CHAPTER XLVI
QUEEN MARVA
Discovering nothing of any kind, concerning Sûr Imar and his daughter, after they had quitted Athens, we made up our minds that the proper course was to pay a visit to the Princess Marva, and try to get some inkling of her plans. It was not very likely that a couple of clumsy fellows, like Strogue and my humble self, would prove a match, or even a serious check, for a subtle and ruthless woman, commanding a reckless tribe, and probably well informed of all the plans of her unsuspicious victims. So that if we appeared in our own characters, or even let her know that we were here, our days in this land, or indeed in any other visible except to the eyes of faith, were likely to be brief indeed.
But for the sake of those who mean well, and desire fair play on the whole, whenever it leaves a chance for them, Providence has been gracious enough to lay down one universal rule – that every wicked person has some special weakness, some nick in his black shell for the oyster-knife of justice; so that a simple and straight mind, like Strogue's and mine, may find its way through, and turn the whole to righteous uses.
"I have hit the mark," Jack Nickols said, when he came home to breakfast with his tar-pot; "when the sun comes up these rattling peaks, instead of down over them, is the time to think. I could not see things clear last night, though you know how little I take, Captain, compared with anybody else about. But when the sun came up from under to me, my brains, which are bright now and then, began to work. I thought of you snoozing in the ashes, and I resolved to do my best for you."
"Go on, my son," said the Captain kindly, with the tolerance of a gentleman who is offered lager-froth, instead of solid Bass; "there is no doubt that you have fine ideas. A man who turns out so early picks up something."
"Then what do you say to this?" cried Jack. "You might roll over fifty times, till nine o'clock, as old gentlemen do in England, and yet never find it occur to you. That Clipper of the mountains" – "Cleopatra" was the word in his mind perhaps – "is a terrible oner for money, they say, and we have had a tip or two to that effect. Till we paid her toll, though it is robbery downright, a bullet used to come from some black corner, and my very best hand had a sample through his hat. One must expect that sort of thing of course, in an out-of-way part of the world like this; but luckily they have never been at Wimbledon. I came very near the Queen's Prize once; but I told you all about that, last night. These beggars won't give me a chance. Never mind, it will come some day. But they haven't tried to pot us, since we paid toll. Now why shouldn't you go upon the same tack? Go to Her Majesty, as an opposition company, and offer a premium over our heads."
"Upon my word, you are a clever fellow," said Strogue, looking at him thoughtfully; "I fancied so when I saw the tar-pot. But, Jack, my dear boy, is there any foundation, anything for us to go upon?"
"Yes, there is. And we can make much more of it. I can promise you an interview with the tigress, if you will offer to put stripes of gold on her. You know what those confounded Germans are. No sooner do they hear of any English enterprise than they want to go one better and collar it. They come in, and hoist us out, and get the cream of all our sweat. There was a tremendous man of science, Herr Baddechopps, or Baddechumps, or some such name, poking about here with spectacles last autumn; I have got his card, and you shall have it. We put a rope round him, and two men at either end, and swept him down the hill faster than he came up, and we promised him the loop round his neck if he came back; for I can't stand their jealousy of everything we discover! You go and tell Marva that we have got the place too cheap; that it all belongs to her, and you will pay three times the royalty. Take a notary with you, but sign nothing."
"George, I am up for trying it, if you are," said Strogue. "What is the name of her place – Gomorrah? Doesn't sound very inviting, does it? But the lady won't hurt us, if we leave our cash behind. We can get there in three days, you said last night. Let us beard the tigress in her den. I have never been quite in that part before. There is no such thing as a road, of course. All the better for that sometimes."
Nickols advised us to take no horses, lest we should be murdered for their sake; but to hire a guide, and a tent, and half-a-dozen of his men (whom he would try to spare), as well as our own interpreter, and a Tartar or two who were always hanging about the Russian fort. Thus we should be ten or twelve in number, all well-armed, and capable of giving a good account of some thirty Ossets, if they took our expedition roughly; for they are not good shots, and their guns are very poor.
We spent that evening in consultation, receiving many hints from our young friend, who would have been glad to join us, if the state of his work had allowed it. But his mate, as he called him, was away, and so he could not well leave the diggings; moreover, there would have been some danger that he might be recognised, which would prove fatal to our case at once. Yet he promised to help us with all his force, in any great emergency, if we could only give him notice in good time, and this was of no less value to us than a troop of Cossacks. Meanwhile he would send to make inquiry at Vladikaukaz, the chief town on the north, which travellers from Russia would be almost sure to pass, whether our friends had been heard of there. And so, with many thanks, we left him for the present, and spent a day at Kazbek village, preparing for our visit to the Princess Marva.
Against so fierce an enemy, and with so good an object, our stratagem for obtaining an audience was fair enough; but to use the German professor's card seemed to me far beyond the most elastic stretch of honesty; so I threw it into the fire, to save argument, for Strogue took a different view of the case. "You may take the lead, and you may call yourself a German," I told him resolutely; "I am a silent partner, and it does not matter who I am. The lady speaks better French perhaps than you do, and certainly much better than I do. You do all the talking, and I nod my head. Cator is drawing up the rough agreement, which we submit for her consideration. The beauty of it is, that if in her greed she even gives a nibble at the bait, we can dangle it ever so long before her, and are sure to find out something of what we want to know. Cator must put it as vaguely as he can, and leave the royalty blank for us to fight about."
Cator was one of Jack Nickols' men, a sharp and well-educated youth, who had been in a lawyer's office, but found a lack of bracing qualities in the air, and left his stool in search of them. And now we gave him a double fee to prepare a document and enact the lawyer's clerk at our interview, for men of law were almost as rare as men of medicine in these parts. A formidable deed it was, with half-a-dozen seals to it, and we wrapped it round a straight black horn from some sheep or goat of the mountains.
The roads were bad, being over-metalled by the melting of the snow. For the roads are the river-courses, and when nature lays too much water on, it is not easy to get along them, even the right way of the grain. And our course now was against the grain, towards the head springs, or mother glaciers of the river Terek; which would have conducted us, when in a proper mood, but now knocked us back again, with a gruff and grey adversity. Neither was there anything for the eyes to spread their rims at, and make light of all the discontent of legs and back. All was dry rock, except where it was wet with dribble, or dirty with reek of thaw; and there was scarcely a tree to wipe the air, or show what way the wind came.
Nevertheless we strove along, following our guide, who cared much more about putting his own feet right than ours. For these men are not like the Alpine guides, whose loyalty is more to them than money. At length, on the third afternoon, we stood before a strange place, which I cannot describe, nor even give a rough idea of it, unless I may compare it with a great pile of big dominoes, set at any angle, some on end, and some on edge, on the top of a black pillow bolt-upright. And this was the fortress of the Osset Queen.
We sounded a trumpet, but received no answer. And then we made a rub-a-dub on a goat-skin drum, which was hanging on a stump for visitors. And when we left off, we heard a screech of metal going rustily and heavily upon its hinges. Then a muzzle, as big as a small church bell, came out, and we thought it was all up with us.
But Strogue, like a brave man, waved a white handkerchief on the screw of his ramrod, and we pushed the interpreter foremost, though it required three men to do it. What he said was beyond me altogether, though crowded with illustrious but anxious words. And if words were ever known to afford relief, it is fair to acknowledge that they did so then. The great muzzle which commanded all our bodies, so that to fly was hopeless, sank upon its pivot – or whatever it might be – and a ladder, which had been out of sight behind a buttress, came sliding down the base to meet us. "One man first" was the order from the loop-hole; and every one of us quite admitted his friend's claim to precedence. "Can die but once," cried Strogue; "here goes." Upon which I felt my cheeks burn, and said, "Let me." But he answered, "No, you shall come next, my son."
The Captain went up heavily, with the scroll upon his back, and the four-chambered "bull-dog" in his left breast-pocket; and we saw two men receive him on a narrow parapet, and he waved his hand to us to indicate all right. Then he vanished round a corner, and we waited for some minutes, having found a little shelter where it would take some time to shoot us. We assured one another very strongly that if anything happened to Captain Strogue, we would not be satisfied with avenging him, but would have the whole place down, and a British fleet in a position to rake all the Caucasus, when to our great relief he appeared again at the head of the ladder and shouted, "Three more fellows may come up now." This time, I was the foremost to run up. Not that I was really afraid before; only that I waited to know what the others thought, as a man of modesty and deliberation does, when the circumstances are unusual. Cator followed readily, and so did another of Jack Nickols' men; but the interpreter said that we should find him more useful at the bottom of the ladder. "She is a stunner, and she has got a stunning place," Strogue whispered to me, as he led us through a dark passage into a long low room; "she beats the Begum all to fits."
What Begum he meant I could not tell, having heard him speak of several whose hearts he had broken in his early days. But if he meant some regal-looking woman, he was not beyond the mark in his comparison. For I had never beheld one so stately and grand as the lady who now received us with a slight inclination, reflected by the polish of the black walnut table before her. She was sitting in a chair of purple velvet with a leopard's skin thrown over it, and her dress was of soft maroon brocade, with white fur trimmings at the neck and wrist, and a gold chain flowing upon her full broad bosom. There was not a wrinkle or a spot to mar the shapely column of her neck, or the firm sleek comeliness of her face; and her eyes, if there had only been some sweetness in them, would have been as lovely as they were splendid. Her complexion was darker than Sûr Imar's, and the lineaments more delicate, so that her face excelled his in perfection of form, as the feminine face should do. But as to expression, the gentler element was by no means in its duty there; for the aspect was of one who scorns, mistrusts, and repels all fellow-creatures, and sees the evil in them only.
"These, then, are the members of your company, Herr Steinhart," – she addressed herself to Strogue, after one flashing glance at each of us, as we entered, and her French pronunciation was a little too good for me to follow all of it, though she did not infuse much nasal twang; "and it is your opinion that I am deluded by those who are working my mines at present?" My mines indeed, how grand! I thought; what would the Russians have to say to that?
"I never speak ill of the poor," replied Strogue, "and we must make every allowance for the British audacity, your Highness. All cannot afford to pay as we can, for the reason that they have not our enormous capital at command. We always find it the wisest course to treat the landowners liberally. We make no pretence to be better, more honest or more generous, than those Englishmen. Your Serene Highness, although so young, has had sufficient experience of the world, to know that all men are by nature rogues."
"My faith, but it is true! How seldom, though, have the men the good manners to acknowledge that! Rather do they not put the fault upon the more simple and righteous sex?"
"Your Serene Highness," Strogue answered gravely, seeing that this title was not ungrateful, "the ladies perceive at once that they are grossly wronged; but they are too magnanimous, too regardless of gain, to remonstrate. You, for example, how much do you care? You have ample revenues from your sovereignty, and things that occur on the back of a mountain are of small account to you. Nevertheless the right is right, and it ought to be defended."
"And the right shall be defended, when it is my right," said the lady; "I am not accustomed, as you well observed, to the smaller business, Herr Steinhart; but those who defraud me suffer for it. Make your offer, if you please, more intelligible."
This was the very thing we did not want to do, having no offer of any kind to make. But Strogue had gone far enough, and wide enough, to know that a question is answered best by another question.
"Is it possible that your Serene Highness will oblige us with the amount which those arrogant Englishmen have been in the habit of contributing to your lofty revenues? We are a wealthy company, but we cast away no money."
"It is just," she replied, "and my desire is for justice. This is what they pay me now. But they would have to double it for the coming year. The trumpery sum of two hundred roubles. With you I will not treat for less than a thousand, and for one year only at that price."
"Your Highness is very just and moderate," said Strogue, while I turned away to hide my indignation, and sadness, that a woman so magnificent should stoop to such a lie; for I knew that Jack Nickols had paid her only twenty roubles, to last for two years, as she had no title there whatever. "But your Highness will pardon me for mentioning that we have heard a rumour, perhaps an absurd one, that a brother of yours, a great Lesghian chief, who was banished by the Russians, is now returning to his country, and may claim his rights over that desolate spot, and finally establish them. In that case our lease from your Serene Highness might not be so valuable as we were led to hope."
A deep colour flushed, or I might say flashed, into the clear dusk of her cheeks, and a brilliance into the darkness of her eyes. Then she placed the long oval of her smooth plump hands (which reminded me of Dariel's, but were half again as large) on the black walnut wood before her, and gazed at the Captain, till he scarce knew where he was. Then she turned her eyes on me, with contempt subduing anger.
"If you think to defraud me by such pretences," – as she spoke she rose, and her head towered over the dumb-foundered Strogue's, and Cator's also, – "it would have been better for you, if you had remained at the foot of my hospitable ladder. As to the chances of Sûr Imar's interference, you shall have the evidence of Prince Hafer. His signature also you shall have. I will produce him to you." With swift yet dignified steps, she left the long gloomy room, and we stared at one another.
"Better cut and run, if they have left the ladder there," Strogue whispered, for several men now occupied the doorway; "it is all up, if Hafer sees us. I made sure from what they told us that he was miles away. What's the good of four of us?"
"They can shoot us all the easier, if we run," I said; "let us have it out here, if it must be; this thundering walnut table makes a grand breastwork. After all, they may not want to fight us."
"We can settle at least half-a-dozen of them;" Cator's eyes shone with legal pugnacity, "four Englishmen can lick a score of Ossets."
"Not if they are like that man," said the fourth of us, Tommy Williams, pointing to the door, which was not a door (as the old joke has it), neither could it be a jar, but looked more like a bed-curtain. The lintel was appointed for men of good stature, and I had passed beneath it without much bend; but the young man, who made his entry now, was above any moderate stature of mankind, as he promised in breadth to out-do them. In a flash of thought, Sûr Imar stood before me, as I first beheld him. "Has that woman killed him, and is this his spectre?" I asked myself, as I fell back, and stared.
Dark as the room was, another moment showed me the excited wandering of my wits. This was not Sûr Imar's face, but one of similar comeliness, without his resolution behind it. A gentle, pleasant, large, and kindly countenance as his was, but with very sad placidity, and no strong will to enforce its lines. The face of a man who can be trusted to do you no wrong, and never to stop any other man from doing it. Like that of the friends we value most, when our little world goes smoothly.
He came to the table, behind which we had posted ourselves for a desperate stand, and there he bowed very gracefully to us, and then looked round for his admirable mother, as if he were quite at a loss without her. Strogue, in his polite way, asked in English, "Who the devil are you, sir?" The young giant looked at him, and shook his head, like a stranger to our fine language. "No fear; he won't fight," the Captain cried to comfort us; and we all took our hands from the triggers in our pockets.
His golden curls were waving still – for he had the finest crop that I ever did see – and he was looking at us calmly, and as we thought with a sweet and hospitable intent, when back came the lady almost with a rush, and tokens of fury on her too expressive face. She had not meant her son to come in without her; and we smiled among ourselves, as we thought how he would "catch it," by and by at any rate, if not in our presence. However, she controlled herself, and introduced him grandly.
"Gentlemen, this is my son Prince Hafer, who will add his signature to mine, to remove all your hesitation, if the terms you propose should be suitable. Also he will confirm my declaration that my brother Sûr Imar will raise no claim to the valuable mines you propose to rent from me. The Prince is capable of speaking French; though not perhaps with my facility. Your concession, which I have perused, is in French, but the amount of your payment is not yet stated. It will be useless to say less than one thousand roubles, five hundred of which must be paid in advance. Herr Steinhart, I am not a lover of money; but I must insist upon my son's rights. Do you consent to the sum I mention?"
Strogue looked at me, and then at Cator. Intending no business, but only a sham for the purpose of seeing the lady, and hearing something about her brother, he was taken aback at this close issue, especially the demand for a large payment on the nail. Moreover, his mind was in sad confusion, and so was mine, I must confess, about the existence of two Prince Hafers, while we durst not even hint at any explanation. But Cator was quicker, and more ready with a quiddity.
"Your Highness," he said, "as the legal adviser of this wealthy company, I may say that we shall not object to the rent you reserve, nor to the prepayment, which to us is a trifle below consideration. Only I should take a note of guarantee from your Highness, and also from Prince Hafer, against interference on your brother's part. That will have to be embodied in this instrument, which moreover has not as yet the necessary stamp. You have already given us your full assurance. If the Prince in my presence will add his, according to your proposition, I will put them into legal form."
"Bravo, Cator!" cried that stupid Strogue in English. "Did you speak, sir?" asked the Princess. "Your Serene Highness, I am afflicted with a cough," the Captain replied, with his hand before his mouth.
"My son," said the lady, looking steadily at Hafer, "oblige me by sitting down in that chair. It is one of my afflictions, gentlemen, that he is not always in strong health. But he is the delight of all our tribe; so amiable, so just, so generous! Now," she continued, with her back towards us, so that we could not see the expression of her eyes, "assure these gentlemen, my dear son, of your certain knowledge that Prince Imar will never set foot upon Kazbek again."
"I have no knowledge. I have never seen him. His doings are unknown to me. I cannot affirm at all where he is." As the Prince spoke, in French rather worse than my own, he began to tremble violently, and his eyes turned away from his mother's face.
We saw her place one hand below her solid breast. And then she said, coaxingly as we thought, "The poor dear, what an affliction it is! But, my son, you can give us your firm belief that he will never tread the mountain of Kazbek any more."
"He will never tread that mountain any more," the young man replied in a low sad voice; and then he broke into a torrent of tears.
"Excuse me, gentlemen. It is most grievous. From a child he has suffered from these heart-attacks. Oh, the unfortunate mother that I am!" As she spoke, she was leading him out of the room; and we drew aside respectfully.
Before we had time to discuss this scene, her ladyship returned with some tears in her eyes, which made her look strangely beautiful. "I thank you for your most kind sympathy," she said, "and will not detain you any longer. If you will put all into proper form (for even in trouble such things must be seen to), and return with the 500 roubles and the deed, if it may be this day-week, I will grant all your desires. Till then, farewell."
With silent salaams we took our leave, and were shown forth, not from the rock-front of the castle, but through a narrow passage, or gallery, cut in the crag, and provided with iron doors. And the Ossets who conducted us could not be tempted to open lips, or to make a sign.