The Adventures of Dick Maitland Part 16

"Of course not," answered d.i.c.k seriously. "But you may say, if you like, that I shall be very pleased to see Her Majesty and do what I can for her. And pray try to be serious, Phil, for once in a way; frivolity is well enough at a proper time, and in its proper place, but it will not improve these people's opinion of us if they see us laughing and obviously joking over a matter that seems to be a serious enough one for them, and may be sufficiently serious for us, too, in the long run."

"Yes--yes--of course," a.s.sented Grosvenor, completely sobered by his friend's grave words; "I quite see what you mean, old chap, and I promise you there shall be no further ill-timed attempts at jocularity on my part. The poor old chappies look a bit put out as it is; but I'll soon make it all right with them."

Therewith he proceeded to explain to the Elders that, while his friend could not promise anything definite without first seeing the Queen, he was willing to have an interview with her at once, or at Her Majesty's earliest convenience, and would do everything in his power to restore her to perfect health.

This announcement at once banished the glum looks which Grosvenor's ill- timed levity of demeanour had called up, and restored matters to the favourable condition that had been momentarily endangered. A brief consultation was held, and at its conclusion Malachi, the chief Elder, hurried away to seek an audience of the Queen with the object of endeavouring to secure her consent to an interview with the wonderful doctor from afar. Meanwhile the two Englishmen were conducted up a magnificently wide marble staircase to the building that formed the second story, as it were, of the immense edifice in which they had been brought to trial, and which they now learned was the Government building in which the business of the nation generally was transacted, and the chief officials of the Government had lodging, the topmost story of all being a temple to which the Elders were wont to resort in times of especial national stress and danger, and where they were supposed to seek--and obtain--inspiration and guidance enabling them to successfully grapple with the crisis.

The second story of this curious building, which was part legislative palace and part temple, was the portion especially devoted to the lodgment of the Government officials, and it was a gratifying indication to the two friends of their future status in their new country that they were now a.s.signed apartments in this portion of the building. These apartments consisted of two large and exceedingly lofty rooms, one to serve as a sleeping chamber, and the other as a sitting- and working- room combined. Each room was lighted by an exceptionally large window that opened like a door and gave access to the projecting roof of the story below, which was some sixty feet wider, each way, than the story immediately above it. This roof was flat, and was beautifully laid out as a flower garden, with winding walks through a level lawn thickly studded with beds of beautiful, sweet-scented flowers. The garden was protected all round by a breast-high parapet, and commanded a magnificent view, not only of the entire island, but also of the lake and the encircling hills. The Elder who installed the newcomers in this sumptuous suite of apartments having enquired whether their lodging was to their liking, and received a reply in the affirmative, informed them that, that being the case, the belongings which they had brought with them to the island would at once be placed in their new lodging. Then, having asked whether he could do anything more for their immediate comfort, and being answered in the negative, he indicated an immense copper gong on the landing outside their door, informed them that a single stroke upon it would at once bring the attendant who had been appointed to wait upon them, and so bowed himself out.

Meanwhile, Malachi, the chief Elder, was having a rather difficult time with the self-willed young Queen. First of all she positively refused to grant him an audience at all; and when at length he succeeded in obtaining admission to her apartments by his persistent representations that the matter upon which he desired to see her was of the most vital importance, she at once angrily ordered him out again as soon as she understood that he had found a new physician whom he desired her to see.

But if the Queen was self-willed, Malachi was the very incarnation of pertinacity; he protested, wheedled, entreated, and was indignant by turns, but all to no purpose until he happened to mention that the physician in question was a stranger from a far country beyond the Great Water; when, first commanding him to repeat his statement all over again, she suddenly developed a sweet reasonableness, that caused the astonished Malachi to doubt the evidence of his senses, by announcing that she would see the stranger, who was to be brought into her presence forthwith.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

d.i.c.k AND PHIL PROSPER.

Determined to afford Her Majesty neither time nor opportunity to repent of her sudden decision, Malachi hastened out of the palace as speedily as his poor old limbs would carry him, and, making the best of his way back to the enormous building in which the strangers were lodged, presented himself in their apartment, which he found them in the act of returning to by way of the window after a stroll round the roof garden outside. Almost incoherent from want of breath and his eagerness to impress upon the pair the necessity to seize the present favourable opportunity, the Elder hastily explained that his mission to the Queen had been successful, and entreated d.i.c.k and Grosvenor to accompany him to the palace forthwith; with which request they were of course perfectly ready to comply. The palace was but a bare hundred yards from the larger building, both in fact being built on the same plot of ground, and a few minutes sufficed the trio to pa.s.s from the one building to the other, to traverse the n.o.ble entrance hall of the palace, and to make their way to the Queen's private suite of apartments, outside the door of which two soldiers armed with spear and target stood on guard. The next moment they were in the presence of the Queen, who, surrounded by some half a dozen ladies, reclined listlessly upon a couch of solid gold gorgeously upholstered in richly embroidered silk.

As the trio entered and bowed low before her, the young Queen glanced listlessly at her visitors for a moment, and then a look of interest crept into her eyes, such as Malachi had not seen there for months, causing his heart to leap within him as he wondered whether this young doctor had indeed the power to perform a miracle and effect the cure of the lovely young creature upon whom the hopes of the whole nation depended.

For lovely the Queen most certainly was, indeed it is the only word which adequately expresses the perfection of her charms. The Izreelite women were, as the young Englishmen had already had opportunity to observe, mostly of more than prepossessing appearance, tall, stately, statuesque creatures of Juno-like proportions, with melting dark eyes, and luxuriant tresses of dark, curly hair. But Queen Myra's beauty was of a totally different type, for she was _pet.i.te_ yet exquisitely formed, fair as the dawn of a summer's day, with golden-brown locks, and eyes as blue as the sapphire sky overhead. So lovely indeed was she that Grosvenor, surprised out of his manners, whistled softly, and remarked to d.i.c.k, in quite audible tones:

"Phew! d.i.c.k, my boy, did you ever see such a beauty in all your born days? No wonder that these old jossers the Elders are anxious to keep the darling alive--eh, what?"

As he spoke the faintest suspicion of a smile seemed to flicker for a moment in the eyes of the Queen, but d.i.c.k, who noticed it, thought it must have been provoked by Malachi's genuflexions as he performed the ceremony of introduction, pointing to d.i.c.k first as the physician, and then to Grosvenor as the friend who had journeyed with him across the Great Water, and who, happening in some mysterious way--which he, Malachi, did not pretend to understand--to possess some slight knowledge of the Izreelite tongue, would act as interpreter between Her Majesty and the physician.

By the time that Malachi had finished his speech the terrible listlessness and indifference of the Queen's manner, which had for so many months been a source of anxiety to the nation in general and the Elders and n.o.bles in particular, had completely vanished, and she electrified the chief Elder by raising herself upon her couch and bidding him imperiously to be gone and to leave her alone with her ladies and the two strangers. The poor old gentleman, his head dizzy with many conflicting emotions, hastily bowed himself out, and was halfway back to his own quarters in the Legislature before he well knew whether he was on his head or his heels.

The door had no sooner closed upon Malachi than an extraordinary change took place in the appearance and demeanour of the Queen; the languor of her att.i.tude and the absolute listlessness and indifference with which she had regarded her chief Elder vanished as if by magic. Her eyes lit up eagerly, a wave of colour suffused her hitherto marble-white cheeks and brow, and, turning to her two visitors, she astounded them by exclaiming in excellent English, with only a trace of accent, as she stretched out her hands toward them:

"Gentlemen--gentlemen, are you indeed English, or has my poor brain at last given way under the strain of my terrible trouble?"

For a moment the friends were literally smitten speechless by astonishment; then Grosvenor, who was the first to recover full possession of his faculties, sprang forward and, sinking upon one knee, raised one of the little outstretched hands respectfully to his lips.

"Madam," he said, absent-mindedly retaining the Queen's hand in his own as he still knelt before her, "we are indeed Englishmen, and entirely at your service. There are but two of us, as you see; but you have only to command us, and whatever two Englishmen in the midst of thousands of enemies can do, that will we do for you. Isn't that so, d.i.c.k?"

"It is, indeed," answered d.i.c.k, smiling at the pa.s.sionate fervour of his friend's speech. "Your Majesty has but to explain to us the nature of your trouble, and it shall go hard indeed with us if we do not devise some means to help you, especially as, unless I am entirely mistaken, you are a countrywoman of our own. Get up, Phil, and let Her Majesty tell us her story. And mind your 'P's' and 'Q's', old man," he added in a low tone; "don't let your sympathy and enthusiasm run away with you, or you will be apt to excite possibly awkward comment on the part of Her Majesty's ladies. You have made some of them open their eyes pretty wide already, I can a.s.sure you."

With a muttered e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n Grosvenor hastily scrambled to his feet, while the Queen, beckoning to two of her ladies, directed them to place a couple of settees for her visitors close to her couch. Upon these the two Englishmen seated themselves, in obedience to a sign from Her Majesty, who thereupon addressed them:

"I fear," said she, "that I shall find it quite impossible to make you understand how astonished and how glad I am to see you both. I am astonished, because it is a law of this land that no aliens are ever permitted to enter it--and live; and I am glad because you, like myself, are English, and my dear mother taught me to believe that Englishmen are always ready to help their countrywomen in distress under all circ.u.mstances. And I am in distress, the greatest distress that I suppose it is possible for a woman to be in. But let me tell you my story--it will not take long--and then perhaps you will understand.

"I am twenty-three years of age, and of English parentage. My father was an officer in the Indian army, and for nearly four years my mother resided with him at a little frontier post called Bipur. Then trouble arose; the hill tribes in the neighbourhood of Bipur committed certain excesses, and an expedition was dispatched under my father's command.

Fighting ensued, and my father was killed in one of the earliest engagements that took place. There was now nothing to keep my mother in India, therefore, as the climate did not suit her, she made immediate arrangements to return to England, taking pa.s.sage in a sailing ship that was proceeding home by way of the Cape, a long sea voyage having been prescribed for the benefit of her health.

"I do not know how it happened, nor did my mother, but the ship was wrecked on the African coast, and many lives were lost. My mother, however, happened to be one of the saved; and she, with the rest of the survivors, fell into the hands of certain natives who surprised their camp on the beach in the dead of night. The men of the party were all slain; and what became of the few women who survived I do not know, for my mother never told me; but she was brought by her captors to this country and presented to King Geshuri, who made her his queen. Two months later I was born; and my mother never had any other children.

"Five years ago King Geshuri died; and my mother became the reigning monarch of the country, in accordance with the Izreelite law. But she was never strong; and three years ago she, too, died, leaving me absolutely alone to govern this fierce, headstrong people as best I could."

Here the Queen's emotion overcame her for a moment, and she hid her face in her hands, while the tears welled over and trickled through her fingers. Her distress moved the young Englishmen powerfully, and they began to murmur expressions of sympathy and a.s.surances of help. But, quickly recovering her composure, the Queen resumed her narrative.

"That, however, is not what is troubling me, for my mother, realising that I must one day become a queen, devoted herself entirely to educating me in such a manner as to prepare me, as well as she could, for the discharge of my difficult duties. Unfortunately, we had no books, so my mother was compelled to rely entirely upon her own knowledge and experience in the matter of my education and training; but she not only taught me the English language, but also how to read and write it, spending many hours in printing with her own hand long pa.s.sages containing maxims for my guidance, simply that I might have the means of learning to read English books, should ever any such fall into my hands.

"And now I come to the matter that is troubling me. The Elders tell me that the time has arrived when I must take to myself a husband; and they have suggested--oh, I cannot tell you how many men!--Izreelite n.o.bles, of course--from whom I may make my choice. But I do not like any of them; there is not one among them all whom I do not thoroughly detest, for they are all fierce, arrogant, overbearing men who do not even pretend that they have any desire to make me happy. All they want is to be king, so that they may enjoy the absolute power and authority of a monarch; for, if I marry, my husband will at once become the ruler of the country, according to the Izreelite law, and I shall merely be his wife. Fortunately, I cannot be compelled to marry, and I won't--I won't," with a pa.s.sionate little stamp of the foot, "until I meet with a man whom I can--can--love. But I know I shall have no peace until I consent to marry somebody; the Elders are wild with anxiety that I should choose a husband; they worry me every day, ay, and almost every hour of the day, about it, until I am driven very nearly out of my senses by the thought that, sooner or later, I shall be constrained to become the wife of some man whom I detest. That is my trouble, gentlemen; I wonder if you are clever enough to devise a means of helping me."

"Yes, Your Majesty, we are," answered d.i.c.k confidently. "I don't say that we already have a plan; for that would be a.s.serting far too much.

But you have told us the nature of your trouble, which of course is the first thing that it is necessary for us to know; and now we will lose no time in thinking out a remedy. Trust to us, madam; we will not fail you. We have practically pledged ourselves to spend the remainder of our lives in your country--your Elders compelled us to do that--and the removal of your trouble and the securing of your happiness shall have precedence of every other consideration with us."

The Queen's grat.i.tude was so great that she seemed scarcely able to find words in which to express herself adequately; it was almost painful to witness, so eloquently did it testify to the desperation with which she had been compelled to combat the suggestions of unwelcome alliances with which she had been perpetually hara.s.sed; but she contrived to make it quite clear that the arrival of the two Englishmen filled her with renewed hope and a revived zest in life. "I know," she said, "that it must sound unkind of me to say so, but I cannot help being glad that you are here; for now at last I feel that I have two friends who will stand by me and help me to the utmost of their ability. Besides," she added delightedly, as the thought came to her, "you will be companions for me.

I have been utterly lonely and friendless since my mother died; but you will come to see me often--every day--won't you? And we can walk and talk together, and I can again be happy."

"Of course," answered Grosvenor eagerly. "You may absolutely depend upon us both to do anything and everything that you may ask of us. I believe we are each to be a.s.signed certain duties, which I suppose we shall be expected to perform; but our first duty is to you, our first care must be for your happiness, and, so far as we can prevent it, you shall never again be worried by those old jossers the Elders, or anybody else. We have a few books among our baggage, and as soon as it is delivered to us I will turn them out and bring them over to you; and as to coming to see you, why of course we shall be delighted to do so; we will come over every evening after our day's work is over. Eh, d.i.c.k?"

"Certainly," answered d.i.c.k; "or at least as often as it may be prudent to do so. And now, madam," he continued, addressing the Queen, "I think it will be well that we should retire, for above all things else we must carefully avoid anything and everything that may excite suspicion or jealousy, and I imagine that both might easily be aroused by a too- sudden appearance of friendship between ourselves and Your Majesty.

Besides, Malachi the Elder will be anxiously awaiting our report. But, as my friend has said, you may absolutely rely upon our loyal friendship and our best help at all times and seasons. Possibly we may be able to arrange another call before the day is over; meanwhile I crave Your Majesty's permission for us to retire."

As d.i.c.k antic.i.p.ated, they found the chief Elder anxiously awaiting their return, eager to learn the young doctor's opinion relative to the mental and physical condition of the Queen; and d.i.c.k, with Phil for his interpreter, was not slow to give it. Of course, to his practised eye it had at once been evident that Queen Myra was simply being worried and badgered and terrified out of her senses by these old men who, with that idiotic prophecy dominating their minds, desired one thing and one only, namely to see the Queen married as speedily as possible to somebody; but to whom it seemed that they cared very little. d.i.c.k intended to put a stop to that at once; he therefore directed Grosvenor to inform the Elder, Malachi, that the Queen was in a most critical condition, but that he could cure her, provided that his instructions were all implicitly obeyed, but not otherwise. This last statement set the poor old Elder absolutely quivering with apprehension; but d.i.c.k was not worrying overmuch about him or anybody else save the Queen, and he contrived to frighten the unhappy Elder so thoroughly that at length he unreservedly promised, both for himself and everybody else, that the word "marriage" should never again be spoken in Her Majesty's presence until d.i.c.k gave permission; and he also agreed that d.i.c.k should have an absolutely free hand with regard to the Queen's treatment, the visitors she should receive, the exercise she should take, and so on; thus providing for d.i.c.k's and Grosvenor's free admission to the palace and the Queen's presence as often as they chose.

This important matter settled, the friends retired to their own quarters to talk matters over. They found that all their various belongings had been brought from the cell in which they had pa.s.sed the previous night, and were now carefully arranged in their own private apartment.

Grosvenor at once went to his trunk, opened it, bundled its contents upon the floor, and feverishly proceeded to sort out the half-dozen books--novels, and two volumes of poems--which it contained, exhorting d.i.c.k to do the same, in order that "that poor girl" might be provided with a new form of amus.e.m.e.nt with the least possible delay. It was easy for d.i.c.k to perceive, from his companion's talk, that the latter had been profoundly impressed by the charms and the lonely state of the young Queen; and Maitland quietly chuckled, as he reflected that Grosvenor would never have seen her had he not fled to South Africa for distraction from the smart of a heart severely lacerated by some fickle fair one, who, by the way, seemed now to be completely forgotten. But he shook his head with sudden gravity, as his thoughts travelled on into the future and he foresaw the possibility of a mutual attachment springing up between Phil and the Queen. That would be a complication with a vengeance, and he determined quietly to do everything in his power to prevent it.

The ensuing six months pa.s.sed with the rapidity of a dream; for no sooner had the two Englishmen arranged matters relating to the Queen upon a satisfactory basis than they discovered that there was another cause for anxiety of the gravest character in the behaviour of the savage nations that hemmed in Izreel on every side. Hitherto these had been too busily engaged in fighting each other to do more than make desultory war upon the Izreelites; but now news of an apparently reliable character came to Bethalia, the island city, to the effect that a certain king, named Mokatto--a very shrewd fellow by all accounts--had entered into friendly communication with the rulers of the other nations whose countries bordered on Izreel, and had pointed out the folly of fighting each other for no particular reason, when, by uniting their forces, they could attack the Izreelites, overwhelm them, and divide their country equally among the victors. This counsel, there was every reason to believe, had been accepted; for reports were almost daily coming to hand of preparations which pointed to nothing less than an impending attack upon Izreel by the confederated kingdoms.

This was precisely what the Izreelites had always feared more than any other earthly thing; and when authentic intelligence began to arrive, pointing to the conclusion that the long-feared attack was about to be made, the Izreelites grew almost crazy with panic, some of them contending that their G.o.ds were angry at the admission of two aliens into the country, and that the only way by which their anger could be appeased was by offering the strangers as a sacrifice upon the great altar of the temple which formed the top story of the Legislative building. This theory took a very strong hold upon certain of the most influential of the n.o.bles, who quickly developed extreme jealousy of the two strangers, whom they vaguely suspected of being in some unexplained way inimical to them and their interests; and for a time d.i.c.k and Grosvenor undoubtedly went in danger of their lives.

At length, however, this peril became so imminent that the pair agreed to take the bull by the horns and deal with it forthwith. They accordingly convened a meeting of the Seven Elders and all the n.o.bility, at which d.i.c.k delivered an address, graphically describing the danger in which the nation stood, and boldly a.s.serting that only he and Grosvenor could possibly avert it.

This, of course, was rather a staggering statement, and one which the Izreelites were not at all disposed to accept unquestioningly, or without proof. But d.i.c.k was equal to the occasion. He and Grosvenor had discussed the matter together, had decided upon their plan of campaign, and the Opposition were silenced by his first question.

"What do you suppose would happen to your Queen," he demanded, "if you were unwise enough to put us to death? I will tell you. She is now on the highroad to recovery; but, deprived of our ministrations, she would suffer an immediate relapse, and die! Do you need to be reminded of what would follow upon that? If there is any truth in your ancient prophecy the very thing that you most dread would immediately happen.

In other words, our destruction would immediately be followed by that of the entire nation.

"But, apart from that, our destruction would be the gravest mistake that you could possibly make; for we, who are natives of the greatest fighting nation that the world has ever known, can teach you much in the art of war, your knowledge of which is of the slightest. Your weapons are poor and inefficient, and you know nothing of strategy and generalship; but we can instruct you in those important matters, and also teach you how to make new and powerful weapons, by means of which you will be able effectually to subjugate the nations which now threaten you. Say, then, will you destroy us, and so involve yourselves in irretrievable ruin? Or shall we teach you how to emerge victoriously from the coming struggle with your enemies?"

There could be but one answer to such a question; the jealousy of the n.o.bles gave way to fear. They no longer clamoured for the death of the Englishmen, but, on the contrary, were as willing as the rest that the strangers should be afforded every opportunity to make good their boast, and from that moment d.i.c.k and Grosvenor became virtually the Dictators of the nation.

Their victory was perhaps the easier from the fact that during the six months of their sojourn they had already accomplished much. The Queen, for example, enlivened and encouraged by the intimate companionship of her two fellow countrymen, had gradually thrown off the incubus of her terror, and was now almost her former self again; while Grosvenor had found congenial occupation in fitting the few craft upon the lake with sails, and designing and building other craft of greatly improved model, including half a dozen cutters of the racing-yacht type, which he conceived would be exceedingly useful should the savages ever again attempt, as they had done on several previous occasions, to attack the island city. As for d.i.c.k, the densely populated city alone provided him with more patients than he could conveniently deal with; and he had effected many remarkable cures.

One of the first things that particularly attracted the attention of the two friends immediately upon their arrival in Izreel was the inadequacy of the weapons--a spear, or sheaf of spears, and a small round shield or target--with which the people were armed; and this they now proceeded to rectify by the general introduction of bows and arrows as an auxiliary to the spear and shield. There was an abundance of suitable wood for bows to be found in a forest on the inner slope of the mountains on the mainland, while reeds suitable for the shafts of arrows grew in inexhaustible quant.i.ties along the margin of the lake; and when once a pattern bow and arrow had been made, and a sufficiency of wood and reeds provided, the furnishing of every man with a good bow and quiverful of arrows was speedily accomplished. There had at first been a difficulty in the matter of arrowheads, but this had been overcome by the discovery of an enormous deposit of flints--in searching for which a rich mine of diamonds had come to light.

The construction of his fleet and the training of their crews having been accomplished, Grosvenor next took the army in hand and proceeded to train it in the use of the bow, succeeding at length, by dint of indefatigable perseverance, in converting the soldiers into an army of really brilliant marksmen.

This achievement brought the time on to nearly nine months from the date of the adventurers' arrival in Izreel, during the first eight months of which information had come in from time to time which left no room to doubt that the savages of the adjoining nations had combined together and were making the most elaborate preparations for a simultaneous attack upon Izreel from all sides. Then the sources of information seemed to suddenly dry up, and no news of any description relative to the movements of the savages could be obtained.

The Izreelites were disposed to regard this as a favourable omen, many even a.s.serting their conviction that the savages had quarrelled among themselves, and that attack from them was no longer to be feared; but d.i.c.k and Grosvenor took quite another view of the matter. They regarded the cessation of news as ominous in the extreme, and dispatched imperative orders to the frontier for the maintenance of the utmost vigilance, night and day. They also organised strong relays of swift runners, radiating from various points along the sh.o.r.e of the lake to those points where attack might first be expected, in order that intelligence of an invasion might be brought to the capital with the utmost prompt.i.tude. The strength of the garrisons in the outlying blockhouses was also doubled, which were put under the command of the most resolute and intelligent captains that could be found, with instructions that each post was to be stubbornly defended until the enemy should threaten to surround it, when it was to be abandoned, and the garrison--or what might remain of it--was to retire inward to the next post, and so on; the various garrisons contesting every inch of ground, cutting up the enemy as severely as possible, and gradually retiring inward toward the lake and Bethalia if they could not maintain their ground. These preparations did not take long to make, since it was merely a matter of marching supplementary troops to the frontier, and the provisioning of the various blockhouses, fortified farms, castles, and strongholds generally; and as the preparations had all been made beforehand, a week sufficed to place the entire nation on the defensive.