"Thanks,O king,but we white men wed only with white women like ourselves.Your maidens are fair,but they are not for us!"The king laughed."It is well.In our land there is a proverb which says,`Woman's eyes are always bright,whatever the color,'and another which says,`Love her who is present,for be sure she who is absent is false to thee;'but perhaps these things are not so in the stars.In a land where men are white all things are possible.So be it,white men;the girls will not go begging!Welcome again;and welcome,too,thou black one;if Gagool here had had her way thou wouldst have been stiff and cold now.It is lucky that thou,too,camest from the stars;ha!ha!""I can kill thee before thou killest me,O king,"was Ignosi's calm answer,"and thou shalt be stiff before my limbs cease to bend."Twala started."Thou speakest boldly,boy,"he replied,angrily;"presume not too far."
"He may well be bold in whose lips are truth.The truth is a sharp spear which flies home and fails not.It is a message from `the stars,'
O king!"
Twala scowled,and his one eye gleamed fiercely,but he said nothing more.
"Let the dance begin,"he cried,and next second the flower-crowned girls sprang forward in companies,singing a sweet song and waving the delicate palms and white flowers.On they danced,now whirling round and round,now meeting in mimic warfare,swaying,eddying here and there,coming forward,falling back in an ordered confusion delightful to witness.At last they paused,and a beautiful young woman sprang out of the ranks and began to pirouette in front of us with a grace and vigor which would have put most ballet-girls to shame.At length she fell back exhausted,and another took her place,then another and another,but none of them,either in grace,skill,or personal attractions,came up to the first.
At length the king lifted his hand.
"Which think ye the fairest,white men?"he asked.
"The first,"said I,unthinkingly.Next second I regretted it,for I remembered that Infadoos had said that the fairest woman was offered as a sacrifice.
"Then is my mind as your minds,and my eyes as your eyes.She is the fairest;and a sorry thing it is for her,for she must die!""Ay,must die!"piped out Gagool,casting a glance from her quick eyes in the direction of the poor girl,who,as yet ignorant of the awful fate in store for her,was standing some twenty yards off in front of a company of girls,engaged in nervously picking a flower from her wreath to pieces,petal by petal.
"Why,O king?"said I,restraining my indignation with difficulty;"the girl has danced well and pleased us;she is fair,too;it would be hard to reward her with death."Twala laughed as he answered:
"It is our custom,and the figures who sit in stone yonder"(and he pointed towards the three distant peaks)"must have their due.Did Ifail to put the fairest girl to death to-day misfortune would fall upon me and my house.Thus runs the prophecy of my people:`If the king offer not a sacrifice of a fair girl on the day of the dance of maidens to the old ones who sit and watch on the mountains,then shall he fall and his house.'Look ye,white men,my brother who reigned before me offered not the sacrifice,because of the tears of the woman,and he fell,and his house,and I reign in his stead.It is finished;she must die!"Then,turning to the guards -"Bring her hither;Scragga,make sharp thy spear."Two of the men stepped forward,and as they did so the girl,for the first time realizing her impending fate,screamed aloud and turned to fly.But the strong hands caught her fist,and brought her,struggling and weeping,up before us.
"What is thy name,girl?"piped Gagool."What!wilt thou not answer;shall the king's son do his work at once?"
At this hint,Scragga,looking more evil than ever,advanced a step and lifted his great spear,and as he did so I saw Good's hand creep to his revolver.The poor girl caught the glint of the cold steel through her tears,and it sobered her anguish.She ceased struggling,but merely clasped her hands convulsively,and stood shuddering from head to foot.
"See,"cried Scragga,in high glee,"she shrinks from the sight of my little plaything even before she has tasted it,"and he tapped the broad blade of the spear.
"If I ever get the chance,you shall pay for that,you young hound!"I heard Good mutter beneath his breath.
"Now that thou art quiet,give us thy name,my dear.Come,speak up,and fear not,"said Gagool in mockery.
"Oh,mother,"answered the girl in trembling accents,"my name is Foulata,of the house of Suko.Oh,mother,why must I die?I have done no wrong!""Be comforted,"went on the old woman,in her hateful tone of mockery."Thou must die,indeed,as a sacrifice to the old ones who sit yonder"(and she pointed to the peaks);"but it is better to sleep in the night than to toil in the day-time;it is better to die than to live,and thou shalt die by the royal hand of the king's own son."The girl Foulata wrung her hands in anguish,and cried out aloud:
"Oh,cruel;and I so young!What have I done that I should never again see the sun rise out of the night,or the stars come following on his track in the evening:that I should no more gather the flowers when the dew is heavy,or listen to the laughing of the waters!Woe is me,that I shall never see my father's hut again,nor feel my mother's kiss,nor tend the kid that is sick!Woe is me,that no lover shall put his arm around me and look into my eyes,nor shall men-children be born of me!Oh,cruel,cruel!"and again she wrung her hands and turned her tear-stained,flower crowned face to heaven,looking so lovely in her despair -for she was indeed a beautiful woman -that it would assuredly have melted the hears of any one less cruel than the three fiends before us.Prince Arthur's appeal to the ruffians who came to blind him was not more touching than this savage girl's.
