Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1890 — ALLAN QUATERMAIN. [ARTICLE]

ALLAN QUATERMAIN.

A Record of Remarkable Adventures and Discoveries.

BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.

CHAPTER Xll —Continued. The personality of one individual among them, however, impressed us at once. He seemed to stand out among his fellows and refuse to be overlooked. He was very old—eighty at least—and extremely tall, with a long snow-white beard that hung nearly to his waist. His features were aquiline and deeply out, and his eyes were gray and cold looking. The heads of the others were bare, but this man wore a sort of rounded cap entirely covered with gold embroidery, from which we judged that he was a person of great importance; and indeed it afterward transpired that he was Agon, the high priest of the country. As we approached, all these men, including the priests, rose and bowed to us. with the greatest

oourtesy, at the same time placing the two fingers across the lips in salutafcibn. Then soft footed attendants advanced from between the pillars, bearing seats, which were placed in a line in front of the thrones. We three sat down, Alphonse and Umslopogaas standing behind us. Scarcely had we done so when there came a blare of trumpets from some passage .to the right, and a similar blare from the left: Next a man with a long white wand of ivory appeared just in front of the right-hand throne, and cried out something in a loud voice, ending with the word Nyleptha, repeated three times; and another man, similarly attired, called out a similar sentence b efore the other throne, but ending with the word Sorais, also repeated thrice. Then came the tramp of armed men from each side entrance, and in filed about a score of picked and magnificently accoutered guards, who formed up on each side of the thrones, and let their heavy iron-handled spears fail simultaneously with a clash upon the. black marble flooring. Another double blare of trumpets, and in from either 3ide, each attended by six maidens, swept the two Queens of Zu-vendis, everybody in the hall rising to greet them as them as they came.

I have seen beautiful women in my day, and am no longer thrown into transports at the sight of a pretty face; but language fails me when I try to give some idea of the blaze of loveliness that then broke upon upon us in the persons of these sister queens. Both were young—perhaps five and twenty years of age—tall and exquisitely formed; but there the likeness stopped. One, Nyleptha, was a woman of dazzling fairness; her right arm and breast bare, after the custom of her people, showed like snow even against her white and gold-embroid-ered “kaf,” or toga. And as for her sweet face, all I can say is, that it was one that few men could look *on and forget. Her hair, a veritable erown of gold, clustered in short ringlets over her shapely head, half hiding the ivory brow, beneath which eyes of deep and glorious gray flashed out in tender majesty. Icahnot attempt to describe her other features, only the mouth was most sweet, and curved like Cupid’s bow, and over the whole countenance there shone an indescribable look of loving-kindness, lit up by a shadow of delicate humor that lay upon her face like a touch of silver on a rosy cloud. She wore no jewels, but on her neck, arm, and knee were the usual torques of gold, in this instance fashioned like % snake; and her dress was of pure white linen of excessive fineness, plenSfully embroidered with gold and with the familiar symbols of the sun. Her twin sister, Sorais, was of a different and darker type of beauty. Her hair was wavy like Nyleptha’s but coal-black, and fell in masses on her shoulders; her complexion was olive, her eyes large, lark, and lustrous; tho lips were full, »nd I thought rather cruel. Somehow her face, quiet and even cold as it was, gave an idea of passion in repose, and caused one to wonder involuntarily what its aspect would be if anything occurred to break the calm. It reminded me of the deep sea, that even on the bluest days never loses its visible stamp of power, and in its murmuring sleep is yet instinct with the spirit of the, storm. Her figure, like her sister’s, was almost perfect in Its curves and outlines, but a trifle more rounded, and her dress was absolutely the same.

As'this lovely pair swept onward to their respective thrones, amid the deep attentive silence of the court, I was bound to confess to myself that they did indeed fulfill my idea of royalty. Royal they were in every way *—in form, in grace, and queenly dignity, and in the barbaric splendor of their attendant pomp. But methought that they needed no guards or gold to proclaim their power and bind the loyalty of wayward men. A glance from those bright eyes or a smile from

those sweet Lipb, and while the red blood runs in the veins of youth women such as these will never lack subjects ready to do their biddings to the death. . But after all they were women first and queens afterward, and therefore not devoid of curiosity. As they passed to their seats I saw both of them glance swiftly 'ln our direction. I saw, too, that their eyes passed by me, seeing nothing to charm them in the person of an insignificant and grizzled old man. Then they looked with evident astonishment on the grim form of old Umslopogaas, who raised his ax in salutation. Attracted next by the splendor of (rood’s apparel, for a second their glance rested on him like a humming moth upon a flower, Curtis stood, the sunlight from a winV

dow playing upon his yellow hair and peaked beard, and marking out the Outlines of his massive frame against the twilight of the somewhat gloomy hall, Ha -raised his eyes, and they met the fair Nyleptha’s full, and thus for the first time the goodliest man and woman that it has ever been my lot to see looked one upon another. And why it was I know not, but I saw the swift blood run up beneath Nyleptha’s skin as the pink lights run up the morning sky. Red grew her fair bosom and shapely arm, red the swanlike neek; the rounded cheeks blushed red as the petals of a rose, and then the crimson flood sunk back to whence it came and left her pale and trembling. I glanced at Sir Henry. He, too, had colored up to the eyes.

/•On, my word!” thought I to myself, “th* ladies have come on the stage, and now we may look to the plot to develop itself,” And I sighed and shook my head, knowing that the beauty of a woman is like the beauty of the lightning—a destructive thing and a cause of desolation. By the time that I had finished my reflections both the queens were on the thrones; • for all this had happened in about four seconds. Once more the unseen trumpets -blared out, and then the court seated itself, and Queen Sorais motioned to us to do likewise; Next from among the crowd whither he had withdrawn stepped forward our guide, the old gentleman who had towed us ashore, holding by the hand the girl whom we had seen first and afterward rescued from tho hippopotamus. Having made obeisance he proceeded to address the queens, evidently describing to them the way and place where we had been found. It

was most amusing to watch the astonishment, not unmixed with fear, reflected upon their faces as they listened to his tale. Clearly they could not understand how we had reached the lake, and been found floating on it, a3d were inclined to attribute our presence to supernatural causes. Then the narrative proceeded, as I judged from the frequent appeals that our guide made to the girl, to the point where we had shot the hippopotami, and we at once perceived that there was something very wrong about those hippopotami, for the history was frequently interrupted by indignant exclamations from the little group of white-robed priests and even from the courtiers, while the two queens listened with an amazed expression, especially when our guide pointed to the rifles in our hands as being the means of destruction. And here, to make matters clear, I may as well explain at once that the inhabitants of Zuvendis are sun-worshippers, and that for some reason or other the hippopotamus is a sacred animal among them. Not that they do not kill it, because at certain seasons of the year they slaughter thousands—which are specially preserved in large lakes up the country—and use their hides for soldiers, but this does not prevent them from considering these animals as sacred to the sun. Now, as ill luck would have it, the particular hippopotomi we had shot were a family of tame animals that were kept at the mouth of the port and daily fed by priests whose special duty it was to attend to|them. When we shot them I thought that the brutes were suspiciously tame, and this was,' as we afterward ascertained, the cause of it. Thus it came about that in attempting to show off we had committed sacrilege of a most aggravated nature. When our guide had finished his tale, the old man with the long beard and round cap, whose appearance I have already described, and was, as l have said, the high priest of the country, and known by the name of Agon, rose and commenced an impassioned harangue. I did not like the look of his cold gray eye as he fixed it on us. I should have liked it still less had I known that in the name of the outraged majesty of his God he was demanding that the whole lot of us should be offered up as a sacrifice by means of being burned alive. After he had finished speaking the Queen Sorais addressed him in a soft and musical voice, and appeared to judge from his gestures of dissent, to be putting the other side of the question before him. Then Nyleptha spoke in liquid accents. Little did we know that she was pleading for our lives. Finally she addressed a tall, soldier-like mpn of middle age with a black beard and a long plain sword, whose name, as we afterward learned, was Nasta, and who was the greatest lord in the country; apparently appealing to him for support. Now when Sir Henry had caught her eye and |he had blushed so rosy red, I had seen that the incident had not escaped this man’s notice, and, what is more, that it was eminently disagreeable to him, for he bit his lip and his hand tightened on his sword-hilt. Afterward we learned that he was an aspirant for the hand of this queen in marriage, which accounted for it. This being so, Nyleptha could not have

appealed to a worse person, for speaking in slow, heavy tones, he appeared to confirm all that the High-priest Agon said. As he spoke, Sorais put her elbow on her knee, and, and, resting her chin On her hand, looked at 1 him with a suppressed smile upon her lips, as though she saw through the man, and was determined to be his matfch; but Nyleptha grew very angry. Her oheek flushed, and she did indeed look lovely. Finally she turned to Agon and seemed to give some sort of qualified assent, for he bowed at her words; and as she spoke she moved her hands as though to emphasize her words; while all the time Sorais kept her ohin on her hand and smiled. Then suddenly Nyleptha made a sign, and the trumpets blew again, and everybody rose to leave the the hall save ourselves and the guards, whom she mentioned When they were all gone she bent

! forward and, smiling sweetly, partially by signs and partially by exclamations made it clear to us that she was very anxious to know where we came from. -Thwdifflctdty was how to explain, but at last an idea struck me. I had my large pocket-book in my pocket, and a pencil. Taking it out, I made a little sketch of a lake and then as best I could drew the under-ground river and the lake at the other end. When I had done this I advanced to the steps of the throne and gave it to her. She understood it at once and clapped her hands in delight, and then descending from the throne took it to her sister Sorais, who also evidently understood. Next she took the pencil from me, and after examining it with curiosity proceeded to make a series of delightful little sketches, the first representing herself holding out both hands in welcome, and a man uncommonly like Sir Henry taking them. Next she drew a lovely little picture of a hippopotamus rolling: about dying in the water, and of an individual in whom we had no difficulty in recognizing Agon, the high-priest, holding up his hands in horror on the bank. Then followed a most alarming picture of a dreadful fiery furnace and of the same figure, Agon, poking us into it with a forked stick. This pictu re perfectly horrified me, but I was a little reassured when she nodded sweetly and proceeded to make a fourth drawing—of a man again uncommonly like Sir Henry and of two women, in whom I recognized Sorais and herself, each with one arm around him and holding a sword in protection over him. To all of these Sorais, who I saw was employed in carefully taking us all in—especially Curtis—signified her approval by nodding.

At last Nyleptha drew a, final sketch of a rising sun, indicating that she must go, and that we should meet on the following mor iiftg; whereat Sir Henry looked so disappointed that she saw it, and, I suppose by way of consolation, extended her hand to him to kiss, which he did with pious fervor. At the same time Sorais, off whom Good had never taken his eyeglass during: the whole indaba rewarded him by giving him her hand to kiss, though, while she did so, her eyes were fixed upon Sir Henry. lam glad to say that 1 was not implicated in these proceedings; neither of them gave me her hand to kiss. Then Nyleptha turned and addressed the man who appeared to be in command of the body guard, apparently from her manner and his frequent obeisances, giving him Very stringent and careful orders; after which, with a somewhat coquettish nod and smile, she left the hall, followed by Sorais and most of the guards. When the queens had gone, the officer whom Nyleptha had addressed came forward and with many tokens of deep respect led us from the hall through various passages to a sumptuous set of apartments opening out of a large central room lighted with brazen swinging lamps (for it was now dark) and richly carpeted and strewn with couches. On a table in the center of the room was set a profusion of food and fruit, and, what is more, flowers. There was delicious wine also in ancient-looking sealed earthenware flagons, and beautifully chased golden and ivory cups to drink it from. Servants, male and female, also were there to minister to us, and, while we eat, from some recess outside the apartment r - : "The silver lute did speak between The trumpets lordly blowing.” and altogether we found ourselves in a sort of earthly paradise which was only disturbed by the vision of that disgusting high-priest who intended to commit us to the flames. But so very weary were we with our labors that we could scarcely keep ourselves awake through the sumptuous meal, and as soon as it was over we indicated that we desired to sleep. So they led us off, and would have given us a room each, but we made it clear that we would sleep two in a room. As a further precaution against surprise we left Umsiopogaas with his axe to sleep in the main chamber near the curtained door-ways leading to the apartments which we occupied respectively, Good and I in the one, and Sir Henry and Alphonse in the other. Then throwing off our clothes, with the exception of mail shirts, which we considered it safer to keep on, we flung ourselves down upon the low and luxurious couches, and drew the silk-embroidered coverlids over us. In two minutes I was just dropping off when I was aroused by Good’s voice. “I say, Quartermain, ” he said, “did you ever see Such eyes?” “Eyes!” I said, crossly; “what

eyes?” - ...... •' - ■ .. Tv“Why, the queen’s, of course! Sorais, I mean—at least I think that is her name.” “Oh, I don’t know.” I yawned; “I didn’t notice them much; I suppose they are good eyes,” and again 1 dropped off. Five minutes or so elapsed, and 1 was once more awakened. “I say, Quatermain,” said the voioe. f “Well,” I answered testily, “what is it now P” “Didye notice her ankle? The shape—” *

This was more than I could stand. By my bed stood the veldtschoons 1 had been wearing. Moved quite beyond myself I took them up and threw them straight at Good's head—and hit it. After that I slept the sleep of the just, and a very heavy sleen it must be. As for Good, I don’t know if he went to sleep or if he continued to pass Sorais’s beauties in mental review, and, what Is more, 1 don’t care. CHAPTER XnL “““jSBOOT THE ZU-VEWDI PEOPLE. ' And now the curtain is down for a

few hours, and the actors in this novi i drama are plunged in dewy sleep. Per- ■ haps we should except Nyleptha, whom the reader may, if poetically inclined, . imagine lying in her bed of state enI compassed by her maidens, tiring worn en, guards, and all the other people and appurtenances that surround a throne, ’hnd yet not able to slumber for thinking of the strangers who had visited a country where such strangers had never come before, and wondering, as she lay awake, who they were and what their past had been, and if she was ugly compared to the women of their native place. I, however, not being poetioally inclined, will take advantage of the lull to give some account of the people among whom we found ourselves, compiled, needless to state, from information which we subsequently collected. The name of this country, to begin at the beginning, is Zu-Vendis, from Zu “yellow,” and Yendis, “place or country. ” Why it is called tb e Yellow Country I have never been able. Aol ascertain accurately, nor do the inhabitants themselves know. Three reasons are, however, given, each of which would suffice to account for it. The first is that the name owes its origin to the great quantity of jgold that is found in the land. -Indeed, in this respect Zu-Yendis is a veritable Eldorado, the precious metal being extraordinarily plentiful. At present it is collected from purelv alluvial diggings, which we subsequently inspected, and which are situated within a day’s journey from Milosis, being mostly founds in pockets and in nuggets weighing from an ounce up to six or seven pounds in weight. But other diggings of a similar nature are known to exist, and I have besides seen great veins of gold bearing quartz. In Zu-Vendis gold is a much commoner metal than silver, and thus it has curiosly come to pass that_silver is the legal tender 1 of the country.

The second reason given is, that at certain seasons of the year the native grasses of the country, which are very sweet and good, turn as yellow as ripe corn; and the third arises from a tradition that the people were originally yellowskinned, but grew white afterjliving for many generatiSns upon these highlands. Zu-Vendis is about the size of France, is, roughly speaking, oval in shape, and on every side cut off from the surrounding territory by illimitable forests of impenetrable thorn, beyond which are said to be hundreds miles of morrasses, deserts and great mountains. It is, short, a huge high table-land rising up in the center of the dark continent, much as in southern Africa flat-topped mountains rise from the level of the surrounding veldt. Milosis itself lies, according to my aneroid, at a level of about nine thousand feet above the sea, but most/tf the land is even higher, the greatest elevation of the open country being, I belive, about eleven thousand feet. As a consequence the Climate is, comparatively speaking, a cold one, being very similar to that of Southern England, only brighter and not so rainy. The land is, however, exceedingly fertile, and grows all cereals and temperate fruits and timber to perfection} and in the lower lying parts even produces a hardy varietyjof sugar-cane. Coal is found in great abundance, and in many places crops out from thejjsurface, and so does pure marble, both black and white. The same may be said of almost every metal except silver, which is scarce, and only to be obtained from a range of mountains in the north. Zu-Vendis comprises in her boundaries a great variety of scenery; including two ranges of snow-clad mountains, one on the western bordar beyond the impenetrable belt of thorn forest, and the other piercing the country from north to south, and passing a distance of about eighty miles from Milosis, from which town its higher peaks are distinctly visible. This range forms the chief water-shed of the land. There are also three large lakes—the biggest namely where upon we emerged, and which is named Milosis after the city, co /ering some two hundred square miles of country—and numerous small ones, some of them salt. To be Continued. Just Missed the Presidency. Louisville Courier-Journal. Gen. Green Clay Smith, of Mt. Sterling, is registered at the Fifth Avenue. Gen. Smith is the man who can. within half a vote of bei#g Preside..!, of the United States. He'and Andrew Johnson were candidates for Lincoln’s Vice-President, and Johnson received half a vote more than Gen. 'Smith. When President Lincoln was assassinated Vice-President * Johnson ascended to the chair and Gen. Smith realized what he missed by that One vote. ' Photography is being recognized as a useful handmaid tojjmedicine. Not only does at least one medical journal produce specially taken photographs to illustration of its surgical and other articles, but there are now said to be ainateur photographers attached to the staff of nearly every Londoh hospital.

Always employed.—Benevolent person (to tramp) —“What do you usually do iu the winter timo?” Tramp “Wait fer summer.” Benevolent person—“ And what do you do when summercomesP” Tramp (resignedly!— “Be-gin to wait fer winter. Magazine. Joseph Jefferson will tell in the January Century some amusing stories of his early experiences, and will de- | scribe the elder Booth as Sir Giles Overreach. He will give a curious account of Sir William Don, actor; the and also his recollections of Julia Dean, James E. Murdoch,-. Henry Plaoide, and others. While the true American does not believe in a king he will bet his last cent on four of them. •••’ - r ‘ 'y ; V. 'Vi . ’.A.y ’>• *;V. % t l