Chapter VII: Ustane Sings

When the kissing operation was finished—by the way, none of the
young ladies offered to pet me in this fashion, though I saw one
hovering round Job, to that respectable individual’s evident
alarm—the old man Billali advanced, and graciously waved us into
the cave, whither we went, followed by Ustane, who did not seem
inclined to take the hints I gave her that we liked privacy.

Before we had gone five paces it struck me that the cave that we
were entering was none of Nature’s handiwork, but, on the
contrary, had been hollowed by the hand of man. So far as we
could judge it appeared to be about one hundred feet in length by
fifty wide, and very lofty, resembling a cathedral aisle more
than anything else. From this main aisle opened passages at a
distance of every twelve or fifteen feet, leading, I supposed, to
smaller chambers. About fifty feet from the entrance of the cave,
just where the light began to get dim, a fire was burning, which
threw huge shadows upon the gloomy walls around. Here Billali
halted, and asked us to be seated, saying that the people would
bring us food, and accordingly we squatted ourselves down upon
the rugs of skins which were spread for us, and waited. Presently
the food, consisting of goat’s flesh boiled, fresh milk in an
earthenware pot, and boiled cobs of Indian corn, was brought by
young girls. We were almost starving, and I do not think that I
ever in my life before ate with such satisfaction. Indeed, before
we had finished we literally ate up everything that was set
before us.

When we had done, our somewhat saturnine host, Billali, who had
been watching us in perfect silence, rose and addressed us. He
said that it was a wonderful thing that had happened. No man had
ever known or heard of white strangers arriving in the country of
the People of the Rocks. Sometimes, though rarely, black men had
come here, and from them they had heard of the existence of men
much whiter than themselves, who sailed on the sea in ships, but
for the arrival of such there was no precedent. We had, however,
been seen dragging the boat up the canal, and he told us frankly
that he had at once given orders for our destruction, seeing that
it was unlawful for any stranger to enter here, when a message
had come from “_She-who-must-be-obeyed_,” saying that our lives
were to be spared, and that we were to be brought hither.

“Pardon me, my father,” I interrupted at this point; “but if, as
I understand, ‘_She-who-must-be-obeyed_’ lives yet farther off,
how could she have known of our approach?”

Billali turned, and seeing that we were alone—for the young lady,
Ustane, had withdrawn when he had begun to speak—said, with a
curious little laugh—

“Are there none in your land who can see without eyes and hear
without ears? Ask no questions; _She_ knew.”

I shrugged my shoulders at this, and he proceeded to say that no
further instructions had been received on the subject of our
disposal, and this being so he was about to start to interview
“_She-who-must-be-obeyed_,” generally spoken of, for the sake of
brevity, as “Hiya” or _She_ simply, who he gave us to understand
was the Queen of the Amahagger, and learn her wishes.

I asked him how long he proposed to be away, and he said that by
travelling hard he might be back on the fifth day, but there were
many miles of marsh to cross before he came to where _She_ was.
He then said that every arrangement would be made for our comfort
during his absence, and that, as he personally had taken a fancy
to us, he sincerely trusted that the answer he should bring from
_She_ would be one favourable to the continuation of our
existence, but at the same time he did not wish to conceal from
us that he thought this doubtful, as every stranger who had ever
come into the country during his grandmother’s life, his mother’s
life, and his own life, had been put to death without mercy, and
in a way he would not harrow our feelings by describing; and this
had been done by the order of _She_ herself, at least he supposed
that it was by her order. At any rate, she never interfered to
save them.

“Why,” I said, “but how can that be? You are an old man, and the
time you talk of must reach back three men’s lives. How therefore
could _She_ have ordered the death of anybody at the beginning of
the life of your grandmother, seeing that herself she would not
have been born?”

Again he smiled—that same faint, peculiar smile, and with a deep
bow departed, without making any answer; nor did we see him again
for five days.

When he had gone we discussed the situation, which filled me with
alarm. I did not at all like the accounts of this mysterious
Queen, “_She-who-must-be-obeyed_,” or more shortly _She_, who
apparently ordered the execution of any unfortunate stranger in a
fashion so unmerciful. Leo, too, was depressed about it, but
consoled himself by triumphantly pointing out that this _She_ was
undoubtedly the person referred to in the writing on the potsherd
and in his father’s letter, in proof of which he advanced
Billali’s allusions to her age and power. I was by this time too
overwhelmed with the whole course of events that I had not even
the heart left to dispute a proposition so absurd, so I suggested
that we should try to go out and get a bath, of which we all
stood sadly in need.

Accordingly, having indicated our wish to a middle-aged individual of an unusually saturnine cast of countenance, even among this saturnine people, who appeared to be deputed to look after us now that the Father of the hamlet had departed, we started in a body—having first lit our pipes. Outside the cave we found quite a crowd of people evidently watching for our appearance, but when they saw us come out smoking they vanished this way and that, calling out that we were great magicians. Indeed, nothing about us created so great a sensation as our tobacco smoke—not even our firearms.[1] After this we succeeded in reaching a stream that had its source in a strong ground spring, and taking our bath in peace, though some of the women, not excepting Ustane, showed a decided inclination to follow us even there.

[1] We found tobacco growing in this country as it does in every other part of Africa, and, although they were so absolutely ignorant of its other blessed qualities, the Amahagger use it habitually in the form of snuff and also for medicinal purposes.—L. H. H.

By the time that we had finished this most refreshing bath the
sun was setting; indeed, when we got back to the big cave it had
already set. The cave itself was full of people gathered round
fires—for several more had now been lighted—and eating their
evening meal by their lurid light, and by that of various lamps
which were set about or hung upon the walls. These lamps were of
a rude manufacture of baked earthenware, and of all shapes, some
of them graceful enough. The larger ones were formed of big red
earthenware pots, filled with clarified melted fat, and having a
reed wick stuck through a wooden disk which filled the top of the
pot. This sort of lamp required the most constant attention to
prevent its going out whenever the wick burnt down, as there were
no means of turning it up. The smaller hand lamps, however, which
were also made of baked clay, were fitted with wicks manufactured
from the pith of a palm-tree, or sometimes from the stem of a
very handsome variety of fern. This kind of wick was passed
through a round hole at the end of the lamp, to which a sharp
piece of hard wood was attached wherewith to pierce and draw it
up whenever it showed signs of burning low.

For a while we sat down and watched this grim people eating their
evening meal in silence as grim as themselves, till at length,
getting tired of contemplating them and the huge moving shadows
on the rocky walls, I suggested to our new keeper that we should
like to go to bed.

Without a word he rose, and, taking me politely by the hand,
advanced with a lamp to one of the small passages that I had
noticed opening out of the central cave. This we followed for
about five paces, when it suddenly widened out into a small
chamber, about eight feet square, and hewn out of the living
rock. On one side of this chamber was a stone slab, about three
feet from the ground, and running its entire length like a bunk
in a cabin, and on this slab he intimated that I was to sleep.
There was no window or air-hole to the chamber, and no furniture;
and, on looking at it more closely, I came to the disturbing
conclusion (in which, as I afterwards discovered, I was quite
right) that it had originally served for a sepulchre for the dead
rather than a sleeping-place for the living, the slab being
designed to receive the corpse of the departed. The thought made
me shudder in spite of myself; but, seeing that I must sleep
somewhere, I got over the feeling as best I might, and returned
to the cavern to get my blanket, which had been brought up from
the boat with the other things. There I met Job, who, having been
inducted to a similar apartment, had flatly declined to stop in
it, saying that the look of the place gave him the horrors, and
that he might as well be dead and buried in his grandfather’s
brick grave at once, and expressed his determination of sleeping
with me if I would allow him. This, of course, I was only too
glad to do.

The night passed very comfortably on the whole. I say on the
whole, for personally I went through a most horrible nightmare of
being buried alive, induced, no doubt, by the sepulchral nature
of my surroundings. At dawn we were aroused by a loud trumpeting
sound, produced, as we afterwards discovered, by a young
Amahagger blowing through a hole bored in its side into a
hollowed elephant tusk, which was kept for the purpose.

Taking the hint, we got up and went down to the stream to wash,
after which the morning meal was served. At breakfast one of the
women, no longer quite young, advanced and publicly kissed Job. I
think it was in its way the most delightful thing (putting its
impropriety aside for a moment) that I ever saw. Never shall I
forget the respectable Job’s abject terror and disgust. Job, like
myself, is a bit of a misogynist—I fancy chiefly owing to the
fact of his having been one of a family of seventeen—and the
feelings expressed upon his countenance when he realised that he
was not only being embraced publicly, and without authorisation
on his own part, but also in the presence of his masters, were
too mixed and painful to admit of accurate description. He sprang
to his feet, and pushed the woman, a buxom person of about
thirty, from him.

“Well, I never!” he gasped, whereupon probably thinking that he
was only coy, she embraced him again.

“Be off with you! Get away, you minx!” he shouted, waving the
wooden spoon, with which he was eating his breakfast, up and down
before the lady’s face. “Beg your pardon, gentlemen, I am sure I
haven’t encouraged her. Oh, Lord! she’s coming for me again. Hold
her, Mr. Holly! please hold her! I can’t stand it; I can’t,
indeed. This has never happened to me before, gentlemen, never.
There’s nothing against my character,” and here he broke off, and
ran as hard as he could go down the cave, and for once I saw the
Amahagger laugh. As for the woman, however, she did not laugh. On
the contrary, she seemed to bristle with fury, which the mockery
of the other women about only served to intensify. She stood
there literally snarling and shaking with indignation, and,
seeing her, I wished Job’s scruples had been at Jericho, forming
a shrewd guess that his admirable behaviour had endangered our
throats. Nor, as the sequel shows, was I wrong.

The lady having retreated, Job returned in a great state of
nervousness, and keeping his weather eye fixed upon every woman
who came near him. I took an opportunity to explain to our hosts
that Job was a married man, and had had very unhappy experiences
in his domestic relations, which accounted for his presence here
and his terror at the sight of women, but my remarks were
received in grim silence, it being evident that our retainer’s
behaviour was considered as a slight to the “household” at large,
although the women, after the manner of some of their most
civilised sisters, made merry at the rebuff of their companion.

After breakfast we took a walk and inspected the Amahagger herds,
and also their cultivated lands. They have two breeds of cattle,
one large and angular, with no horns, but yielding beautiful
milk; and the other, a red breed, very small and fat, excellent
for meat, but of no value for milking purposes. This last breed
closely resembles the Norfolk red-pole strain, only it has horns
which generally curve forward over the head, sometimes to such an
extent that they have to be cut to prevent them from growing into
the bones of the skull. The goats are long-haired, and are used
for eating only, at least I never saw them milked. As for the
Amahagger cultivation, it is primitive in the extreme, being all
done by means of a spade made of iron, for these people smelt and
work iron. This spade is shaped more like a big spear-head than
anything else, and has no shoulder to it on which the foot can be
set. As a consequence, the labour of digging is very great. It
is, however, all done by the men, the women, contrary to the
habits of most savage races, being entirely exempt from manual
toil. But then, as I think I have said elsewhere, among the
Amahagger the weaker sex has established its rights.

At first we were much puzzled as to the origin and constitution
of this extraordinary race, points upon which they were
singularly uncommunicative. As the time went on—for the next four
days passed without any striking event—we learnt something from
Leo’s lady friend Ustane, who, by the way, stuck to that young
gentleman like his own shadow. As to origin, they had none, at
least, so far as she was aware. There were, however, she informed
us, mounds of masonry and many pillars, near the place where
_She_ lived, which was called Kôr, and which the wise said had
once been houses wherein men lived, and it was suggested that
they were descended from these men. No one, however, dared go
near these great ruins, because they were haunted: they only
looked on them from a distance. Other similar ruins were to be
seen, she had heard, in various parts of the country, that is,
wherever one of the mountains rose above the level of the swamp.
Also the caves in which they lived had been hollowed out of the
rocks by men, perhaps the same who built the cities. They
themselves had no written laws, only custom, which was, however,
quite as binding as law. If any man offended against the custom,
he was put to death by order of the Father of the “Household.” I
asked how he was put to death, and she only smiled and said that
I might see one day soon.

They had a Queen, however. _She_ was their Queen, but she was
very rarely seen, perhaps once in two or three years, when she
came forth to pass sentence on some offenders, and when seen was
muffled up in a big cloak, so that nobody could look upon her
face. Those who waited upon her were deaf and dumb, and therefore
could tell no tales, but it was reported that she was lovely as
no other woman was lovely, or ever had been. It was rumoured also
that she was immortal, and had power over all things, but she,
Ustane, could say nothing of all that. What she believed was that
the Queen chose a husband from time to time, and as soon as a
female child was born, this husband, who was never again seen,
was put to death. Then the female child grew up and took the
place of the Queen when its mother died, and had been buried in
the great caves. But of these matters none could speak with
certainty. Only _She_ was obeyed throughout the length and
breadth of the land, and to question her command was instant
death. She kept a guard, but had no regular army, and to disobey
her was to die.

I asked what size the land was, and how many people lived in it.
She answered that there were ten “Households,” like this that she
knew of, including the big “Household,” where the Queen was, that
all the “Households” lived in caves, in places resembling this
stretch of raised country, dotted about in a vast extent of
swamp, which was only to be threaded by secret paths. Often the
“Households” made war on each other until _She_ sent word that it
was to stop, and then they instantly ceased. That and the fever
which they caught in crossing the swamps prevented their numbers
from increasing too much. They had no connection with any other
race, indeed none lived near them, or were able to thread the
vast swamps. Once an army from the direction of the great river
(presumably the Zambesi) had attempted to attack them, but they
got lost in the marshes, and at night, seeing the great balls of
fire that move about there, tried to come to them, thinking that
they marked the enemy camp, and half of them were drowned. As for
the rest, they soon died of fever and starvation, not a blow
being struck at them. The marshes, she told us, were absolutely
impassable except to those who knew the paths, adding, what I
could well believe, that we should never have reached this place
where we then were had we not been brought thither.

These and many other things we learnt from Ustane during the four
days’ pause before our real adventures began, and, as may be
imagined, they gave us considerable cause for thought. The whole
thing was exceedingly remarkable, almost incredibly so, indeed,
and the oddest part of it was that so far it did more or less
correspond to the ancient writing on the sherd. And now it
appeared that there was a mysterious Queen clothed by rumour with
dread and wonderful attributes, and commonly known by the
impersonal, but, to my mind, rather awesome title of _She_.
Altogether, I could not make it out, nor could Leo, though of
course he was exceedingly triumphant over me because I had
persistently mocked at the whole thing. As for Job, he had long
since abandoned any attempt to call his reason his own, and left
it to drift upon the sea of circumstance. Mahomed, the Arab, who
was, by the way, treated civilly indeed, but with chilling
contempt, by the Amahagger, was, I discovered, in a great fright,
though I could not quite make out what he was frightened about.
He would sit crouched up in a corner of the cave all day long,
calling upon Allah and the Prophet to protect him. When I pressed
him about it, he said that he was afraid because these people
were not men or women at all, but devils, and that this was an
enchanted land; and, upon my word, once or twice since then I
have been inclined to agree with him. And so the time went on,
till the night of the fourth day after Billali had left, when
something happened.

We three and Ustane were sitting round a fire in the cave just
before bedtime, when suddenly the woman, who had been brooding in
silence, rose, and laid her hand upon Leo’s golden curls, and
addressed him. Even now, when I shut my eyes, I can see her
proud, imperial form, clothed alternately in dense shadow and the
red flickering of the fire, as she stood, the wild centre of as
weird a scene as I ever witnessed, and delivered herself of the
burden of her thoughts and forebodings in a kind of rhythmical
speech that ran something as follows:—

Thou art my chosen—I have waited for thee from the beginning! Thou art very beautiful. Who hath hair like unto thee, or skin so white? Who hath so strong an arm, who is so much a man? Thine eyes are the sky, and the light in them is the stars. Thou art perfect and of a happy face, and my heart turned itself towards thee. Ay, when mine eyes fell upon thee I did desire thee,— Then did I take thee to me—oh, thou Beloved, And hold thee fast, lest harm should come unto thee. Ay, I did cover thine head with mine hair, lest the sun should strike it; And altogether was I thine, and thou wast altogether mine. And so it went for a little space, till Time was in labour with an evil Day; And then what befell on that day? Alas! my Beloved, I know not! But I, I saw thee no more—I, I was lost in the blackness. And she who is stronger did take thee; ay, she who is fairer than Ustane. Yet didst thou turn and call upon me, and let thine eyes wander in the darkness. But, nevertheless, she prevailed by Beauty, and led thee down horrible places, And then, ah! then my Beloved——

Here this extraordinary woman broke off her speech, or chant,
which was so much musical gibberish to us, for all that we
understood of what she was talking about, and seemed to fix her
flashing eyes upon the deep shadow before her. Then in a moment
they acquired a vacant, terrified stare, as though they were
striving to realise some half-seen horror. She lifted her hand
from Leo’s head, and pointed into the darkness. We all looked,
and could see nothing; but she saw something, or thought she did,
and something evidently that affected even her iron nerves, for,
without another sound, down she fell senseless between us.

Leo, who was growing really attached to this remarkable young
person, was in a great state of alarm and distress, and I, to be
perfectly candid, was in a condition not far removed from
superstitious fear. The whole scene was an uncanny one.

Presently, however, she recovered, and sat up with an
extraordinary convulsive shudder.

“What didst thou mean, Ustane?” asked Leo, who, thanks to years
of tuition, spoke Arabic very prettily.

“Nay, my chosen,” she answered, with a little forced laugh. “I
did but sing unto thee after the fashion of my people. Surely, I
meant nothing. How could I speak of that which is not yet?”

“And what didst thou see, Ustane?” I asked, looking her sharply
in the face.

“Nay,” she answered again, “I saw naught. Ask me not what I saw.
Why should I fright ye?” And then, turning to Leo with a look of
the most utter tenderness that I ever saw upon the face of a
woman, civilised or savage, she took his head between her hands,
and kissed him on the forehead as a mother might.

“When I am gone from thee, my chosen,” she said; “when at night
thou stretchest out thine hand and canst not find me, then
shouldst thou think at times of me, for of a truth I love thee
well, though I be not fit to wash thy feet. And now let us love
and take that which is given us, and be happy; for in the grave
there is no love and no warmth, nor any touching of the lips.
Nothing perchance, or perchance but bitter memories of what might
have been. To-night the hours are our own, how know we to whom
they shall belong to-morrow?”