CHAPTER XVII. A SALUTE OF BULLETS.

The low booming was, however, not repeated, and by this my companion apparently became reassured, for shortly afterwards he threw himself down near me to snatch a few hours' repose before dawn. I suppose I, too, must have slept for some time, until suddenly a noise like thunder that seemed to cause the earth to tremble awakened me, and together with the rest of our party I sprang to my feet, fancying that some terrible earthquake had occurred.

It was still dark, and as each asked breathlessly of his neighbour the cause of the deafening noise a sudden red flash showed for an instant on the summit of the rock near where I had seen the light, and a second report thundered forth, making the valley echo and startling the birds in thousands from their roosting-places.

"We are attacked!" the natives cried. "It is a gun!"

It was a gun undoubtedly. Again it belched forth, its fire causing the earth to tremble, sending some small shots unpleasantly close, and striking terror into the hearts of our companions, who started to fly for safety, expecting each moment that a shower of lead would sweep upon them.

"Stay, cowards!" Omar cried. "Yonder gun fires not with anger, but with joy. It is my welcome home; its fire is but powder play!"

Then a loud, joyous laugh arose, and the black faces broadened into great grins, displaying red lips and white teeth.

"Truly the land of the great Naya is a land of wonders!" cried Kona, in astonishment. "Here they welcome the queen's son by shooting at him. Surely those shots a moment ago were more than powder play!"

"A mistake no doubt," Omar answered laughing. "Already it is known in Mo that we are here in the Grave of Enemies, and the guns are being fired as welcome, while steps are being taken to convey us into yonder land."

"How shall we be conveyed thither?" the headman asked, looking up puzzled at the bare face of the rock, the summit of which was now obscured by a bank of cloud.

"Wait until sun-rise. Then you will see," answered my friend mysteriously, and as he spoke the blood-red flash showed again and the great gun thundered forth its salute.

While the dawn was spreading we ate our morning meal with eyes fixed upon the great high crag whence the gun belched forth with monotonous regularity; then Omar and I strolled away together further up the valley to occupy our time until the sun-rise. Here I saw for the first time that natural curiosity, the honey-bird. Omar pointed it out to me. It was a little grey common-looking bird about the size of a thrush. It first forced itself upon our notice by flying across our path, uttering a shrill, unlovely cry. It then sat on a neighbouring tree still calling and waiting for us to follow. By short rapid flights the bird led us on and on till we noticed that it stopped its onward course and was hanging about among a certain half-dozen trees. These we visited one after another and carefully examined them, our search being rewarded by finding a nest of bees in each of them. It is a matter of honour with the natives to set aside a good portion of the honey for the bird. Although this action of the honey-bird is an established fact in natural history, it would be interesting to know whether he ever tries to entice quadrupeds also in assisting him in obtaining his much-loved honey.

As we walked back to the camp the sun suddenly broke forth, the clouds rolled away, and on looking up at the point where the guns had been fired we saw on the summit a number of moving figures, looking like black specks against the morning sky. Everyone stood watching the far-off inhabitants of the mysterious realm, wondering how we were to gain the high overhanging rock that descended sheer to where we stood. Presently the excitement reached fever-heat when we saw the small black figures grouping themselves into a mass, and then we noticed that one man was being slowly lowered by a rope over the precipice. The rope was apparently passed under his arms, and as he swung out into mid-air his companions began to let him down rapidly to where we stood. Owing to the overhanging nature of the rock the wind caused the man to swing backwards and forwards as a pendulum, and by reason of hitches that seemed to occur in the arrangements above he was several times stopped in his descent.

At last, however, his feet touched the ground and headed by Omar, we all rushed towards him. He was a very tall, loosely-built man, his complexion almost white with just a yellowish tinge, colourless lips, colourless drab hair; vague irregular features, with an entire absence of expression. He wore an Arab haick upon his head bound with many yards of brown camel's hair, a long white garment, something like a burnouse, only embroidered at the edge with crimson thread and confined at the waist by a girdle containing quite a small arsenal of weapons, while at his back he carried a rifle of European manufacture, and around his neck was the invariable string of amulets.

"I seek Omar, son of the Naya, the Great Queen," he cried with a loud voice, as his feet touched the grass and he disengaged himself from the swaying rope, which still continued to descend.

"I am Omar, Prince of Mo," answered my friend, stepping forward quickly.

The messenger from the mysterious realm above regarded him keenly from head to foot, not without suspicion. Then looking him straight in the face, he said with a puzzled expression upon his countenance:

"Thou hast altered since thou hast dwelt among the English. Thy face is not that of Omar who left many moons ago with our Naya's trusted servant Makhana."

"Yet I am still Omar," he exclaimed, laughing. "Thy caution is commendable, Babila, son of Safad, but as the moon groweth old so does the boy turn youth, and the youth man."

"Thou knowest my name, 'tis true," observed the messenger gravely. "But where are thy royal jujus; those placed upon thy neck by the great Naya in the presence of the people?"

"I fell among enemies who burned them."

"The curse of Zomara be upon them," Babila said. "Who were they?"

"The hirelings of our enemy, Samory."

"Then some have already met with their deserts, for three thousand of them lie here in this valley," and he pointed to the gruesome corpses scattered upon the grass. "But hast thou no possession to assure me that thou art actually the long-absent son of our Naya?" he inquired.

"Thou carriest thy caution a little too far in this affair, Babila," Omar answered smiling. "True, I have lost my jujus, nevertheless I can answer thee what questions thou puttest to me regarding my youth and my life in Mo. I know that thou art determined to satisfy thyself that I am actually the Prince, ere thou admittest us to our kingdom."

"The caution I exercise is my duty to the great Naya and my country," Babila answered. "No invader nor intruder hath ever entered Mo, and none shall while I am chief custodian of its Gate. The bones of many adventurers lie here in this valley."

"Yes, I know that well," Omar answered good-humouredly. "But what must I do to satisfy thee?" Then turning to me, he exclaimed in English, "This is amusing, Scars. I am actually prevented from entering my own country because I have grown a trifle taller!"

"What sayest thou in a foreign tongue?" Babila inquired, with a quick look of suspicion.

"I commented upon the absurdity of my situation to my companion, Scarsmere, who has accompanied me from England," Omar answered frankly.

"Scarsmere," repeated the man from the unknown region. "Scarsmere. And is he your friend?"

"Yea, my best friend."

"If thou art actually Omar then his friend will assuredly find welcome in Mo," the man said with courtesy. "But answer the questions I put to thee. Canst thou tell me anything regarding myself?"

"Well, I think I can," answered my friend with a laugh. "When I was quite a young lad thou wert one of the guardians of the outer gate of our palace. Once I was threatened by a ruffianly soldier as I passed, and thou didst strike him dead with one blow of thy sword. For thy prompt punishment of the fellow thou wert exalted by the Naya and given command over her body-guard. It was because thou didst unearth the dastardly conspiracy against her life that thou wert given the custodianship of the Gate of Mo."

"True," the man answered with a smile of satisfaction. "In one of my age loss of memory is excusable, yet now on looking closely at thee, I see the resemblance—yea, I welcome thee home, my lord the prince."

In an instant his manner had changed, and he became the most obedient of slaves.

"Very well," Omar said. "Now thou art satisfied that I am what I said we will lose no time in passing the last barrier."

"But these?" Babila inquired, glancing suspiciously at the black rabble forming our Dagomba following.

"They are my escort," Omar answered. "Every man, from Kona, the head-man, to the meanest slave, is my trusted servant, and they all deserve reward. Each shall enter Mo and receive it at the hands of the Naya herself. This I have already promised."

"The servants of the lord prince are welcome. The people shall fête them, and make their days pass as quickly as seconds fly. If thou art desirous they shall enter and be presented to the great Naya before whose eyes all men quail," Babila said, bowing humbly before his royal master.

"Then let us not pause. We desire to enter Mo without an instant's further delay. The way has been long and the obstacles great, but we have successfully accomplished all, and seek now to enter the palace of my queen-mother."

"Thy commands shall be obeyed," the man replied, again salaaming, and, walking to the rope, he placed the loops under his arm-pits, and a few minutes later was on his way back to the mysterious land, waving his hand to us and promising that ere an hour passed we should enter the realm of the Great White Queen.

With eager upturned faces we watched the cautious custodian of the mystic kingdom dangling at the end of the rope, gradually leaving us, until at length he was hauled up upon the far-off summit of the rock and disappeared among the small crowd collected at the brow. The men were evidently soldiers, and the eager manner in which they grouped themselves about Babila when he stepped into their midst, showed what intense excitement our arrival had caused.

As we watched we soon afterwards saw lowered from the towering height what appeared at first to be a thin black cord, but which, when the end fell at our feet, we found to be a ladder of curiously-knotted ropes about as thick as packing twine, so flimsy in construction that it seemed as though the weight of a single man would break it.

"Are we to climb to the top?" I asked Omar, who passed me by quickly in order to examine the ladder.

"Of course," he said.

"But surely these ropes will not bear our weight!" I observed. "They are only like string."

"Yes, but the core of each is of steel wire of such strength that it would bear our whole party all together," he answered. "Nevertheless, it is perhaps best to avoid running risks, so only a dozen shall ascend at a time."

I looked up at the swaying ladder with distrust. I had heard many stories of ropes chafing on the edges of rocks and being cut through, and my awful experience in descending the face of the precipice opposite had been sufficiently terrifying.

"The land of the Great White Queen is, indeed, unapproachable," I said. "Surely no enemy could invade you?"

"We fear no outside enemy," Omar answered with sudden seriousness. "It is internal dissensions that may cause trouble. Every precaution is taken here, at the gate of our land, to prevent an enemy from gaining Mo. The valley is commanded by guns in such a manner that it can be swept from end to end, so that even if a foe were to succeed in treading the Way of the Thousand Steps he must descend here and remain under the fire of the guns."

"I noticed that last night you signalled with a torch," I said.

"Ah! you were awake and did not speak," he laughed. "Yes, I flashed my name, with a message to the Naya. This was conveyed to her by a system of signals flashed from one point to another across the country in similar manner to those of European armies. At night the signals are constantly at work and take the place of your telegraphs. When the message reached the Naya she sent me a word in return, but even then Babila was far too cautious to afford us means to enter the country without first inspecting us himself."

"You've grown a bit, and become more Anglicized since you left," I said, smiling.

"Yes, possibly," he answered, adding, "I was, however, going to explain that so elaborate are the precautions against invasion that even now the ladder has been lowered, nay, even if we were at the top, the custodians of the Gate could, by simply pressing a button, send a current of electricity through the wires that form the cores of the ropes of such a strength, that the ropes and ourselves would almost instantly be fused into a shapeless mass. See! the ropes are wet, so that the full strength of the current could, if desired, be turned upon us." And he pulled forward the ladder and placed it in my hand.

Instinctively I shrank away, saying:

"I have no desire to be electrocuted just yet."

"Well, it's merely one of the many devices we have here for the warm reception of any enemy," he answered. "The number of bodies yonder are sufficient proof that any expedition against us must be ill-fated."

But just at that moment a rapid signal was flashed by the sun's rays upon a mirror, and reading it, he exclaimed in English:

"All is fast above. Come, Scars, old chap, follow me and let me hear your opinion of my country. Keep your chin raised and don't look down, or you may turn giddy."

Then, giving directions to Kona to allow only twelve men to swarm the flimsy ladder at one time, he placed his foot upon the first rung and commenced the long straight ascent.

As soon as he had climbed a dozen feet I glanced up at the towering crag, then followed his example.