder if she originally got the idea
of covering up her beauty from that statue?). I noticed, however,
that she seemed very depressed, and had none of that proud and
buoyant bearing which would have betrayed her among a thousand
women of the same stature, even if they had been veiled like
herself. She looked up as we came—for her head was bowed—and
greeted us. Leo asked her how she had slept.

“Ill, my Kallikrates,” she answered, “ill. This night have
strange and hideous dreams come creeping through my brain, and I
know not what they may portend. Almost do I feel as though some
evil overshadowed me; and yet how can evil touch me? I wonder,”
she went on with a sudden outbreak of womanly tenderness, “I
wonder if, should aught happen to me, so that I slept awhile and
left thee waking, thou wouldst think gently of me? I wonder, my
Kallikrates, if thou wouldst tarry till I came again, as for so
many centuries I have tarried for thy coming?”

Then, without waiting for an answer, she went on: “Come, let us
be setting forth, for we have far to go, and before another day
is born in yonder blue should we stand in the place of Life.”

In five minutes we were once more on our way through the vast
ruined city, which loomed at us on either side in the grey
dawning in a way that was at once grand and oppressive. Just as
the first ray of the rising sun shot like a golden arrow athwart
this storied desolation we gained the further gateway of the
outer wall, and having given one more glance at the hoar and
pillared majesty through which we had journeyed, and (with the
exception of Job, for whom ruins had no charms) breathed a sigh
of regret that we had not had more time to explore it, passed
through the great moat, and on to the plain beyond.

As the sun rose so did Ayesha’s spirits, till by breakfast-time
they had regained their normal level, and she laughingly set down
her previous depression to the associations of the spot where she
had slept.

“These barbarians swear that Kôr is haunted,” she said, “and of a
truth I do believe their saying, for never did I know so ill a
night save one. I remember it now. It was on that very spot when
thou didst lie dead at my feet, Kallikrates. Never will I visit
it again; it is a place of evil omen.”

After a very brief halt for breakfast we pressed on with such
good will that by two o’clock in the afternoon we were at the
foot of the vast wall of rock that formed the lip of the volcano,
and which at this point towered up precipitously above us for
fifteen hundred or two thousand feet. Here we halted, certainly
not to my astonishment, for I did not see how it was possible
that we should go any farther.

“Now,” said Ayesha, as she descended from her litter, “doth our
labour but commence, for here do we part with these men, and
henceforward must we bear ourselves;” and then, addressing
Billali, “do thou and these slaves remain here, and abide our
coming. By to-morrow at the midday shall we be with thee—if not,
wait.”

Billali bowed humbly, and said that her august bidding should be
obeyed if they stopped there till they grew old.

“And this man, oh Holly,” said _She_, pointing to Job; “best is
it that he should tarry also, for if his heart be not high and
his courage great, perchance some evil might overtake him. Also,
the secrets of the place whither we go are not fit for common
eyes.”

I translated this to Job, who instantly and earnestly entreated
me, almost with tears in his eyes, not to leave him behind. He
said he was sure that he could see nothing worse than he had
already seen, and that he was terrified to death at the idea of
being left alone with those “dumb folk,” who, he thought, would
probably take the opportunity to hot-pot him.

I translated what he said to Ayesha, who shrugged her shoulders,
and answered, “Well, let him come, it is naught to me; on his own
head be it, and he will serve to bear the lamp and this,” and she
pointed to a narrow plank, some sixteen feet in length, which had
been bound above the long bearing-pole of her hammock, as I had
thought to make curtains spread out better, but, as it now
appeared, for some unknown purpose connected with our
extraordinary undertaking.

Accordingly, the plank, which, though tough, was very light, was
given to Job to carry, and also one of the lamps. I slung the
other on to my back, together with a spare jar of oil, while Leo
loaded himself with the provisions and some water in a kid’s
skin. When this was done _She_ bade Billali and the six bearer
mutes to retreat behind a grove of flowering magnolias about a
hundred yards away, and remain there under pain of death till we
had vanished. They bowed humbly, and went, and, as he departed,
old Billali gave me a friendly shake of the hand, and whispered
that he had rather that it was I than he who was going on this
wonderful expedition with “_She-who-must-be-obeyed_,” and upon my
word I felt inclined to agree with him. In another minute they
were gone, and then, having briefly asked us if we were ready,
Ayesha turned, and gazed up the towering cliff.

“Goodness me, Leo,” I said, “surely we are not going to climb
that precipice!”

Leo shrugged his shoulders, being in a condition of
half-fascinated, half-expectant mystification, and as he did so,
Ayesha with a sudden move began to climb the cliff, and of course
we had to follow her. It was perfectly marvellous to see the ease
and grace with which she sprang from rock to rock, and swung
herself along the ledges. The ascent was not, however, so
difficult as it seemed, although there were one or two nasty
places where it did not do to look behind you, the fact being
that the rock still sloped here, and was not absolutely
precipitous as it was higher up. In this way we, with no great
labour, mounted to the height of some fifty feet above our last
standing-place, the only really troublesome thing to manage being
Job’s board, and in doing so drew some fifty or sixty paces to
the left of our starting-point, for we went up like a crab,
sideways. Presently we reached a ledge, narrow enough at first,
but which widened as we followed it, and moreover sloped inwards
like the petal of a flower, so that as we followed it we
gradually got into a kind of rut or fold of rock, that grew
deeper and deeper, till at last it resembled a Devonshire lane in
stone, and hid us perfectly from the gaze of anybody on the slope
below, if there had been anybody to gaze. This lane (which
appeared to be a natural formation) continued for some fifty or
sixty paces, and then suddenly ended in a cave, also natural,
running at right angles to it. I am sure it was a natural cave,
and not hollowed by the hand of man, because of its irregular and
contorted shape and course, which gave it the appearance of
having been blown bodily in the mountain by some frightful
eruption of gas following the line of the least resistance. All
the caves hollowed by the ancients of Kôr, on the contrary, were
cut out with the most perfect regularity and symmetry. At the
mouth of this cave Ayesha halted, and bade us light the two
lamps, which I did, giving one to her and keeping the other
myself. Then, taking the lead, she advanced down the cavern,
picking her way with great care, as indeed it was necessary to
do, for the floor was most irregular—strewn with boulders like
the bed of a stream, and in some places pitted with deep holes,
in which it would have been easy to break one’s leg.

This cavern we pursued for twenty minutes or more, it being, so
far as I could form a judgment—owing to its numerous twists and
turns no easy task—about a quarter of a mile long.

At last, however, we halted at its farther end, and whilst I was
still trying to pierce the gloom a great gust of air came tearing
down it, and extinguished both the lamps.

Ayesha called to us, and we crept up to her, for she was a little
in front, and were rewarded with a view that was positively
appalling in its gloom and grandeur. Before us was a mighty chasm
in the black rock, jagged and torn and splintered through it in a
far past age by some awful convulsion of Nature, as though it had
been cleft by stroke upon stroke of the lightning. This chasm,
which was bounded by a precipice on the hither, and presumably,
though we could not see it, on the farther side also, may have
measured any width across, but from its darkness I do not think
it can have been very broad. It was impossible to make out much
of its outline, or how far it ran, for the simple reason that the
point where we were standing was so far from the upper surface of
the cliff, at least fifteen hundred or two thousand feet, that
only a very dim light struggled down to us from above. The mouth
of the cavern that we had been following gave on to a most
curious and tremendous spur of rock, which jutted out in mid air
into the gulf before us, for a distance of some fifty yards,
coming to a sharp point at its termination, and resembling
nothing that I can think of so much as the spur upon the leg of a
cock in shape. This huge spur was attached only to the parent
precipice at its base, which was, of course, enormous, just as
the cock’s spur is attached to its leg. Otherwise it was utterly
unsupported.

“Here must we pass,” said Ayesha. “Be careful lest giddiness
overcome you, or the wind sweep you into the gulf beneath, for of
a truth it hath no bottom;” and, without giving us any further
time to get scared, she started walking along the spur, leaving
us to follow her as best we might. I was next to her, then came
Job, painfully dragging his plank, while Leo brought up the rear.
It was a wonderful sight to see this intrepid woman gliding
fearlessly along that dreadful place. For my part, when I had
gone but a very few yards, what between the pressure of the air
and the awful sense of the consequences that a slip would entail,
I found it necessary to go down on my hands and knees and crawl,
and so did the other two.

But Ayesha never condescended to this. On she went, leaning her
body against the gusts of wind, and never seeming to lose her
head or her balance.

In a few minutes we had crossed some twenty paces of this awful
bridge, which got narrower at every step, and then all of a
sudden a great gust came tearing along the gorge. I saw Ayesha
lean herself against it, but the strong draught got under her
dark cloak, and tore it from her, and away it went down the wind
flapping like a wounded bird. It was dreadful to see it go, till
it was lost in the blackness. I clung to the saddle of rock, and
looked round, while, like a living thing, the great spur vibrated
with a humming sound beneath us. The sight was a truly awesome
one. There we were poised in the gloom between earth and heaven.
Beneath us were hundreds upon hundreds of feet of emptiness that
gradually grew darker, till at last it was absolutely black, and
at what depth it ended is more than I can guess. Above was space
upon space of giddy air, and far, far away a line of blue sky.
And down this vast gulf upon which we were pinnacled the great
draught dashed and roared, driving clouds and misty wreaths of
vapour before it, till we were nearly blinded, and utterly
confused.

The whole position was so tremendous and so absolutely unearthly,
that I believe it actually lulled our sense of terror, but to
this hour I often see it in my dreams, and at its mere phantasy
wake up covered with cold sweat.

“On! on!” cried the white form before us, for now the cloak had
gone, _She_ was robed in white, and looked more like a spirit
riding down the gale than a woman; “On, or ye will fall and be
dashed to pieces. Keep your eyes fixed upon the ground, and
closely hug the rock.”

We obeyed her, and crept painfully along the quivering path,
against which the wind shrieked and wailed as it shook it,
causing it to murmur like a vast tuning-fork. On we went, I do
not know for how long, only gazing round now and again, when it
was absolutely necessary, until at last we saw that we were on
the very tip of the spur, a slab of rock, little larger than an
ordinary table, that throbbed and jumped like any over-engined
steamer. There we lay, clinging to the ground, and looked about
us, while Ayesha stood leaning out against the wind, down which
her long hair streamed, and, absolutely heedless of the hideous
depth that yawned beneath, pointed before her. Then we saw why
the narrow plank had been provided, which Job and I had painfully
dragged along between us. Before us was an empty space, on the
other side of which was something, as yet we could not see what,
for here—either owing to the shadow of the opposite cliff, or
from some other cause—the gloom was that of night.

“We must wait awhile,” called Ayesha; “soon there will be light.”

At the moment I could not imagine what she meant. How could more
light than there was ever come to this dreadful spot? While I was
still wondering, suddenly, like a great sword of flame, a beam
from the setting sun pierced the Stygian gloom, and smote upon
the point of rock whereon we lay, illumining Ayesha’s lovely form
with an unearthly splendour. I only wish I could describe the
wild and marvellous beauty of that sword of fire, laid across the
darkness and rushing mist-wreaths of the gulf. How it got there I
do not to this moment know, but I presume that there was some
cleft or hole in the opposing cliff, through which it pierced
when the setting orb was in a direct line therewith. All I can
say is, that the effect was the most wonderful that I ever saw.
Right through the heart of the darkness that flaming sword was
stabbed, and where it lay there was the most surpassingly vivid
light, so vivid that even at a distance we could see the grain of
the rock, while, outside of it—yes, within a few inches of its
keen edge—was naught but clustering shadows.

And now, by this ray of light, for which _She_ had been waiting,
and timed our arrival to meet, knowing that at this season for
thousands of years it had always struck thus at sunset, we saw
what was before us. Within eleven or twelve feet of the very tip
of the tongue-like rock whereon we stood there arose, presumably
from the far bottom of the gulf, a sugarloaf-shaped cone, of
which the summit was exactly opposite to us. But had there been a
summit only it would not have helped us much, for the nearest
point of its circumference was some forty feet from where we
were. On the lip of this summit, however, which was circular and
hollow, rested a tremendous flat boulder, something like a
glacier stone—perhaps it was one, for all I know to the
contrary—and the end of this boulder approached to within twelve
feet or so of us. This huge rock was nothing more or less than a
gigantic rocking-stone, accurately balanced upon the edge of the
cone or miniature crater, like a half-crown on the rim of a
wine-glass; for, in the fierce light that played upon it and us,
we could see it oscillating in the gusts of wind.

“Quick!” said Ayesha; “the plank—we must cross while the light
endures; presently it will be gone.”

“Oh, Lord, sir!” groaned Job, “surely she don’t mean us to walk
across that there place on that there thing,” as in obedience to
my direction he pushed the long board towards me.

“That’s it, Job,” I halloaed in ghastly merriment, though the
idea of walking the plank was no pleasanter to me than to him.

I pushed the board on to Ayesha, who deftly ran it across the
gulf so that one end of it rested on the rocking-stone, the other
remaining on the extremity of the trembling spur. Then placing
her foot upon it to prevent it from being blown away, she turned
to me.

“Since I was last here, oh Holly,” she called, “the support of
the moving stone hath lessened somewhat, so that I am not certain
if it will bear our weight or no. Therefore will I cross the
first, because no harm will come unto me,” and, without further
ado, she trod lightly but firmly across the frail bridge, and in
another second was standing safe upon the heaving stone.

“It is safe,” she called. “See, hold thou the plank! I will stand
on the farther side of the stone so that it may not overbalance
with your greater weights. Now, come, oh Holly, for presently the
light will fail us.”

I struggled to my knees, and if ever I felt terrified in my life
it was then, and I am not ashamed to say that I hesitated and
hung back.

“Surely thou art not afraid,” this strange creature called in a
lull of the gale, from where she stood poised like a bird on the
highest point of the rocking-stone. “Make way then for
Kallikrates.”

This settled me; it is better to fall down a precipice and die
than be laughed at by such a woman; so I clenched my teeth, and
in another instant I was on that horrible, narrow, bending plank,
with bottomless space beneath and around me. I have always hated
a great height, but never before did I realise the full horrors
of which such a position is capable. Oh, the sickening sensation
of that yielding board resting on the two moving supports. I grew
dizzy, and thought that I must fall; my spine _crept_; it seemed
to me that I was falling, and my delight at finding myself
sprawling upon that stone, which rose and fell beneath me like a
boat in a swell, cannot be expressed in words. All I know is that
briefly, but earnestly enough, I thanked Providence for
preserving me so far.

Then came Leo’s turn, and though he looked rather queer, he came
across like a rope-dancer. Ayesha stretched out her hand to clasp
his own, and I heard her say, “Bravely done, my love—bravely
done! The old Greek spirit lives in thee yet!”

And now only poor Job remained on the farther side of the gulf.
He crept up to the plank, and yelled out, “I can’t do it, sir. I
shall fall into that beastly place.”

“You must,” I remember saying with inappropriate
facetiousness—“you must, Job, it’s as easy as catching flies.” I
suppose that I must have said it to satisfy my conscience,
because although the expression conveys a wonderful idea of
facility, as a matter of fact I know no more difficult operation
in the whole world than catching flies—that is, in warm weather,
unless, indeed, it is catching mosquitoes.

“I can’t, sir—I can’t, indeed.”

“Let the man come, or let him stop and perish there. See, the
light is dying! In a moment it will be gone!” said Ayesha.

I looked. She was right. The sun was passing below the level of
the hole or cleft in the precipice through which the ray reached
us.

“If you stop there, Job, you will die alone,” I called; “the
light is going.”

“Come, be a man, Job,” roared Leo; “it’s quite easy.”

Thus adjured, the miserable Job, with a most awful yell,
precipitated himself face downwards on the plank—he did not dare,
small blame to him, to try to walk it, and commenced to draw
himself across in little jerks, his poor legs hanging down on
either side into the nothingness beneath.

His violent jerks at the frail board made the great stone, which
was only balanced on a few inches of rock, oscillate in a most
dreadful manner, and, to make matters worse, when he was half-way
across the flying ray of lurid light suddenly went out, just as
though a lamp had been extinguished in a curtained room, leaving
the whole howling wilderness of air black with darkness.

“Come on, Job, for God’s sake!” I shouted in an agony of fear,
while the stone, gathering motion with every swing, rocked so
violently that it was difficult to hang on to it. It was a truly
awful position.

“Lord have mercy on me!” cried poor Job from the darkness. “Oh,
the plank’s slipping!” and I heard a violent struggle, and
thought that he was gone.

But at that moment his outstretched hand, clasping in agony at
the air, met my own, and I hauled—ah, how I did haul, putting out
all the strength that it has pleased Providence to give me in
such abundance—and to my joy in another minute Job was gasping on
the rock beside me. But the plank! I felt it slip, and heard it
knock against a projecting knob of rock, and it was gone.

“Great heavens!” I exclaimed. “How are we going to get back?”

“I don’t know,” answered Leo, out of the gloom. “’Sufficient to
the day is the evil thereof,’ I am thankful enough to be here.”

But Ayesha merely called to me to take her hand and creep after
her.