The Adventures of Dick Maitland Part 11

"I give you hearty thanks, O Healer, for the help which you have afforded me in the discovery of those who are concerned in the conspiracy that has this day been revealed. I have for some time suspected that something of the kind existed, but I dreamed not that it was so serious, or that so many of my chiefs were involved in it; nor could I devise a means by which to discover the truth. It is your wisdom, O Healer, that found a way; and now I again desire the help of that wisdom to enable me to apportion to each offender a punishment proportionate to his crime. You heard what each culprit had to say in his defence, and I doubt not that you saw, as I did, that all were not equally guilty. I am not troubled about Sekosini, Mapela, and Amakosa; their guilt is indisputable, and they die the death; if they were permitted to live they would but plot against me again. N'Ampata also is a dangerous man; he, too, is opposed to my system of government, and is not to be trusted; it were better that he should die, than that he should live and perchance stir up another conspiracy against me, to be suppressed only at the cost of many more lives. A chief is not like ordinary men; he wields power, influence, authority; as he thinks, so do his followers; and if he were to call his people to arms against even me, they would obey him, and the country would thus be involved in a civil war, resulting in much slaughter. For the sake of my people I must prevent this; and the only way to do this is to remove the disaffected. Is not this the truth, O Healer?"

"Undoubtedly," answered d.i.c.k. "It is better that a few should die than many; and those who foment rebellion, stir up strife, and incite to acts of violence and murder are even more guilty than the misguided individuals who listen to them and act upon their suggestions."

The king nodded his agreement with this expression of opinion.

"Therefore," said he, "in order to prevent the stirring up of strife and the incitement to bloodshed, Sekosini, Mapela, Amakosa, and N'Ampata must die. But as to the others I am not so sure. They have conspired against me, it is true; they consented to the slaying of seven of my most trusted chiefs and counsellors; and they would have brought anarchy upon the people; therefore must they also be punished. Yet Ingona, Lambati, Moroosi, and Sekukuni have all been my friends; they have aided me with valuable counsel when I have been confronted with problems of great difficulty and danger; and never until now have they shown the least sign of disloyalty. They are valuable servants whom it would be most difficult if not altogether impossible to replace; and, above all, I feel almost certain that in their hearts they are not disloyal, but that, as Ingona said, they have been bewitched and led astray by the craft of Sekosini. I think that, the head Witch Doctor and his evil influence removed, they would henceforward be, as they were aforetime, true, loyal subjects; and I would not destroy them if they may otherwise be safely dealt with. What does your wisdom advise in their case, O Healer?"

It was a very difficult and delicate question upon which to advise, and d.i.c.k never, perhaps, felt more heavily handicapped by his youth and inexperience than he did at that moment; yet it was evident that this savage king, himself at a loss how to deal with the problem, was practically leaving the decision as to the fate of those four men in his hands, and that, whatever his advice might be, it would be followed.

For several minutes he anxiously pondered upon the situation, and then light and inspiration suddenly came to him. Why should he not again employ his marvellous hypnotic powers to solve the problem? He had already done so with perfect success in the case of Sekosini; why not in that of these others? He could place them under his influence and then compel them to disclose the innermost secrets of their hearts, thus determining beyond a doubt exactly how deep their feeling of disloyalty went and whether it went too deep to be capable of being uprooted and replaced by one of absolute fidelity in the future. This point determined, he would be able to advise with absolute confidence, or, better still, enable the king to decide for himself. Yes, that was undoubtedly the best thing to be done, and he turned to Lobelalatutu with a sigh of relief.

"Listen, O Great One!" he said. "You ask for my advice, and now I am ready to give it. Let the four chiefs, Ingona, Lambati, Moroosi, and Sekukuni, be brought hither in charge of the guards which you have placed over them; then will I lay my magic upon them so that they shall speak only the plain, simple truth, even as Sekosini spoke it just now to his own condemnation; and thus shall ye be able to judge exactly how far each man may be trusted in the future. Is my advice good and acceptable?"

"It is very good, and we will act upon it forthwith," answered Lobelalatutu; and, clapping his hands to summon a messenger, he gave instructions that the four chiefs should be at once brought into his presence. A few minutes later they stood before him, each in charge of two fully armed guards; and d.i.c.k, after allowing them to stand for a full minute in the oppressive silence that prevailed, in order that their minds might be suitably attuned to the ordeal which they were to undergo, suddenly rose to his feet, and, walking up to each man, gazed steadfastly at him in the peculiar manner which he had already found so marvellously effective, and at once brought him under hypnotic control.

Then, retiring to the seat which he had just quitted, he powerfully willed that each man should reply with absolute truth and candour to all questions asked him, concealing nothing, and laying bare the inmost secrets of his heart. As he thus concentrated his will upon theirs he watched each man narrowly, and presently, seeing that they were all absolutely under his control, he raised his hand, and said, in a low, impressive voice:

"Listen, O Ingona, Lambati, Moroosi, and Sekukuni! Lobelatatutu, the king, the Great One, is about to question you further concerning the conspiracy in which ye have been engaged with Sekosini, and it is my will that ye shall answer his every question truthfully and without reservation or concealment of any kind. Ye hear?"

"We hear, O Healer, and we will obey," answered the four, as with one voice.

"It is well," said d.i.c.k. "Now, O Great One! proceed with your questions, and be a.s.sured that ye shall learn the whole truth."

"Listen, O Ingona," said the king. "A while ago ye attempted to explain to me why ye had joined this conspiracy fomented by Sekosini. Is there aught more that ye would say in extenuation of your crime?"

"Nothing, O Great One," answered Ingona sadly. "Our crime is too rank to admit of extenuation. It is true that there are those among us who think that even peace may be bought at too high a price, if that price includes the forgetting by our warriors of the art of war, and the impossibility of training our young men to fight. Never since the death of M'Bongwele have we been allowed to wash our spears in the blood of our enemies; and, in the opinion of many, those enemies are consequently growing overbold and insolent. But who are we that we should presume to judge the king's actions, or to say to him: 'Ye shall do this,' or 'Ye shall not do that'? To do so is a crime; and the king who tamely suffers it is too weak to govern so powerful a nation as the Makolo.

Yet I committed that crime; and now, when it is too late, when that has been done which may never be undone, my greatest shame and grief are that I was ever weak enough to open my ears to the beguilings of that serpent Sekosini, that I ever permitted him to turn my eyes from the straight path and hide from them, until too late, the dreadful consequences that must have ensued had Sekosini's plot succeeded."

"Tis pity that ye saw not all this in time, Ingona," said the king reproachfully. "Tell me, now--If this conspiracy had ripened to fruition, would you, O Ingona, have taken the field and led your warriors against me?"

"Nay," answered Ingona, "that would I not. The time was when, blinded and misled by Sekosini's plausible arguments and misrepresentations, I might have done so. But that time is past; even before the arrival of the Healer I had begun dimly to foresee the evil that must come to the nation through the plot; and it was in my mind to take steps for its frustration, but he forestalled me."

"And you, Lambati?" demanded the king.

"Nay, O Great One," answered the chief. "That I conspired against you, and joined your enemies, is true; but I know now that my madness was but momentary, and that, had the time come, I should have arrayed myself on your side, and against your enemies."

"And you, Moroosi?" questioned the king.

"As I answered you a while ago, O Great One, as it was with Ingona, so was it and is it with me. I have no gift of fluent speech, but I pray you to recall what he said, and to believe that I agree with every word, and would fain say them all again."

"And you, Sekukuni?" reiterated Lobelalatutu.

"I spoke falsely, O King, when I said that I was the victim of Sekosini's wiles," answered Sekukuni. "I think as he thinks, and answered as I did only in the hope that my punishment might be mitigated. But I tell you, Lobelalatutu, that if yonder white man had not interfered and saved you by his magic, I would have fought against you, even to the last man; for I was to have been king in your stead; and I know that under my rule the Makolo nation would have recovered all its lost greatness."

The king for a moment looked astounded at this bold and defiant speech, for he had hitherto regarded Sekukuni as one of his most trustworthy chiefs; but he quickly recovered from his astonishment, and signed the guards to lead away their prisoners.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE PLACE OF RED STONES.

The day was well advanced when at length d.i.c.k Maitland, weary and hungry, returned to his tent, where he found Grosvenor indulging in a bath and a change of clothing after a preliminary exploration of the ruins. "You seemed to be engaged busily upon affairs of state, and not likely to need me, so I trotted off to take a general look round," he explained.

"Well," demanded d.i.c.k, "and what do you think of them?"

"Awfully interesting!" answered Grosvenor. "Wonderful people they must have been who were responsible for the building of the city. People of refinement, don't you know; fond of luxury, intensely artistic, and all that sort of thing. Some of the carvings--floreated capitals and, and what-d'ye-call-ems of that sort--are really splendid. And everything's on such a grand scale, too; must have been immensely wealthy--those old johnnies. I'm only sorry now that I'm not an archaeologist; for if I were I might write a book about the place and become famous. But no, that wouldn't do either, for Professor von Schalckenberg has already done that, so my book would only be a drug on the market. But I've taken some rattlin' good photographs of the place, and I ought to be able to do something with them later on--eh, what?"

"Yes," said d.i.c.k, "I dare say you will--if they come out right. Have you developed them yet?"

"No, not yet," answered Grosvenor. "Waiting until it gets dark before I attempt anything of that sort. But I know that they'll come out all right. Good light, correct exposure, isochromatic screen and films; bound to come out right, y'know. Found the place where the Professor and his pals had been digging. Must have done a lot of work, those johnnies; no end of soil turned over where they dug for pavements and-- and--things. And, pray, what have you been about all day, old chap?"

d.i.c.k told him, pretty well _in extenso_, how he had pa.s.sed the day, even going so far as to describe his hypnotic experiments--of which he had said nothing to Grosvenor thus far--with the result that the Mighty Hunter was rendered almost speechless with astonishment.

"Hypnotised 'em, eh?" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Well, I'll be shot! Thought hypnotism was all humbug and tommy rot, y'know. Collusion, and that sort of thing."

"Yes," agreed d.i.c.k, "there is no doubt that much of it is. But, nevertheless, hypnotism is a perfectly genuine science, and a tremendously powerful agent for good, if properly used. There is the well-known inst.i.tution at Nancy, for instance, where several almost miraculous cures have been effected solely by the employment of hypnotism. Oh yes, hypnotism is genuine enough, make no mistake about that; and the hypnotic pract.i.tioner can do many wonderful things by its employment. For instance, do you suppose that old villain, Sekosini, would have revealed all the details of his precious plot to-day had I not hypnotised him?"

"No, I don't suppose he would," acknowledged Grosvenor. "But--er--I say, old chap, I'm just wondering whether it was quite playing the game--doin' the square thing by the wizard and the other johnnies to make them give themselves away under the influence of hypnotism--eh, what?"

"Ah, now," said d.i.c.k, "you raise a question of an exceedingly controversial character. I admit, of course, that at the first blush, and regarding the matter superficially--if I may say so--it certainly would seem that I had taken an unfair advantage of those fellows by compelling them to speak the truth, and so 'give themselves away', as you expressively put it. Yet why, I ask you, should they not be made to do so? Are evildoers to be permitted to shelter themselves from the consequences of their misdeeds behind a protective screen of lies? Is right to be handicapped in its battle with wrong by what, after all, seems to me an overstrained if not altogether false sense of justice?

There can be little doubt that skilful criminals have escaped the just punishment of their crimes simply because they have refused to incriminate themselves. This, of course, is all right from the criminars point of view; but is it right from the point of view of the community, who look to the law to protect them from him? My own view-- which I give for whatever it may be worth--is that the criminal has no right to be protected from himself. It is the interests of the community and not of the criminal that have to be considered. If by speaking the truth he furthers the ends of justice he ought to be allowed to do so, ay, or even compelled, where compulsion is possible, as in the case of these conspirators. Here we have certain men who, for their own selfish ends, deliberately planned to plunge this Makolo nation into all the horrors of civil war, and deluge it with the blood of its own people; also, in pursuance of their plans they foully and treacherously took the lives of six of the most important chiefs and endangered that of a seventh. Were they 'playing the game', or, in other words, were they acting openly and above-board? On the contrary, their acts were wrapped in secrecy, and were characterised by the vilest treachery; and they would have been successful but for my intervention.

For it is certain that the facts could never have been brought to light, had I not compelled Sekosini to speak the truth. That being the case, how could their nefarious scheme have been defeated by our side playing the game, if by 'playing the game' you mean that we were not to compel, or even permit them to incriminate themselves? To me it seems to resolve itself into this--that if one side insists on playing the game while the other side refuses to do so, the first must always suffer defeat while the other triumphs; and where the side which insists on playing the game represents right and justice, law and order, and the other side represents evil and criminality, the result must be the triumph of the lawless over the lawabiding, which, as Euclid observes, is absurd. Q.E.D."

"Yes," agreed Grosvenor, "I suppose you are right, d.i.c.k. Put as you put it, it certainly does seem an absurd and fantastic distortion of our sense of fairness that in the ceaseless struggle between good and evil the latter should be helped and the former handicapped as much as possible; and at all events in the present case I think you have successfully demonstrated your right to act as you did. Now, having settled that point, I propose that we have dinner, which seems to be ready, if one may judge by the looks and actions of Ramoo Samee."

The sun had barely risen on the following morning when d.i.c.k and Grosvenor received an invitation from the king to present themselves forthwith in the Great Place, where the conspirators were to be brought up for judgment to be p.r.o.nounced upon them; and as such an invitation was tantamount to a command they hastily finished the breakfast upon which they were engaged when the message reached them, ordered their horses, and rode away toward the appointed spot.

Upon their arrival they found the chiefs who had been summoned, like themselves, to hear sentence p.r.o.nounced, already a.s.sembling, while the king's bodyguard, motionless as statues, were ranged in a semicircle round the throne that had been placed in position for the accommodation of the king. A stool stood on either side of the throne, and upon their arrival d.i.c.k and Grosvenor were at once conducted to these. Almost immediately afterward the king made his appearance, and approaching the throne seated himself thereon, while those present accorded him the royal salute, d.i.c.k and Grosvenor standing and saluting in military fashion. Then, at a sign from His Majesty, all who were ent.i.tled to sit did so, and the order was given to lead forward the prisoners.

Conducted by their guards, the eight prisoners, their faces set and expressionless as masks, ranged themselves in line before the king; then, for a full minute, there ensued a profound and impressive silence, which was at length broken by Lobelalatutu, who commanded, in a calm, stern voice:

"Sekosini, chief Witch Doctor, and you Mapela, Amakosa, N'Ampata, and Sekukuni, chiefs of the Makolo, stand forward and listen to your doom.

Out of your own mouths have ye been convicted of conspiracy against me and the peace of the nation. You, Sekosini, Mapela, N'Ampata, and Amakosa, yesterday boldly and defiantly acknowledged your guilt, and had nothing to plead in extenuation of it; but you, Sekukuni, in addition to being a conspirator, have proved yourself liar [and] coward; for at your public trial, in the presence of those now a.s.sembled, you declared yourself to be, like Ingona, Lambati, and Moroosi, the victim of Sekosini's wiles and serpent tongue; whereas afterward, when you were brought before me privately, and compelled by the Healer's magic to speak the truth, you acknowledged that your former statement was false, made only in the hope of mitigation of your punishment, and that in your foul, guilty heart you thought as Sekosini, and would have fought against me to your last man in the attempt to overthrow and destroy me.

To satisfy your unlawful ambition and greed of gain, you five men, all holding positions of high authority and trust, would have set callously tribe against tribe, regiment against regiment, and man against man, until the people had fallen and strewed the ground like leaves of autumn and the land was drenched in their blood. It is enough; you are a menace and danger to the nation, and you must die. In the old days of the reign of M'Bongwele--those days which you were so anxious to restore--your dying would have been a lingering, long-drawn-out, excruciating torment; but under the teaching of those who put me on this throne I have learned to be merciful, and my sentence is that you be led forth and hanged by the neck from the bough of the tree that ended M'Bongwele's cruel and iniquitous life, and there left as an example and a warning to all who think such evil thoughts as yours. Bind them and take them away."

In an instant the guards who had charge of the doomed men seized them, and proceeded to bind their hands behind them with thongs of hide, prior to leading them away to the place of execution. With one exception they submitted silently and without protest; Sekosini, however, the Witch Doctor, seemed determined not to go without firing a Parthian shot, for, fixing his eyes on d.i.c.k, he shouted in a high, piercing voice:

"Listen, O _'mlungu_! It is through you and your accursed magic that I go forth this day to die the death of shame and ignominy; for, but for you, we should have kept our secret, our plans would have succeeded, and ours would have been the triumph. But though your magic triumphs now, it shall not always be so. I too have a potent magic, by means of which mine eyes can pierce the veil of the future and see many things that are to be. I see you and the other _'mlungu_ going hence through many dangers to a far country, where other dangers await you; and, mark you this, though both go, only one of you shall return! It is enough; I have said, and I am ready."

So heavily charged with bitter hate and malignity were the tones of the witch doctors voice and the expression of his burning eyes that, despite his sober common sense, d.i.c.k could scarcely repress a shudder at the veiled threat conveyed by the man's parting words; but his attention was quickly diverted by the voice of the king commanding Ingona, Lambati, and Moroosi to listen to him while he announced his decision concerning them.

"Attend to my words, O chiefs of the Makolo nation!" said Lobelalatutu, raising his voice so that all present might distinctly hear. "Ye were present yesterday when I summoned the eight conspirators before me to defend themselves; and ye heard Ingona, Lambati, Moroosi, and Sekukuni declare that there was no treason in their hearts, but that they had been bewitched and led astray by Sekosini. I was inclined to believe them, as doubtless ye all were, and it grieved me that I should be obliged to condemn to death those who had served me well in the past, and might perchance, if they spoke the truth, serve me well again in the future. Yet how was I to know that their words were in very deed the truth? I was perplexed and troubled, and in my perplexity I sought counsel from my friend the Healer. And the counsel that he gave me was good. He said: 'Behold now, O Great One, thou shalt summon those men again before thee, and by the power of my magic I will cause them to speak the very truth to thee; thou shalt read the inmost secrets of their hearts, and thus shalt thou gauge the exact measure of their guilt in this matter.' And as the Healer spoke, so was it; the three who stand before us had indeed been beguiled and led astray for a time from their fidelity by the wiles of Sekosini, but there was no treachery in their hearts; and they confessed that, had the conspiracy ripened, they would have arrayed themselves on my side, while Sekukuni confessed that he was indeed guilty of all that he had been charged with. Therefore, although they have sinned in conspiring against me, and must consequently be punished, yet their punishment shall not be death. My sentence upon you, O Ingona, Lambati, and Moroosi! is that ye be banished hence to the farthest confines of my kingdom, and be stationed at those points where the neighbouring nations are most aggressive.

There ye shall be placed in command of the troops who guard the land; there ye shall find ample outlet for your warlike propensities; and there, if ye will, ye may atone for your fault by rendering me as good service in the future as ye have rendered in the past. I have said!"

As the last words pa.s.sed the king's lips a shout of irrepressible triumph and rejoicing went up from those present; for the three chiefs most intimately concerned had many friends, and were regarded by all with esteem and respect almost amounting to veneration. There is little doubt, therefore, that the king's clemency in punishing their crime by banishment to points where their duties would not only be arduous, but also honourable, did much to strengthen his position and increase his popularity.

For several days following the conspiracy trial nothing of moment happened; the excitement which had been aroused by the somewhat sensational discovery of the plot and its sequel gradually subsided, until at length everybody was once more going about his business as calmly and quietly as though nothing abnormal had ever happened.

Meanwhile d.i.c.k and Grosvenor diligently applied themselves to a systematic exploration of the ruins and the taking of many photographs; they were both highly skilled amateur photographers, and were also endowed with a considerable amount of artistic taste. Moreover, Grosvenor had devoted a considerable amount of time to the perfecting of himself in the science of photography in natural colours, and had provided himself with all the requisite apparatus needed. Consequently, by the time that they had completed their labours, they found themselves possessors not only of a large number of negatives of the highest value from the archaeologist's point of view, but also of several exquisitely beautiful pictures in natural colours of the ruins as seen under various atmospheric effects, such as early morning, sunrise, and sunset, the latter being exceptionally fine because of the gorgeous hues of the sunsets which were characteristic of the place.