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Jane succeeded in deciding not to cry-at any rate yet.
'But what can we do? Robert asked.
'Nothing, Cyril answered promptly,  except keep our eyes and ears open. Look! That runner chap's
getting his wind. Let's go and hear what he's got to say.'
The runner had risen to his knees and was sitting back on his heels. Now he stood up and spoke. He
began by some respectful remarks addressed to the heads of the village. His speech got more interesting
when he said
'I went out in my raft to snare ibises, and I had gone up the stream an hour's journey. Then I set my
snares and waited. And I heard the sound of many wings, and looking up, saw many herons circling in
the air. And I saw that they were afraid; so I took thought. A beast may scare one heron, coming upon it
suddenly, but no beast will scare a whole flock of herons. And still they flew and circled, and would not
light. So then I knew that what scared the herons must be men, and men who knew not our ways of
going softly so as to take the birds and beasts unawares. By this I knew they were not of our race or of
our place. So, leaving my raft, I crept along the river bank, and at last came upon the strangers. They are
many as the sands of the desert, and their spear-heads shine red like the sun. They are a terrible people,
and their march is towards US. Having seen this, I ran, and did not stay till I was before you.'
'These are YOUR folk, said the headman, turning suddenly and angrily on Cyril,  you came as spies for
them.'
'We did NOT, said Cyril indignantly.  We wouldn't be spies for anything. I'm certain these people aren't
a bit like us. Are they now? he asked the runner.
'No, was the answer.  These men's faces were darkened, and their hair black as night. Yet these strange
children, maybe, are their gods, who have come before to make ready the way for them.'
A murmur ran through the crowd.
'No, NO, said Cyril again.  We are on your side. We will help you to guard your sacred things.'
The headman seemed impressed by the fact that Cyril knew that there WERE sacred things to be
guarded. He stood a moment gazing at the children. Then he said
'It is well. And now let all make offering, that we may be strong in battle.'
The crowd dispersed, and nine men, wearing antelope-skins, grouped themselves in front of the opening
in the hedge in the middle of the village. And presently, one by one, the men brought all sorts of
things-hippopotamus flesh, ostrich-feathers, the fruit of the date palms, red chalk, green chalk, fish from
the river, and ibex from the mountains; and the headman received these gifts. There was another hedge
inside the first, about a yard from it, so that there was a lane inside between the hedges. And every now
and then one of the headmen would disappear along this lane with full hands and come back with hands
empty.
'They're making offerings to their Amulet, said Anthea.  We'd better give something too.'
The pockets of the party, hastily explored, yielded a piece of pink tape, a bit of sealing-wax, and part of
the Waterbury watch that Robert had not been able to help taking to pieces at Christmas and had never
had time to rearrange. Most boys have a watch in this condition. They presented their offerings, and
Anthea added the red roses.
The headman who took the things looked at them with awe, especially at the red roses and the
Waterbury-watch fragment.
'This is a day of very wondrous happenings, he said.  I have no more room in me to be astonished. Our
maiden said there was peace between you and us. But for this coming of a foe we should have made
sure.'
The children shuddered.
'Now speak. Are you upon our side?'
'YES. Don't I keep telling you we are? Robert said.  Look here. I will give you a sign. You see this. He
held out the toy pistol.  I shall speak to it, and if it answers me you will know that I and the others are
come to guard your sacred thing-that we've just made the offerings to.'
'Will that god whose image you hold in your hand speak to you alone, or shall I also hear it? asked the
man cautiously.
'You'll be surprised when you DO hear it, said Robert.  Now, then. He looked at the pistol and said
'If we are to guard the sacred treasure within'-he pointed to the hedged-in space-'speak with thy loud
voice, and we shall obey.'
He pulled the trigger, and the cap went off. The noise was loud, for it was a two-shilling pistol, and the
caps were excellent.
Every man, woman, and child in the village fell on its face on the sand. The headman who had accepted
the test rose first.
'The voice has spoken, he said.  Lead them into the ante-room of the sacred thing.'
So now the four children were led in through the opening of the hedge and round the lane till they came to
an opening in the inner hedge, and they went through an opening in that, and so passed into another lane.
The thing was built something like this, and all the hedges were of brushwood and thorns: [Drawing of
maze omitted.]
'It's like the maze at Hampton Court, whispered Anthea.
The lanes were all open to the sky, but the little hut in the middle of the maze was round-roofed, and a
curtain of skins hung over the doorway.
'Here you may wait, said their guide,  but do not dare to pass the curtain. He himself passed it and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]