THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES
OF
PHRA THE PHOENICIAN.
CHAPTER XXIV
After that eventful episode just detailed, life ran smooth and uneventfill
for a time in the old manor house. I ha~l l~ad enough to thUlk of for
many a day, and was i~lert and listlrss son~ehow. War, that had seemed
so bright, had lost half its color to me. IIonor, and renown! iVhy, the
green grass in the fields was not more fleeting, I bogan to think; and what
use was it striving after conquests which allother age undid, or attempting
brave adventures whereof a later time recognized neither cause nor
purpose? I was in a doleful mood, as you will see, and lay about on
Faalkener's sunny, red-brick terraces for days together, reflecting in this
idle fashion, or pressed my suit upon his daughter when other pastimes
failed.
:Nouv, this latter was a dangerous sport for one like me, and one whose
fair opponent at the game had such a fiue untaught
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instinct for it as Mistress Bess possessed. I began to speak soft things unto
that lady's ear, as yoll may remember, like mally another, for lack of
better occupation, and because it seemed so discourteous to be indifferent
to the sweet enticemeht of my friend, and then I took the gentle malady
from her, and, growing worse than she nad been, how could she do aught
but sympathize? And so betwcen us we eked the matter on in ample
leisure, until that which was a pretty jest became at last Yery serim~s and
sober earnest.
It was a strange wooing. I still worked in the forge, riveting, hammering,
and piecing together the fragments of the scholar's shattered dream, and
down the damsel would come at times into the grimy den and sit upon
the forge-corner in her dainty country smock, twirling her ribboned
points and laughing at me and my toil, as fresh and dainty among all that
gloomy black litter round about as a ray of spring sunshine. I was so
solitary and glum, how co~dd I fail to be pleasured in that doar presence?
And one time I would hammer her a gleaming buckle or wristlet out of a
nob of ancient silver, and it was sweet to see that country damsel's
eagernes,s as, with ilushed face and sparkling eyes, she bent over and
watched the pretty toy sl~ine and glitter and take form and shape under
my crtnning hammer. Or then again, perhaps, another day I would. tell
her, as though it were only hearsay, some wondrous old story of the
ancient time, so full of light and color and 1Qve as I could fill it, and thai
dear aunitor woul I drink in every syllable with thirsty ears, and laugh
and weep and fear and tremble just as I willed, the while I pointed my
periods with my anvil irmls. and danced my visionary puppets against the
black shadows of that nether hall. Hoth! a good listener is a sweet solace
to him whose heart is full. Those narratives did so engross us that often
the forge went cold, and bar and rivet slumbered into blackness, while I
stalked up and down that dingy cavern, peopling it with such glowing
forms and fancies as kept that dear mltutored damsel spell-bound; often
the evening fell upon us so, and we had at last to steal shamefacedly
across the court-yard to where the ~arm glow behind the lattices told us
supper and the others waited.
There was small difference in these days. I hammered cheerful and I
hammored dull, I hammered hopeful and I hammered melancholy, I
hammered in tune to the merry prattle of that girl, and I hammered sad
and solitary. And ever as I forged and welded by myself you may guess
how I thought and speculated -- thought of all the love that I had
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oved, and all the useless strifa and ambition, and now hung over m,y
hlackening iron as the 1~ain of ancient perplexities and disappointments
beset me, aml then arlou laughed and beat now life into the glowing
motal as the ligilt of forgrotten joys flashed for a momont on the fitful
current of my mind. Ah! and again I forged hot and inn'etuous on my
master's rods arid rivets as the old pulse of battles and onset swelled in
my VEillS- -- forged and hammmered while the stream of such fancies
bore me on -- urltil, unwitting, the very molten stuff beneatl, mg hands
took form and fashion of my thoughts, and grew up into shining spear-
heads and white blades until the fantasy in turrl was passed, and I checked
my fancies and saw, ashamed, the foolish work my busy hammer had
fashioned, and sadly broke the spear-heads and snapped the blades, and
came bacl; with a sigh to meailer things.
My mind being tilus full of all those wild adventures and wondrous
exploits I had seen and shared, when, as I was strolling one idle morriing
down Faulkoner's dusty mllseum corridor, and sampling as I went his
precious tomes, that thing happcoed to which you owe this book. I dipped
into his missals and vehums as I sannteled from shelf to shelf, and soon I
found there was scarcely a page, scarcely a passage withill their mothy
leathorn covers that did not touch me nearly, or set me thinking of
something old and wonderful. There was not a page in all that fingered,
scholar-marked library, it seemed to me, upon which I COml not find
something better or nearer to the shining truth to say than they had who
wrote those cupboard histories and philosophies; and first I was only sad
to see so thuch inaccurate set down, and then I foll to sighing, as I turned
the leaves of quaint treatise and pcdantic moukish diary, that they shonld
write who knew so little, and I, who knew so much, should be so dumb.
And thtls vague fancies began to form within my mind, and, backed by
the brooding memories strong within, began to egg me on to
qcriteq~'yselt! Jove! I had not touched a pen for many hundred years, and
yet here was the bunding hunger for expression rising strong within me,
and laughed and went over to old Faulkener's great oak table by the
mullioned window, and took up his quill, and turned it here and there,
and looked on both ends of it, then I resently set it down with a shake of
the head as a weapon past my wielding. I felt the texture of his vellums
and peered into the depth of his ink-pot, as though there were to see
therein all those glowing facts and fancies that I yearned to draw
therefrom. But it would not do; not even the chahen ge of those piled
tomes, not even the handy
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means to the end I coveted, cothd for a time break down my diffidenct`.
So I feil melaricholy again, and nandered tlowll that quaintly stocked
museum lil~rttry, gazing ruefull)T oil eaci'l sad remnant of nillilraliity, and
thinking ho`Nt q~itimt it `;as that
shothtl eome to dust my kii-ismen's shnns..l~tl tablilate those, grim okl
}leafis that iiad so ofte~l waggttl ill `~-~'t~ise of trle, then back aY-ain to
the shcli-es, and polod aild I'ondcred over the mally-~~uthored books,
until, by hap, iny eyes lighted upon a passage in an eastern tale that was
so ~oregn`~~,t with experience, so filie, it seemed to ttly Hlood, in
fatlc.\,~ and philosophy, that it entranced me and fired my zeal to a point
l!aught else llatl dolle.
The ancient Arabian narrator is telling how ona came, in mid-desert, upon
a splendid, ruined cily -- tt s~le.tlt, ul! peopled tO`VII oi' voiceless palaces
and temples -- and wandered on by empty street and falling greathess
until, in the stateliest court of a thousand stately palaces, he found an iron
tablet, and on it was written these words:
In the name of God, the Eternal, the Everlasting throughout all ages: in
the name of God, who begetteth not, and who is not begotten, and unto
whom there is none like in the uar;le of God, the Miglity and Powerful. in
the name of the Living who dieth not, O thou who arrivest at this place,
be admonished by the misfortunes asd calamities tlmt thou bellolfl;.st, and
be not deceived by the world and its beauty and its falsity and cilblmriy,
and its fallacy and finery; for it is a flattercr, a e bcat, a traitor. Its things
are borrowed, and it will t~d3e the loan from the borrower; and it is like
the confused visions of the sleeper, and the dream of the dreamer. These
are the characteristics of the world: cm~iide not Iberefore in it, nor incline
to it: for it will betray ¥wbo deueuneth upon it, and wbo in his aff'uirs
relieth upon it. Fall not inio its suares nor cling to its skirts. For I possessed
four thousand bay imrses i;l a stable and I married a thousand damsels, all
daughters of kings' high-bosomed virgins, like moons; and I was bleased
with a thousand children; and ~ lived a thousand years, happy in mind
and he.lrt; and I arm~!ssed riches such as the Kings of the ea~ih were
unable to procure, nun I imaginod that my enjoyments wonkl continue
without f~dlure. But I was not av. are when there alighted among us the
terminator of delights, the separator of companions, the desolator of
abodes the ravager of inhabited mansions, the destroyer of the great and
the small and the infants, and the children, and tlre mothers. We had
residcd~ in this p~il~n~e in setalrity until the event decreed by the Lord of
all crest;i!ec-; tha Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the earths, betten
us, and the thunder of the manifest-~l'ruth assailed us, and there died of
us every day t\N,o, iill a P;reat tomnany of us bad perished. So when I
say, that destruction h.,ci erlteic l ri!lr dwellings, and had alighted among
us, and drowned us in the sea of deaths, I summoned a writer, and
ordeled him to w£ite these verses and admonitions and lessons, and
cauced them to be engraved upon tliese doors and tablets and tombs. I
had an army comprising a thousand thousand briddes, composed of
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hardy mcn, wrth spears and coats of mail, and sharp swords and strong
arms; abd I ordered them to clothe themselves with the long coats of mail,
and to hang on the keen snords, and to place in rest the terrible lances,
.~rld monat the high-blooded horses. Then, when the ever~t ap. pointed
by the Lord of all creatures, the Lord of Li~e earth and the heavens~ befell
us I said, O eompanies of troops and soldiers, ea~~ ye pre -.rn ttl~it whicil
hath befahen me from the ~liglity King? But the soldiers and troops were
unable to do so, and they s,~irI, HONV slr.~ll ~:e contered against Him
from whom none hath seduned, the Lord c,f the door ,l~~t hath no door-
keeper? So I Sclil, Bring to me fl~e ~eam~! (And it was contained in a
thousand pits, in each of which ``ere a thousand hunred-weights of red
~cld, and in them were varieties of pearls and jou els, and there was the
like quantity of white siiver, with trcn.sures such as the Kings of the earth
were unable to procure.) and they did so; and ~'hen they lr~~d brought
the wealth before me, I said to them, can ye deliver me by means of all
these riches, and p~lrchase for me therewith one day during which I may
remain alive7 But they could not do so. They resigned themselves kJ
destiny, and I submitted to God with patient endurance of fate and
affliction until he took my sorll and made ITIC to dwell in my grave. And
if thou ask concerning my name, I art~ b:oosh, the son of shed`:lad, the
son of 'Ad the Greater.
"Oh, well written!" I cried. "Well written, Koosh, the son of Sh6ddad, the
son of 'Ad the ('lreater, well and wisely written; and also I will write, for I
have much to tell, and I, too, may some day be as thou art."
Thus was the beginning of this book. I got pen and ink and a volume of
unwritten leaves forthwith, and carried them away to a lonely chamber in
the thickness of a turret wall, a little forgotten cell some six poor feet
across, and there, solitar', I have written, and still write, peopling by the
flickering yellow lamp-light that stony niche with all the brilliant
memories that I harbor, letting my recollection wander unshackled down
the wondrous path that I have come, and step by step, by episodes of pain
and pleasure, by wild adventure and strange mischance, down, far down,
from the ancient times I have brought you tmtil now, when my ink is still
wet upon the events of yesterday, and I cease for the moment.
This, then, is all that there is to say -- all but one suggestive line. I and
yonder fair damsel have plighted troth under the apple-trees out in her
orchard. We have broken a ring, and she has one half of it and I have the
other. To-morrow will we tell her father, and presently be married. 'Tis a
right sweet and winsome maid, and together, hand in hand, we will
rehabilitate this ancient pile, and deck that desert garden, and get us
friends and troops of curly-headed children, and lie and bask i' the jolly
sunshine of contentment -- and so go haun and hand forever down the
pleasant wavs of peaceful dalliance.
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Jove! my pen, and a few poor minutes more from the bottom dregs of
life. It is over: all the long combat and turmoil, all the success and
disappointment, all the hoping and fearing. That which I thought was a
hegimling turns out to be but an ending. My hand shakes as I write, my
life throbs, and my blood is on fire within me; I am dying, friendless and
alone, as I have lived -- dying in a niche in the wall with my great
unfinished diary before me; and, with the grim briefness ol my necessity,
this is how it has happened.
I had wooed and won Elizahoth Faulkoner, and, on the day after, she had
come down into the fon,re, as was her wont, sweet and virginal; and I was
there at wolk, and took her hlto my arms; and while we dallied thus there
entered on us the ancient scholar and the swart steward. (Iodst that villain
blanched and scowled to see us so till his swart face was whiter than the
furnace ashes.
I took the maiden's hand, and boldly turning to her father, told my love
and its accomplishment, whercat she burst from me and threw herself
upon his bosom, and, radiant with confusion -- such a sweet country pearl
as any prince might well have stooped to raise -- she pleaded for us.
Oh, a thousand thousaun curses on that black fell shadow standing there
behind her! The father, relenting, kissed the fair white forchead of that
winson1e girl. He bid ~manuol bring at once a loving-cup, and while that
foul traitor rceled away to fetch it he ~oined our hands and gave us, in
tones of love aIld gentleness, his blessing.
Then back came the scoundrel Spaniard, his lean, hungly face all drawn
and puckered with his wicked passions, and in his ha; d a silver bowl of
wine. Oh, Jove, }now cruel it ilames within me now! My sweet nlaid took
it, and, rueful for the pain she had given black lEmanuel, spoke fair and
gentle, S'l`'iU'r Inow we would ever stay his friends and do our best to
pros~~er him. And even I, generous like a soldier, echoed her sweet
words, telling that fell knave how, when the game was played and
finished, e'en the worst rivals might meet once more in good
comradeship. And so, while the mean Spanish hound, with cruel ~aw
dropped down and hands a-twitching at his side, turned from us, his
tender mistress lifted the goblet to her lips and drank.
She drauk, and because she was no courtly goblet-kissing dame, she
drank full and honest, thon passed the troth-cup to me; and I laughed and
swept aside my Phrygian beard, and happy once more and successful, at
the pink of my ambition,, pledged th7O~e f£iennly two, pledged even you
bl~c!~
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hearted scoundrel scowling there in the shade, then poured all that sweet,
rosy-tasting love-cup of promise down my thirsty throat.
Gods! what was at the bottom of it? A pale, bitter, white dreg. Oh, Jove,
what was this? I dipped a finger in and tried it, while a dead hush fell upon
us four. It was bitter bitter as rue, cold, horrible, and biting. My fingers
tightened slowly round the goblet-stem. I looked at the sweet lady and in
a minute she was swaying to and fro in the pale light like a fair white
column, and then her hands were pressed convulsive for a space upon her
heart, while her knees trembled and her body shook, and then, all in an
instant, she locked her fair fingers at arms'-length above her head, and
with a long, low wail of fear and al,guish that shall haunt forever that
stony corridor; she staggered and dropped.
Down went the goblet, and I caught her as she fell; and there she lay,
heaving a moment in my arms, then looked up and smiled at me -- smiled
for one happy second her own dear smile of love and sunshine -- then
shut her eyes, trembling a little, and presently lay still and pale upon my
bosom -- dead.
Fair, fair Elizabeth Faulkener!
I held her thus a space, and it was so still you could hear the gentle
draught of the curling smoke filtering up the chimney, and the merry
twitter of the swallows perched far above upon it. I held her so a space,
then kissed her fiercely and tenderly once upon her smooth forehead, and
gave the white girl to her father.
Then turned I to the steward, the bitter passion and the deadly drug
surging together like molten lead within my VOillS. So turned I to him,
and our eyes met, and for a moment we glared upon each other so still
and grim that you could hear our hearts pulsing like iron hammers, and at
every beat a long year of terror and shame seemed to flit across the ashy
face of that coward lberian; he withered and grew old, grew lean and
haggard and pinched and bent in those few seconds I stared at him. Then,
without taking an eye from his eyes, slowly my hand was outstretched
and my sword was lifted from the anvil where I had thrown it. Slowly,
slowly I drew the weapon from its sheath and raised it, and slowly that
villain went back, staring grimly the while, like the dead man that he was,
at the point. Then on a sudden he screamed like a rat in a gin, and turned
and fled. And I was after him like the November wind after the dead
leaves. And round and round the forge we ran, fear and bitter, bitter
vengeance winging our heels; and round the anvil with its idle hammer
and coldc
327
~Zalf-welded iron swept that savage race; round by where the pale father
was bending over the soft dead form of his swect country girl; round the
ruined chaos of the great brol,en fiHgine; round by the cobwebbed walls
of that gloomy crypt; round by the e iatterit~g healls of iron, in a mad,
wild frenzy, we swept; and then the Spaniard fced to a little oaken wicL~t
in the stony wall leading by many score of winding steps far out into the
turrets above.
Ile tore the wicket open, and plunged up ihat stony staircase, and I was on
his heels. Up the clattering stairs we raced -- gods, how the fellow leaped
and screamed! -- and so we cama in a mintlte out into the air again, out on
to old Adam Faulkener's ancient roof, out among his ga.g~r~les and
corbie steps, with the pleasant surllmer wind wafting the bble smoke of
luncheon-time about nS, and the court~ya-;d Iiags fal; far down belour.
And there I sct my tecth and drew my sinews tsgether, and wiped the cold
sweat of death from off m,y forehead, and stilled the wild, strong tremors
that were shaking my iron fabric,~ and lost in a reckless lust of vengeance,
crouched to the spring that should have ended that villain.
He saw it, and back he went step by step, scl;eaming at every pace,
hideous and shrill; buck step by step, with no eyes but for me; back until
he was, unknowing, at the very rerge of the roof; back again another pace
-- and then, Jove! a rcel and a stagger, and he was gone; and as I rushed
forward and looked down I saw him strike upon the l~alapets a hundred
feet below and bound into the air, and fall and strike again, and spin like a
wheel, and be now feet up and now head, and so, at last, crash, with a
dull, heavy thun, a horrid, lifeless thing, on the distant stones of that quiet
court-yard!
It is over, and I in turn have time to laugh. I have come here -- here, to my
secret den in the thickness of these great walls -- staggering slowly here
by dim, steep stairs and rare-trodden landings -- here to die; and I have
double-locked the oaken door, and shot the bolts, and pitched the key out
of my one na,rrow window-slit, and gently rocking and swaying as the
strong poison does its errand, I have thrown down my belt and sword,
and opened my great volume once again.
Misty the letters swim before me, and the strong pain ebbs and flows
within. All the room is hazy and dim, and I grow weak and fectle, and my
heavy head sags down npon the leaf I strive to finish. Some other time
shall flun that leaf, and me a dusty, anciont remnant. Some other hand
shall turn
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these pages than those I meant them for; some other eyes than theirs shall
read and wonder, and perhaps regret. lind now I droop anon, and then
start up, and the pf~le swinging haze seems taking shapes of friendliness
and beauty. There are no longer limits to this narrow kingdom, and
before m~ footstool sweep in soft procession all the shapes that I had
known and loved. Electra comes, a pale, proun shacle, swceprng down
that violet road, and holding out her iVoly palm in queenly friendship;
and Numidea trips behind her, and uods and smiles, and there is stalwart
Calus, his martial plumes brushing the sky; and earlier Sempronius, brave
and gentle and jolly Tulus; and, two and two, a trooping band of ancient
comrades.
Now havo I looked up once more and laughed, and here they come
trooping agairl, those smiling shadows, and the fair Thane is with them,
her plaited yellow hair gleaming upon her unruffled forehead; and by
either hand she leads a rosebun babe, who stretch small palms toward
and voiceless cries ~pon me; sun white-bearded Senlac; and, two and two,
my Saxon serfs and franklins come gliding in. And there strides gallant
Codrington, leading a pale shadow all in white, and Isobel turns a fair,
pale face upon me as she goes by. Oh, I am dead -- dead, I know it, all but
the hsun which writes and the eyes that see -- and I laugh as the last fitful
flashes of 6ho pain and life fly through the loosening fabric of my body....
And now -- and now a hush has fahen on those silent shades, and their
hazy ranks have fahen wide apart, and through thom glides rundy
Blodwen -- Blodwen, who comes to claim her own -- and, approaching,
looks into my eyes, and all those stalelg shadows are waiting, two and
two, for us two to head the1n hence; and she, my princess, my wife, has
come near and touched my hand, and at that touch the mantle of life falls
from me!
Blodwen! I come, I come
THE END
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