"Stole it!" said the Minion, evidently no more averse to living than the rest of us.
"From whom?" I demanded, with death in my eye.
The Minion nodded over my head toward the Skipper, and, with a comical glance of the eye at me, said, "Old man! Me father!"
Our guard then turned to the priest and priestess.
"O most gracious ones," he said, "these people are without doubt that which they claim to be. The sacrifice declares that he is the son of the servant of this grand young prince; that he stole the ring of the Grand Papaloi from his father, to whom the prince gave it for safe keeping."
The guard turned to the Skipper.
"You"ll have to admit he"s your son," said he. "It"s all very well to let you go, but they see that he"s stolen the ring and----"
"I"m everlastingly darned if I will!" blurted out the indignant Skipper.
Forced to own paternity to the Minion was beyond the elastic limit to which charity and devotion should be called upon to go.
Our guard now disappeared, the crowd making way for him because of reflected glory. He soon reappeared, however, with a skin much improved backward and a flagon of water. Not to expose his little ruse, the Skipper and I shared this between us.
I thanked the guard with every expression of dignity and graciousness.
"You can tell these devils," said I, "that now there is something required of _them_. They can see that we are what we declared ourselves to be. My servant"s son has confessed his theft, which is proof enough for them. Now comes our turn. They must prove to our satisfaction that they belong to the true vaudoux sect. This they can not do unless they are able to repeat to us the name of the Grand Papaloi who gave to me the ring. If they tell me this to my satisfaction, the Grand Papaloi, should he return, will hold them still in his favour; if not, they know, perhaps, the doom that awaits them."
The guard translated these words to the priest and priestess, not, I believe, without some fear, but the communication seemed to have the desired effect. The Mamanloi turned and looked at the Papaloi, and he at her. There was a hurried consultation, and finally a sign of a.s.sent from the Papaloi.
The Mamanloi beckoned the guard to draw near. She leaned over and put her lips to his ear. I saw him wince as the snake thrust his head in between, and was thankful that I was not in his place. The guard said the word over once or twice to the Mamanloi to make sure that he understood it, and then with a look of recognition, which I thought strange at the time, he whispered the name in my ear. With a start of astonishment I in turn whispered it to the Skipper. He, too, gave a look of surprise.
"Suz! suz! suz!" said he, ""s that so?"
I arose with all the dignity that these surprising events left at my disposal, and said with a grand wave of the hand:
"Tell the priest and priestess that they are correct. That they have named the Grand Papaloi who is head of all the sects in Amerique. But, alas! my faithful people, he is gone for a time. The great serpent G.o.d carried him away to the depths of the deepest wood. There he sits upon a golden throne, and will so sit until the day of reckoning for all. His mantle has fallen upon me. He left to me this sacred symbol. Behold and adore!" and again I held the ring on high. The mult.i.tude fell upon their faces, and there were murmurs of "_Le gran" Papaloi! Le gran" Papaloi!_"
But upon the lips of the pythoness I saw the muttering of another name and a look of regret in the eyes, and it was not strange to me, for the word which my sable guard had whispered in my ear was the name of
MAURESCO!
NOTE.--Papaloi and Mamanloi are the Hatien corruption of the French words Papa-Roi and Maman-Roi.
CHAPTER XVII.
I MEET AN OLD FRIEND AND LOSE MY ALL.
I had been conscious even during the tense strain under which I laboured that there was some stir in the hall. Messengers had come hurriedly in and had approached the throne. The priest and priestess had seemed disturbed, and as my speech ended they both arose hurriedly.
"Arm yourselves!" shouted the Papaloi; "the enemy is upon us!"
You may imagine what a welcome interruption this was to me. At once all was confusion. The priestess disappeared into the red interior, I thought that probably she had some place of retreat among the caves, but the Papaloi bravely drew his long knife from its sheath and bade his followers come to the rescue. The doors were opened, and the crowd rushed forth to meet the enemy. The scouts and runners had come in and had joined the throng, so that the numbers were well increased.
"Now"s the time for us," said the guard to me. "We must appear to join in with these wretches, but, whatever we do, we shall be badly off if we stay with them, so I advise that we cut and run at the first opportunity."
"Tell them that we are with them," said I to the guard.
The Papaloi had rushed quickly forward, but not without a hurried glance at us. Truth to tell, I could not bear that even these savages should discover me so soon in a lie, although it was a lie to save our lives.
Should we flee, that were proof positive that we had not taken that interest in the secret sect which our protestations had claimed for us.
I caught up a machete and waved it over my head, and, though my words were not understood, my actions were. The Skipper did not approve of keeping up the farce any longer.
"It"s all darn foolishness!" he said. "Look to your chance, and run."
"Let"s keep together," said the interpreter.
"I want my pistols," said I. "Let us get them."
These words were spoken hurriedly between us as we dashed to the banqueting hall and forced aside the red curtain. An ancient crone, who looked more like a piece of parchment than anything that I had ever seen, was sitting before the fire busily employed. I will not give details, except to say that she was preparing for the feast. I heard a loud hiss. I looked toward the back of the cavern. It was lighted up by those fires of h.e.l.l, and threw our forms upon the walls in a thousand weird shapes. I saw some red lips, the green light of those snakelike eyes, and the beckoning wave of a jewelled arm. I saw, too, that the heavy folds of the serpent were still coiled about the supple waist. I picked up my pistol, and that I did not turn it upon her was only because she bore the semblance of a woman. I turned hurriedly. I feared her almost as I would a sorceress, and together we three fled from that awful place of death.
We followed the crowd as they rushed forward to meet the enemy"s army. I learned from the guard that such fights were not infrequent; that the different communities were constantly warring against each other. These newcomers, we learned from the talk about us, were coming from the direction of the East, thank G.o.d! I saw the people with whom we were, boldly rushing on to meet them. Whatever one might say about the sectaries of the vaudoux, one could not with truth call them cowards.
"Watch your chance," said our guard, "and when the opportunity offers make directly down the bank to the sh.o.r.e of the sea. If you are cut off there, let us meet in the cave."
"What cave?" asked I.
"The pirates" cave," said the guard.
"The pirates" cave is closed," said I, wondering, I remember now, how this man knew of its existence. "Closed by the hand of G.o.d!"
At his look of astonishment, I added, "The earthquake."
"Is your side closed, too?"
Our side? Then he knew of the cave. How strange!
We said these words as we ran, shouting some unmeaning sentences. I saw that the Papaloi turned his head once or twice to see if we were following him, and, as he found no change in our demeanour, he again rushed onward, and we followed.
And now we heard the clash of arms in front and sharp battle cries. The invaders, I found from our guard, were the followers of an indignant father whose child was missing. Some traitor had deserted to him, and had informed upon the Papaloi. And though, probably, he would not have minded making his supper off the child of the Papaloi, he preferred that his own offspring should not go to make a feast for him or those of his sect. I heard the howls of wild men in battle. I saw the Papaloi set upon by two great warriors, who, I hope, tortured him a while before they put an end to him. It was every man for himself now, and I struck down the hillside. I was pursued a short distance, but under cover of night I got away, and was soon crunching the gravel of the seash.o.r.e under foot. I ran right into the foaming breakers. I threw off my garments and flung them on the beach. I plunged into the delicious water. I swam out to sea. I dipped, I dove, I disported myself, I made a thousand brilliant drops leap high and shine with their glittering phosph.o.r.escence. I rolled, I wallowed, and drew the water, salt though it was, into my mouth and spat it out again, as if I would wash my interior, my mind as well as my body, from the foul stains with which I felt bedaubed and bedrabbled. As I thus refreshed myself, I heard a whistle. It came, of course, from the beach.
"I wouldn"t go out too far. You know there are sharks hereabouts,"
called a voice that I knew. I did not wait for the end of the sentence, but struck out hastily for sh.o.r.e, for I had just escaped from the jaws of one death, and had no wish to fall into the more literal ones of another.
"Where is the Captain?" I asked.
"I do not know," answered the guard. "I thought he was with you. But I am here, and I think I will get some of this stuff off me."
He squatted down close to the water"s edge and began to bathe and rub his face, nearly tearing the flesh at times.
Finally, he said with a tone of relief: