The Threshold of Fear

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 170, 19 July 1924, Page 28

The Threshold of Fear

By ARTHUR J. REES,

CHAPTER XV. "In the gathering darkness I saw an | Indian squatting on the ground, engaged : in some occupation which I could not j plainly see. Descending into the hollow, [ I went across to the tree, and beheld him filling a hole in the ground which i suspiciously resembled a grave. He was raking in the earth with his hands, { shuffling it in with extraordinary rapid- [ ity, and so deeply occupied with his task, which he accompanied with a strange dirgelike chant, that he did not see mc until I was quite close to him. He was very old, attired in a long robe, and wearing a necklace of monkeys' teeth. Our eyes met, but he went on with his work. There was something weird and unholy in that bent muttering figure, shuffling dirt into a great hole with two withered hands like claws. He had not moved when I approached, but regarded mc with an incurious eye. j " 'What are you doing here ?' I asked ; him, in the dialect of the Inca Indians. ! " 1 am Munyeru, and bury the dead—the seeming dead,' he replied. "I started. "What do you mean by the seeming dead?' I asked. " 'Those who die are not really dead—" the first time,' he said, shuffling earth into the grave. 'They can be restored to life, my son—on conditions. Ai-ie, that is something few white men know. When the white man dies his friends, not knowing better, bury him deep, and leave him buried. And they, the seeming dead, wake up in the grave with the weight of the great earth above, and stare into the blackness, and cry out; but of what avail? They are beyond help, and their cries are suffocated in their throats. Ai-ie, white bother, but this happens to most of you.' "My heart stirred a little at these strange words, which brought up a vision of appalling horror, although I knew they could not be true. Who was this old Indian to say what happened to a man after the jaws of the grave closed on him? In silence I watched him complete his work. " TVho have you buried there V I asked him as he rose to his feet. '"One of my tribe,' he said. 1 shall dig him up to-night, and restore him to life, on tho condition.' "I thought of asking him what the condition was, bnt stopped -at the absurdity of tho idea. 'What do you know of the white man?' I asked. " 'I have lived, among them,' he replied. Ai-ie —for many years.' "I did not ask him how he had got hack to his tribe. I was too hungry and thirsty just then. Inst ad, I begged him to give mc food and shelter for the night. He responded by taking mc to his hut, where he set out a meagre meal and a water jar. Here I supped frugally, and not very comfortably cither, chilled by the reflection that I was taking my meal in the midst of of my host's cemetery, for I had a pretty clear idea what the mounds around the hut meant, whether the occupants had been 'restored' to life or not. Darkness fell upon the face of the mountain as we sat there, and thp old Indian kindled a small lamp of antique shape, which gave forth a rudo flame. By its light I observed him more clearly. He was much older than I had at first supposed, and his straight-falling robe covered a shrivelled frame, but he had a look of surprising dignity and authority in his thin, dark face. He wore his hair Jpng, drooping on both sides of the head, and held together with a fillet of metal which ran round his brow. As this glistened in the light I saw that it was inscribed with the figures of serpents with uplifted heads as if about to strike—the symbol of the stone which had caused our guides to flee when they saw it on the other side of the mountain. His eyes I onlj saw once that night. There was something in their depths which daunted mc, and I was glad that thereafter he kept them fixed on the ground. "He asked mc how I gamed tho valley, and listened in silence to my story of the ill-fated expedition. He told mc, gently enough, that there was nothing to bring such an expedition there—only a community of pastoral Indians, of which he was witchdoctor and chief, who lived on the shores of the lake below, where they cultivated tobacco and maize. I was disappointed to learn that the Indians were of ordinary stature, and that the lake contained no fabulous or prehistoric beast; but, though I knew it not, I was on the verge of a far greater discovery than any of these things. The old Indian promised to take mc down to the settlement in the morning. He was extraordinarily friendly and gentle, no doubt because he had lived for many years among the whites, and could speak a. word or .two of English. I trusted that his influence over his tribe was sufficiently powerful to compel a similar attitude towards mc. We remained talking far into the night, and slept on the floor of the hut. "In the morning the Indian was early astir, preparing a breakfast of maizemeal porridge. When we had partaker of this, we set out for the" lake at the foot of the mountain. In the course oi an hour's walking wc_reached a-terrace wiiich commanded a, view of the lake just below, with a considerable villagi of houses clustered along the brink—a collection of large huts built of wood and sun-dried mud. "We descended, but to my surprise the Indians engaged in various vocations along the shores of the lake and in th. fields close by paid very little attentior to mc. A few looked towards us. and one or two strolled a few Bteps for a nearer view, but that was all. Indians are a notoriously incurious race, bul these lakeside dwellers seemed to have conquered the foible altogether. They were extremely industrious for Indians hoeing and planting, others planting with teams of oxen in the fields. I alsc saw the graceful shapes of some womei coming Indian file, through a crop ol maize, bearing eaVthcnware wate.j&rs on their heads. But it struck mi» as peculiar to find a community, of lakeside dwellers engaged in such oxclusi»elj agricultural pursuits. Not a sail of an; kind could I see on that great sheet ol water, not a fishing boat or smack, 01 even an Indian canoe. .1 turned t< Munyeru at my side, and asked him ii ! none of the Indians ever went upon fit lake to catch fish. "He shook his head, "Xagu-ru-wahio (The Lake of Flamingoes) is sacred.' '"Sacred to-whom?' I asked, curi ously. " 'It is the dwelling-place of the Sur and the Moon, and of One who is greatei than both;* _!_ - "I looked at him inquiringly. 'What do tou meaoL

Author of "The Moon Rock," "Island of Destiny," Etc *

"He elevated a withered arm, and '• pointed to a distant island. 'That is 1 Murihi-e-nong—The Hidden Place. The ' Sun lives there, with his woman the • Moon. It is permitted to see him sink ' into his cave at night, and to see the ' woman rise from hers, only she, being ! a woman, does not always come forth. J The Sun and the Moon are great gods, 1 who rule this world; but there is one greater than they, who rules an unseen ' world, where all is darkness. Ai-ie! Much greater, and ever to be feared, ' for he is the Swift-footed One, who ■ crosses the lake ill a stride. All men 1 fear him, and dread to see his face, for J he is the enemy of all and the father j of the dcvil —great Death himself. He is ' the third god who dwells on the island, : and these waters are sacred to him. No ' man dare look in their depths at dusk, < after the good God Sun goes to his cave, ' for then Death flies abroad, and even to 1 see the reflection of his shadow in the water is to die. Ai-ie luiero! No man may see his shadow and live.' ! "In a flash it came to mc. By accident ; I had reached a spot in an almost in- ■ accessible valley, jealously guarded by ] high mountains, where a remnant of the ancient Inca' Indians survived and wor- ] shipped at the shrines of the oldest ' form of worship in the world. 'Some- ' thing hidden behind the ranges'? It was ' here, waiting for mc. Here was the sacred lake of which archaeologists had j written, dotted with the islands venerated in Inca days, and worshipped secretly by a handful of Inca descendants. The Sun, and Moon, and Death; that J was the Inca Trinity. On the brink of this deep and dark lake, nearly a hun- . dred miles square, skirted on one side \ by the frowning mountains I had \ crossed, were practised the mystic rites of the worship of the Sun, with a more ] sinister and perhaps even older kind of ( worship still. Here was the home of ( the forgotten Sun Worshippers, and the more secret Death (or Devil) Worshippers, too! I could hardly believe that I ) was in the presence of sober reality. - Then, looking at the old man beside mc, ' I observed the snake totem in the fillet in his hair, and wondered I had not understood the significance of it before. , " 'And have you seen Death, who • dwells on yonder island?' I asked him. i '"Ai-ie, "Nogul (white man), I have ' seen him For lam his servant—the < servant of the Swift-Footed One. But I < may not talk of these things.' "He made a strange gesture with his 1 arm in the air, as if warding off something, and then turned away from the i ed<*e of the lake. I followed. We went < a "short distance back up the valley 1 down which we had come, until we ] reached a small flat-roofed hut, stand- • ing by itself in a grove of trees. Munyeru opened the door of this primitive , nlace and turned to roe. 'Nogul, said ; he, 'this is your dwelling. A woman will , brin" you drink and food.' And with these words he left mc, making upwards , towards the height where he dug up his 'seeming dead.'" CHAPTER XVI. "The hut which was to serve as my quarters was built on the edge of a narrow strip of jungle, which stretched . downward to where a line of mangoes fringed a strip of sea, along a narrow : inlet of that great inland sea. From the doorway I could see dark and oily ' water between the trees, lapping, ever 'so gently, on the narrow beach of dark ! volcanic sand. I determined to explore | this spot as soon as my food arrived. I This was presently brought by a tall and dignified Indian woman, with high cheekbones and piercing black eyes. She deposited a platter of maize cakes and an earthenware jar of water on the floor of the hut, and marched off without a ! glance at mc. When she was gone I left the hut, closing the door behind mc, I and made my way down to the inland I beach. The small inlet or freshet which ran past my hut was scarce a furlong lin length, narrowing and losing itself in the hills a little higher up. But lower ' down, at the mouth, where it emptied I itself into the parent lake, it was very I much broader than opposite 'the hut— a kind of estuary, in fact. "The shore of the lake at this spot was very secluded, thickly wooded, and ! entirely "hidden from the community of Indians and their huts half a mile away. II stood long on the fiat and muddy brink, gazing across the unruffled surface at the smg.ll island I could see in the distance. And then I looked equally long 1 into the lake beneath mc. Ido not know whether I expected to see the shape of Death lurking there, though it was an eerie and lonely place, which might well have served for the hidingplace of the arch-enemy of mankind. The water, though clear, was black like ink, and of great depth, and there was already a kind of twilight atmosphere there. That was due to the great overhanging cliffs at the mountain side preventing the sun's rays penetrating through that high buttress down to the surface of the lake. In the evening, no doubt, it was a different matter. Then the sun descended on the western side" of the lake, dropping into his island cave, as his nightly dipping was seen in Indian eyes. I "But there was life on this lonely side of the lake—bird life. Two species j of birds haunted that portion of the j lake, congregating in a shallow, marshy part which was covered with reeds, j There was a kind of black ibis —the bird i sacred in old Egypt—and a few flamingoes making a feminine patch of bright colouring among the more funereallygarbed birds. That was why the Indians called the lake Nagu-ru-wahia, which, strictly, is translated as the Water of Bed Birds. There hardly seemed enough of them to give the lake that name, but I was to learn afterwards that they , visited the lake at evening, flying there !in great flocks, and disappearing at dawn. At that moment I could not see more than a dozen or so, their pink colouring making a wonderful contrast ,to the solemn black ibises. I "A little later, returning to my hut, I was seized with the idea of having a bath in the water which slipped almost past my door. These ancient Incas were a hospitable people according to their : lights, but water for washing did not i appear to enter into their scheme of existence, and the hardships of mountain climbing had left mc in a filthy state. So I undressed myself by the shore, and plunged in. Ido not know when I have received a greater surprise. The water, instead of being heavy and cold, as all lake water invariably is, was warm and delightful as a July sea. Moreover, it was as buoyant and as easy to swim in as a. calm Devon sea. Buoyant! I could not account for it : until I. tasted it, and discovered that it was, if anything, Salter than our Eng--1 liah Channel. _-: - "

"Lake water —any still water—is much .1 more difficult to swim in than the , ocean. But this lake was really an . inland salt sea, in which one might | swim for hours-.without fatigue. At - least, so it seemed to mc, as I disported . myself in the narrow arm. I swam to , the opposite shore and back again, and, ( finding the sensation delightful and j invigorating, I then swam down to the j mouth of the lake, and back again to , my hut. "Perhaps it was the ease with which I accomplished this small feat which first put into my head the idea of swimming A across the lake to the island which Mun- ' yeru had pointed out to mc. I imagined it to be not. more than a mile from the shore, near the hut—a mile and a little . more, allowing for the length of the ' freshet—and that distance was nothing ' to a strong swimmer like myself, who ' had been fond of long-distance swimming ' since a boy. "It was that night the thought came to mc as I sat alone in the hut, wonder- ' ing what fate was to befall mc in the hands of these people among whom I found myself, dwelling by this lonely lakeside shore. I did not trust them, < in spite of their seeming indifference to 1 my pre-ence there. Their extreme pas- • sivity and indifference were more dis- ] concerting than an outward show of 1 enmity, because it might mask some- i thing for which they could afford to 1 wait. And Munyeru, their priest and i witch doctor, had a look in the depth l of his eyes for which I did not care, i Despite his apparent mildness and i friendliness, this strange figure who dug ] up the dead with his hands might at i that moment be plotting my death. In i this I wronged -him, and grievously, too, i as shall presently appear. But just < then I only knew that I was virtually r. a prisoner in his hands, and that he ] could do with mc what he would. Think- s ing thus, it seemed to mc that, as the ( lake was held in superstitious veneration by the Indians, I should be just as well oil on the island, and in less danger of my life, than I was there. And, with ' the .acred waters of the lake between ; mc and the Indians, I should be safe ' from pursuit, after what Munyeru had ' said. I also had the notion that as ' the lake had other islands I might swim 1 at my leisure to them, and by this ! means reach the western shore, there ' to make my way out of the Valley of ' Ghosts, and back to civilisation again. ' "I had another wish, too, which was . to behold the Island of the Sun and Moon and Death with my own eyes. I smiled at the Indian superstition of the Sun and Moon and Death dwelling there, but I had no doubt that there j were wonderful images and shrines hidden away upon the Sacred Island —remains which students of Aztec history would give years of life to see. What . a triumph if I should be the first to set eyes upon those holy mysteries of the Sun Worshippers carefully guarded from profane gaze for thousands of years! ' The Inca priests, no doubt, were respon- ' sible for the cunning legend that Death dwelt there, in order to keep the Indians '■ from setting unhallowed feet in the ; place; and I was the first white man who had "found his way into the valley. "My arrogance, in reasoning thus, overlooked Hamlet's advice —as I take ' it—to fools. I was speedily to find out that this earth of ours contains stranger things than had hitherto been dreamt of in my shallow philosophy. "I did not make the attempt until the third night of my enforced stay there— three days of entire solitude in that lonely valley, during which time my food was replenished in the dark while ) I slept, and I saw no living things except 1 the flamingoes which arrived nightly in great flocks on the lake, only to depart again at dawn. It was a strange sight to see them descending in a great swarm, on noiseless pink and black wings, hovering over the dark waters with faint mournful cries; but it was even more wonderful to witness their departure at dawn. At the first break of morn, looking out of my hut, I would see them standing motionless in the shallows by the shore, slim shapes of pink and white, reminding mc of the story in the Arabian Nights of the Sultan's daughters who bathed in a pool and after their bath put on robes of birds' feathers and flew away. I used to feel like the indecorous young man who watched the damsels, peeping out at the birds in the grey light of dawn, for in the dim light their pink and white shapes had a strange resemblance to bathing girls, and as sure as I showed myself in the open they immediately took flight and winged their way upward, as the startled daughters of the Sultan when surprised by the improper curiosity of the young man. And the cries they uttered as they flew aloft were not unlike those which might have proceeded from virtuous maidens so unbecomingly surprised—a kind of soft soprano, dismayed o-o-o-h! Why they visited that sheet of water shunned by the ' Indians and sacred to the gods I could never understand. There was no food for them there, and very few shallows in which they could fish. But each night they came, and departed in the morning in the same way, with a regularity and punctuality which at least had nothing feminine about it. "I had fallen asleep on the third night without any definite plan of making my escape, and after sleeping for some hours awakened with a start with the light of the moon shining in my eyes and flooding the mean interior of the hut with light. I went to the door and looked out. It was a glorious night of tropic warmth. The lake was shimmering like quicksilver in the moonlight, and close • by, not far beneath, I could see the placid waters of the fresher creaming on the volcanic beach. And, as I looked, ■ something within mc seemed to whisper: "Now is your time. You will never have a better .opportunity to slip away. Go now.' "Tho impulse was irresistible. At any rate, I did not try to resist it, for I i seemed to be in the grasp of some voli- , tion stronger than my own. I made a bundle of such of mv things as could be conveniently carried on my head, and went down to the narrow channel, where ' the water looked inviting. I found it : delicious when I plunged in, warm and delightful as a summer sea. I swam easily to the mouth of the freshet, and entered the" brooding waters of the , inland sea. "For a time all went well. I felt , like a man possessed of inexhaustible t, energy as I went out nnd out into the , deep waters of the open gulf. The moon lighted, up the black, motionless lake • and my white form cleaving through it. But the stillness was awful. It was so still that tho swift motion of my body slipping through the water reached my , ears like a deafening roar of spray. I was using the overarm stroke just then, [ md going at a great pace. Then 1 i changed for the under-arm side 6troke. , and with that wonderful feeling of cxi hilaration which only a strong swim- . mer knows, went forging ahead. ; "I swam on' for an hour or more, but the island was still distant from my view, presenting the same flat outline ; on the water ahead which I had seen from the mouth of the freshet, when I had taken its bearings

before setting out on my swim. I came to the conclusion now that it was furthei from the shore than I had sup- ' posed. That did not worry mc at first. The water was pleasant, and I was good for many miles more. So I swam on and on, but beginning to scrn the shape of the Island of the Sun and Moon more frequently now, raising my head well from the water in order to get a good view. "At the end of another hour I began to grow uneasy at finding that the island was apparently still very little nearer to mc. According to my computation, I had been in the water for three hours or more, and I had yet a great distance to go—almost as far as I had supposed it to be when I 6et out. I asked myself whether it might not be better for mc to return, but I gave a gasp of dismay when I looked round and saw how far I was from the land. It waß merely a blurred outline. The freshet, the mangroves, and the shores of the lake had vanished from sight. There was nothing for it but to go on. "The situation in which I found myself did not alarm mc unduly. As I have told you, I am a good long-distance swimmer, and I felt that I still had plenty of strength left. I was conscious, however, of changing my stroke too frequently, which is always a bad sign. I went from breast stroke to side stroke, and from half-trudgeon to overarm, then back again to slow and steady swimming on the breast. Then, all of a sudden, I seemed to lose all sense of having limbs, and to be Bwept along, as though through space, without any effort of my own, like a disembodied spirit floating through a black void of eternity, beyond the realms of time, earth, and sky. The material world of land and sea crumbled away. I was soaring—soaring through space, a spirit carried on giant wings. "This feeling passed suddenly away. I was back in the dark waters of the lake, swimming wearily now, an intolerable lassitude dwelling in my frame and weighing down my limbs. The water, once so buoyant, had become thick and heavy and sluggish; warm, sticky, and viscous too, like swimming through a sea of blood! The bundle I carried on my head was now a load of lead, and each stroke I made cost mc the greatest effort. But still I kept doggedly on. It was drumming in my ears that the Island of the Sun and Moon was also the Island of Death, and I was now fighting against the thought that it was to be the island of death for mc. It seemed to mc that I was much nearer to the shore now, and I was not going to give in if I could help it. The oblique rays of the moon, setting fast, gave my weary eyes a distinct view of my goal. I could see the shape of cliffs, a strip of shelving beach, and the faint feathery outline of a group of palms, I was only a short distance away now, and with a great effort I swam on. "Nearer I came, until I conld see a savage cliff, and some tangled jungle growth forming a thick screen across the interior of the island, a screen through which the dying rays of the moon cast a curious afterglow, lambent and weird, like green flames flickering 'behind bars in the depth of a pit. And I thought I saw strange things in glistening masses of gloomy foliage—sleeping apes, a great roosting bird, and the sinuous folds of a snake hanging pendulous from a horizontal branch which swayed slightly with the reptile's weight. (To be con'inued Saturday next).