The Great White Queen: A Tale of Treasure and Treason

"I am Omar," answered my friend. "Who, pray, art thou, that thou shouldst know of my hiding-place?"

"Thy servant," she said with a graceful bow, "is called Liola, daughter of Goliba, councillor of the great Naya. My father sendeth thee greeting and a message."

"Goliba's daughter!" Omar cried laughing. "And we had drawn knives upon thee!"

"Sheathe them," she answered smiling upon us. "Keep them in your belts until ye meet your enemies, for ere long ye will, of a verity, want them."

"What then hath transpired?" asked the son of the Great White Queen. "What message sendeth our friend Goliba?"

"My father directed me to come hither, for knowing the wife of the Keeper of the Prison I was enabled to pass the sentries where my father would have been remarked," she said. "He sendeth thee word to be of good courage, for all goeth well, and thy cause prospereth. The savages who accompanied thee into our land are all in safety, although the horsemen of the Naya are scouring the country in search of thee and thy companions. In secret, word of thy consent to lead the popular demonstration against oppression and ill-government hath been conveyed to the people even to our land's furthermost limits, and the reports from all sides show that thou art regarded with favour."

"And thou art also one of my partisans—eh?" asked Omar, smiling.

"I am, O Master," she answered blushing deeply. "I will make fetish for the success of thine arms."

"I thank thee, Liola," he answered. "Thou hast indeed brought us good tidings."

"But my father sendeth thee a further message," she continued. "He told me to tell thee that at sundown to-day he will come and conduct thee hence. Rest and sleep until then, for the way may be long and great vigilance may be demanded."

"Whither does he intend to take us?" our companion asked.

"I know not, O Master," she replied. "Already the people have armed, and are assembling. I heard my father, in conversation last night with one of the provincial governors who hath lately joined us, declare that the struggle could not be much longer delayed."

"Then thou meanest that a fight is imminent?" he asked.

"I fear so. Word of thine intention hath been conveyed by some spy unto the Naya, and the city now swarmeth with her soldiers and janissaries, who have orders to suppress the first sign of any insurrection. But in the fight thou shalt assuredly win, for the opinion of the people is in thy favour. May Zomara's jaws close upon thine enemies, and may they be devoured like sacrifices."

"The people are assembling, thou hast said," Omar observed. "Are they in great numbers?"

"It is impossible to tell. The news of thine opposition to the Naya spread like wildfire through the land, and secret agents soon ascertained that the balance of opinion was in thy favour. For eight days past I have been at work secretly in thy cause, and from my own observations in the city I know that among the palace officials we have many adherents, and even here and there the soldiers will turn against their own comrades. In our own house arms and ammunition are stored, and we have been fortunate enough in obtaining from the arsenal through the governor, who is on our side, ten of those wonderful guns of the English that fire bullets like streams of water."

"Maxims, I suppose," I interrupted.

"I know not their name," she replied. "I heard my father say that they are most deadly, and with them we might hold an army at bay."

"Truly thy father hath neglected nothing on my behalf," Omar said with sincerity. "Dost thou return unto him?"

"I go at once."

"Then tell him we are anxious to accompany him, and will be ready at sundown."

"Thy words will I convey to him, O Master. Liola shall make great fetish for thine ascent to the Emerald Throne."

Then, wishing us adieu, the slim handsome girl with the deep blue expressive eyes slipped out of the door, and noiselessly crept away down the long stone corridor.

"Of a truth, O Master, there can be no fairer daughter on earth than Liola," Kona observed, addressing Omar when the pretty messenger had gone.

"Yea, she is beautiful. Her face is like the lily, and her eyes as mysterious as the depths of the sea. I have never encountered one so fair," Omar answered.

"Nor I," I said. "Her beauty is incomparable."

"I had no idea old Goliba had a daughter," Omar exclaimed. "He is indeed fortunate to have one so amazingly lovely."

"She is one of your partisans," I observed smiling.

And he laughed, while Kona, grinning with glee, declared chaffingly that the Prince had fallen in love with her.

The subject, however, was not further pursued, but now and then Omar would express a hope that she had returned in safety to her father, or wonder why she had been working in his cause, his words showing plainly that his head was still filled with thoughts of our pretty visitor.

Soon after the light had faded from the tiny chink above, Goliba's voice was heard calling outside, and we at once opened the door to him.

"Let us hasten, O Master," the old sage cried breathlessly. "Every instant's delay meaneth peril, and peril is first cousin to disaster."

"Lead," I cried. "We will follow."

A moment later we all four were creeping softly along the corridor past doors of the foul reeking dungeons wherein those who for some cause or another, often the most trivial, had fallen into disfavour with the Naya and were rotting in their silent living tombs. Many were the grim and fearful stories of injustice and agony those black walls could tell; many were the victims consigned there, although innocent of any offence, never again to see the light of day. As we walked huge grey rats, some the pets of the wretched prisoners, scurried from our path, and now and then as we passed the small closed door of heavy sheet-iron the groans and lamentations of the unhappy captives reached our ears.

At last, after traversing many passages turning to right and left in such a manner that the extent of the great place amazed us, we ascended a flight of well-worn steps.

"The sentries now on guard are loyal to us," the royal councillor whispered, turning to Omar as we went up, and when we emerged into the chamber wherein stood the Emerald Throne, the three tall soldiers with drawn swords, two standing mute and motionless as statues on either side of the door, and the other pacing up and down, took no notice of our appearance, but regarded us with stolid indifference. In the rosy evening light we sped across the beautiful court to a gate opposite, and passed out by a private way of which Goliba held the key until we found ourselves beyond the frowning walls.

Kona looked around longingly as we passed through the courts and chambers. He was anticipating with eagerness the time when he and his men would re-enter the place as conquerors, and was probably reflecting upon the amount of loot his men could obtain in the event of an order being given to sack the palace of the dreaded Naya. But without pausing to glance behind, our guide hurried us forward along a number of winding back streets of the city, hot, dusty and close-smelling after the broiling day, until he stopped before the door of a fine house, the walls of which were of polished white marble, that reflected the last rays of the sun like burnished gold. Striking the door thrice, it opened, and on going in he conducted us to a spacious hall, where we found exposed to our view a great collection of arms and warlike accoutrements. All kinds of instruments of death, which the inventive malice of man had ever discovered had been collected for the use of those determined to accomplish the overthrow of the wicked rule of the Naya. First, there were sticks, staves and knotty clubs. Next to these, spears, darts, javelins, armed with brass or iron, or their points hardened with fire, and innumerable bows with quivers and arrows, which Kona examined critically, giving low grunts of approbation as he scrutinized a specimen of each.

After these, instruments of dubious use originally designed for the assistance of man, but perverted through cruelty and malice to the service of slaughter and death; such as knives, scythes, axes and hammers. On these were heaped arms, deliberately fashioned for the offence of mankind, swords, daggers, poignards, scimitars, and rapiers, while on the opposite side of the spacious place were stored the more refined and destructive instruments of European war, rifles, muskets, revolvers, bayonets, small field-pieces, machine-guns of various patterns, including four Maxims and their food, boxes of cartridges, kegs of powder, cakes of dynamite, bombs and shells.

"Behold!" exclaimed Goliba, halting before them. "Here is one of our secret stores of arms."

"One of them!" said Omar. "How many, then, have we?"

"In the city there are sixteen, all similarly filled. Away in various parts of the country there are depôts in every populous centre," he replied.

"But it must have taken a long time to obtain all these," the Prince observed, puzzled.

"The munitions of war were swiftly obtained for a popular rising," the aged sage replied. "When the word went forth in secret to the people, they responded almost to a man. Arms were actually carried from the royal arsenal in great quantities, and even the spies of the Naya found themselves thwarted and powerless. We have obtained nearly all the Maxims purchased in England, by the Naya's agent, Makhana; some are here, others at various depôts, and each will be in charge of fighting-men, who know their use. The few remaining in the arsenal and forts have all been disabled by those of our sympathisers in government employ."

"Truly," I said, turning to Omar, "the Naya who gave an order for your assassination is seated on the edge of a volcano."

"Yes," cried the white-bearded old councillor. "The country hath struggled and groaned long and in vain under the Naya's tyrannical sway; the uprising will be swift and revengeful."

"When will it occur?" I asked, with eagerness.

"To-night," answered Goliba in a quiet tone.

"To-night?" we all three cried, amazed that the preparations were already complete.

"Yes," he said, in a low tone. "As the bell on the palace-gate chimeth the midnight hour a great mine will be fired that will proclaim with the earth's sudden upheaval the rising of the people of Mo against their ruler. Then the people, ready armed with these weapons, will strike such a blow as will sweep away all oppression and tyranny from our land, and leave it free as it hath ever been, free to prosper and retain its position as the only unconquered nation on the face of earth."

CHAPTER XXVI