THE PILLAR OF SACRIFICE

Evening Star, Issue 20056, 22 December 1928, Page 19

THE PILLAR OF SACRIFICE

A SHORT STORY (Written for the ‘ Evening Slur.’) In the darkness lie Was a thing that gasped for breath; a thing that stumbled and foil, that cursed as it regained its foot and continued its headlong course, and that at intervals made the forest resound with an indescribable animaldike cry of mingled rage and grief. At the first sound of Ins approach the two men eating their evening meal by the camp fire seized the'rifles ready to their hands, and rising to their feet, stepped into the shadow of a nearby tree. Motionless they stood with eyes directed to the spot whence the sounds proceeded. They were men who had led adventurous lives in different parts of the earth. Many and various had been their experiences; hut never before had they heard such a cry issue from human throat as that of him who drew nearer and nearer to them. In the circle of light cast by the flames little was to be seen but a tangled mass of vegetation through which it was almost impossible to force a passage. In one place, however, was a way through the barrier. He who approached the watching men found it, and emerged from the mystery of darkness into the revelation of light. The watchers saw a tall, emaciated being, whoso form, clad in a few tattered remnants of clothing, gleamed like copper in the firelight. A mass of hair and beard, angled into inextricable confusion, framed a face of which little conld be seen but the huge beaklike nose, and eyes, coal-black and fathomless, in which the light of reason seemed to have <'ied, so strange, so unearthly was their glare. The newcomer halted when he came into view, but gave no sign of being aware of the proximity of the fire, until some wood, shifting its position because of the fuel beneath turning to ash, drew his attention to the blaze. He drew near it, and, sitting down on his heels, stretched out his long, gaunt hands to the heat. For a time he remained motionless. Then from amongst his rags ho drew some object and sat contemplating it. Several moments passed before he restored the article to its place, and, rising to his feet, stretched his hands above his head, and, with face turned to the heavens, emitted a weird cry that to the silent men in the shadows seemed to contain the sum of human misery.

Roder, the elder of the listeners, turned to his companion. “ Wait here,” be said in a voice inaudible to the figure by the fire. Ho stepped_ into the glow. The man did not stir. Only when a hand was laid on his shoulder did he make an effort to escape. A strong hand seized his am and detained him. He turned to strike Roder, but when he saw his captor’s face he ceased to struggle, and an expression of utter amazement came into his eyes. “Good Godl ” he said, “you’re white 1 I thought there was no white man within a hundred miles. It’s like a miracle. And you have your gun. For God’s sake come with me. Como There is no time to waste.”

“ But where do you want me to go? ” said Roder. _ “ We couldn’t travel ton yards in ' this darkness without losing our way.” He called to his companion who had remained in tho shadow. “ Como hero, Pete. What shall wo do? ”

Peter Langridgo moved forward leisurely. eyed tho stranger with a keen, searching glance which the man met unflinchingly. Tho bewildered thing which had rushed blindly from tho darkness, with a mind so oppressed that not oven the sight of their camp fire had suggested tho presence of white men to it, had now become a rational being who spoke before Langridge could reply to. his companion’s question. “ Every moment we spend talking is an eternity of torment to, my daughter. Lot us wait no longer, but go at once to her aid. I can guide you in the darkness. Bring only your rifles and ammunition. Anything else can bo recovered later.”

Ho turned and retraced liis steps; and, impelled by a sense of some urgent necessity, Boder and Langridge followed him.

Their guide was evidently familiar with the route ho traversed. After cautioning the others to keep in touch with him, lie led the way at an am sain g rato through the gloom. Those whomMie guided lost all sense of time and distance. For hour after hour they pursued their way, until their exertions, combined with fatigue of the day, began to try oven their robust strength. The leader, too, began to falter. Several times he stumbled, and the sound of his laboured breathing came to them from ahead.

Yet ho scarcely abated his first feverish pace, and the other men could but do likewise.

When it seemed that human endurance was nearing the end of its resources they came within sight of open country and moonlight streaming horn an unclouded sky. The guide stopped and pointed with trembling finger. “ Look,” said he, “ and tell mo if such a sight is not enough to destroy anyones reason.”

Before them an unruffled sheet of water mirrored the stars. In the centre of it, a huge pillar of rock, black and forbidding against the light, rose to a great height above the surface. The winds slept, and silence reigned over all, but it was a silence sinister and terrible. The only moving thing was a tongue of flame on the summit of the column; and in the light of the flame a girl was to be seen, gazing out across the still waters. A young and slender maid, who, on the threshold of life, knew that death waited for her in the star-gemmed waters below. “ Keep in the shadows,” said the guide. “They watch her day and night. Invisible to us, they dwell within the pilhr, awaiting the changing of the jnoon. , My daughter is to die in the afternoon before the new moon appears.” “ Who are they of whom you speak ? ” questioned Roder. “ The priests of an unknown tribe who dwell further to the north,” was the answer. “Some of their people made prisoners of my daughter and me. How long ago I cannot say. We were making an attempt to cross the continent, but were forced to land in a swamp and had to abandon our plane. We endeavoured to reach some settlement on foot, but were surprised and captured. Our captors treated us well at first, but when a strange sickness attacked the chief, their priests, unable to discover any remedy, decided that my daughter should die in order to appease their god. We were brought here. I was not confined to the pillar as Joan is, but driven into the forest to live or die as chance decided. How I lived I cannot tell. Always I tried to help her, but there was no way. Their god, who dwells in the pool, prevented my entering the water. They call a crocodile their god, and offer him human beings in sacrifice. The thought of tho loathsome thing fills me with horror. To think that Joan— ”

Unable to continue he stood, tense with emotion, his eyes fixed on the pillar-top. Roder broke the silence.,

'‘Tlie moon changes to-morrow night,” he said, “ so we have no time to lose. We’ll help her or die with her.”

“How do they reach the summit?” ashed Langridge. “I s see no means

il There is a causeway, not visible from hero, which connects the pillar with the shore. From the causoway everything is raised by means of ropes to a height of forty foot, where _ an opening in tho side of tho pillar gives acocsss to chambers hewn in tho rock. From these a stairway leads to the summit.” Tho newcomers to tho scene closely examined tho pillar and its surroundings; but their hopes of saving tho girl grow faint as they realised tho impregnable nature of her prison. Joan had now disappeared from view. What was happening in that vile place they could not guess; and the time passed in agony for tho three men. Dawn came, and in tho growing light they slipped from cover to cover, seeking always a moans of rescue. They found none. Throughout the morning they saw no sign of any living thing, not even a wisp of smoke arose to tell that life existed on tho rock. Weary and dispirited they sat hidden from the sight of any watcher on the column. Joan’s father, worn out at length by the privations < he had endured, sat huddled up against a tree. In his hand ho. clasped a miniature of his daughter—it was this which his companions had seen him looking at by tho ligh. of their fire—and from time to time bo pressed it to Ins lips. Langridgo and llodor sat near kirn. No course of action suggested iiself to them. Their experiences, however, had taught them that there is usually a way out of a difficulty; and even in sight of tho place where tho .sacrifice was to be offered, and within a few hours of tho time appointed for it, they had not yet abandoned hope, though to hope seemed madness. In their favour was tho fact that tho priests were unaware of their presence, and they took every precaution against revealing it. From the position they occupied they could discern in the side of the pillar a window-like aperture, above which was a long wooden beam with a noose at the extremity of it. Through this a rope had been passed which hung down to the surface of tho pool. The two men had learned from Joan’s father that the unfortunates to bo sacrificed were placed in a curious contrivance—like an open umbrella with a basket at the end of the handle, was his description of it—and lowered by means of this rope to the horror who waited below. When tho basket was a few feet from the water it was customary to retain it in that position for some time. Then tho lowering was completed. Early in tho afternoon the rope was raised by some agency within the pilar, and a man, leaning out of tho aperture, brought the end within his reach by means of a hooked rod, and, securing it, withdrew from sight . It was evident that preparations for tho sacrifice were being made. It was also evident that something besides human beings was aware of the fact. Near where the rope had met tho water a rock rose a few inches above the surface. Tho man at the aperture had scarcely vanished when a huge crocodile rose from the depths and climbed on tho rock. Roder raised his rifle, but lowered it again without firing. He could easily have tiled the reptile, which was scarcely fifty yards away, but to do so would warn the priests, and would not save Joan.

No, tho time for action was not come. So ho waited. And while he did so ho saw how it might be possible to effect a rescue. He whispered his plan to Langridge, who nodded his apfiroval of it. Then without a sound he aid down his rifle, divested himself of Ms ammunition belt, peat, and boots, and crept as silent as a shadow as near to the pool as the available cover allowed him to without being observed, there to await tho report of Langndge’s weapon, which would ho tho signal for him to act. From the pillar arose the sound of voices raised in a dirge-like chant, accompanied by a monotonous rhythm played on drums. Simultaneously there issued from tho opening above the peculiar contrivance described by Joan’s father, which slowly descended until it was live or six foot from the surface, when its movements ceased. In the basket which formed part of it was a girl who clung to tho central polo. Sho was unbound, because those who _ condemned hor to die in such a horrible manner imagined there was no possibility of escape. To leap into tho pool simply hastened the end, and there was no delaying it by climbing the rope, for tho roof-liko structure could not bo passed. Wide-eyed with terror Joan gazed at the awful creaturo that had emerged from tho depths. 'Hie crocodile remained motionless, waiting for the moment when the basked would reach tho surface. That moment never came. Joan heard tho report of a rifle, saw tho reptile stretched dead upon the rock, and was conscious of a man cleaving his way with powerful strokes through the waters of tho pool. There was a shout from the aparturo above. Tho chant ceased, and a babel of voices could bo heard. In the opening appeared a group of priests, and yells of anger were uttered when they saw the dead thing that had been their god. One of the priests held a spear he had caught up as he rushed to seo what tho shout of alarm meant, and ho poised it to hurl it at the swimmer. But Langridgo’s weapon did its work well, and a dead man lay with _ a bullet hole in his forehead, while his associates fled in panic to tho inmost recesses of tho column.

From the pool Roder called to the girl in the basket; “ Jump,” lie said, “ nd I’ll help you to the shore.”

And she climbed on the edge of the basket, joined her hands, and dived. Aided by Roder she reached the bank and gained the safety of the trees.

4 No delay was made. With Langridge supporting the father, who had revived at the touch of his daughter’s lips, and was able to show the way, they arrived at the place where the two _ men had camped the previous evening. No sound of pursuit had been heard. _ The priests had no desire to experience the swift death dealt out by the strangers, and remained hidden in the pillar. Travelling by easy stages the four reached the river, where the launch was moored which had brought Langridge and Roder to the place from which they had set out on their hunting expedition. Night and day, between the walls of foliage which enclosed the stream, the launch sped unmolested towards civilisation. One_ evening Joan sat in the bow watching the water as it chuckled and danced against the swiftly-moving prow. Near her stood Roder thoughtfully pulling at his pipe. It was he who broke the silence that had fallen between them.

“ You intend to return to England? ” he asked.

“ Yes,” she replied. “My father and I will leave by the first available Steamer. Only at home will the sufferings wo endured in that awful place be forgotten. What will you do? ” Roder looked at Joan—looked long and intently before he answered her. “I am returning, too,” he said. And Joan smiled as he moved towards her.