THE MORNING STAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14347, 18 April 1910, Page 3

THE MORNING STAR.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT,

BY H. RIDER HAGGARD, Author of King Solomon's Mines," " She." " Cleopatra." " Nada the Lily." "The People of the Mist." "Heart of the World," " Ayesha, or the Return of She." The Ghost Kings," " The Yellow God." Montezuma's Daughter." etc.. etc, etc COPYRIGHT. CHAPTER (Continued.) Again he began his passionate implorings, begging lor some token, till at length slio eeemed to melt and take pity on him, for stretching out her hand, she choso a flower from the many that grew near, and gave it to him, then pointed to the trees that hid the wall, among which presently lie vanished, reeling in the delirium of his joy. She watched him go,, smiling very strangely, then, still smiling, looked down at the bush whence she had plucked the flower, and Kaku noted that it was one used only by the embalmors to furnish coronals for the dead. But Ahi noted no such thing. Forgetting "his quarrel with Kaku and all else, he gasped, and foamed in his jealous rage, muttering that lie Would kill that captain, yes, and the fake queen, too, who dared to listen to a tale of love and give the lover flowers. Yes, were she ten times Pharaoh he would kill her, as he had tho right to do, and, the naked sword still in his hand, he turned to leave the place. "If that is your will, lord," said Kaku in a strained voice, " bide here." "Why, man?" asked Abi. "Because Her Majesty comes," he .answered, " and this chamber is quiet and fitting. None enter it save myself." As he spoke the words the door opened, and closed again, and before them stood Neter-Tua, Star of Amen. In the duek of that room the first thing that 6omed to catch her eye was the bared steel in Abi's hand. For a moment she looked at it and him, also at Kaku crouching in the corner, then asked in her quiet voice: "Why is your sword drawn, 0 husband?" " To kill you, O wife," he answered furiously, for his rage mastered him. She continued to look at him a little while and said, smiling in her strange fashion: " Indeed! But why more now than at any other time? Has Kaku's counsel given you courage?" " Need you ask, shameless woman? Does not this window-place open on to yonder garden ?" " Oh ! I remember that captain of yours —ho that slew Mermes, your daughters husband who made love to me— well that I rewarded him with a funeral flower, knowing that you watched us. Settle your account with him as you and hie wife may wish; it is no affair of mine. But I warn you that if you would take men's lives for such a fault as this, soon you will have no servants left; since they all are sinners who desire to usurp your place." Then Abi's fury broke out. He cursed and reviled her, he called her by ill-names, swearing that she should die who bewitched all men, and was the love of none, and who made him a mock and a shame in the sight of Egypt. But Neter-Tua only listened until at length he raved himself to silence. "You talk much and do little," she said at length. "The sword is in your hand; ueo it; I am here." Maddened by her scom he lifted the wea]K>n and rushed at her, only to reel back again as though ho had been smitten by some power unseen. He rested against the wall, then again rushed and again reeled back. ■.':' .." :,' '. ; ; -.' '•'.*'", ■ ,*"." •' "You are a poor butcher," she said at length, after so many years of practice. Let Kaku yonder try. I think he has more skill in murder." " Oh ! your Majesty," broke in the astrologer, "unsay those cruel words, you who know that rather than lift hands against you I would die a thousand times." "Yes," she answered gravely, "the Prince Abi suggested it to you but now, did he not, after you had suggested it to him, and you refused—for your own reasons?" Then the sword fell from Abie hand, and there was silence in that chamber. "What were you talking of, Abij before you peeped through the shutters and saw that captain of yours and me together in the garden, and why did you wish to kill this dog?" she went on presently. "Must I answer for you? You were talking of how you might I>© rid of me, and you wished to kill him because he did not dare to tell you why he could not do the deed, knowing that if he did so he must die. Well, since you desire to know-, you shall learn, and now. Look on me, wretched man, whom men name my husband. Look on mo, 'accursed slave, whom Amen has given into my hand to punish here upon the earth, until you pass to his yonder in the Underworld." He looked, and Kaku looked also, because he could not help it, but what they saw they never told. Only they fell down upon their faces, both of them, and groaned; beating the floor with their foreheads. At length the icy terror seemed to be lifted from their hearts, and they dared to glance up again, and saw that she was as she had been, a most royal and lovely woman, but no more. "What are you?" gasped Abi. "The goddess Sekhet in the flesh, or Isis, Queen of Death, or but dead Tua's ghost sent here for vengeance?" ; , "All of them, or none of them, as you will, though, man, it is true that I am sent here for vengeance. Ask the Wizard yonder. He knows, and I give him leave to say." " She is the Double of Amen's daughter," moaned Kaku. " She is her Ka set free to bring doom upon those who would have wronged her. She is a ghost armed with the might of the gods, and all we who have sinned against her and her father Amen are given into her hand to bo tormented and broucht to doom." "Where, then, is Neter-Tua., who was Queen of Egypt?" gasped Abi, rolling his great eyes. " Is she with Osiris?" " I will tell you, man," answered the royal Shape. "She is not dead— lives, and is gone to seek one she loves. When she returns with him then I shall depart and you will die, both of you, for such is the punishment decreed upon you. Until then, arise and do my bidding." CHAPTER XIV. THE BOAT OF RA. | Tua, Star of Amen, opened her eyes. For some time already she had lain as one lies between sleep and waking, and it seemed to her that she heard the sound of dipping oars, and of water that rippled gently against the sides of a ship. She thought to herself that she dreamed. Doubtless she was in her bed in the palace at Thebes, and presently when it was light, her ladies would come to waken her. In the palace at Thebes! Why, now she remembered that it was months since she had seen that royal city, she who had travelled far since then, and come at last to white-walled Memphis, where many terrible things had befallen her. One by one they came into her mind; the snare, Pharaoh's murder by magic, the battle and the slaughter of her guards, the starvation in the tower, with death on one hand, and the hateful Abi on the other; the wondrous vision of that spirit who wore her face, and said she was the guardian Ka given to her at birth, the words it spoke, and her dread resolve; and last of all Asti and herself standing in the lofty window niche, then a flame of fire before her face, and that fearful downward rush. Oh! without a doubt it was over, she was dead, and these dreams and memories were such as come to the dwellers in the Under-world. Only then why did she hear the sound of lapping water, and of dipping oars. Very slowly she opened her eyes, for Tua greatly feared what she might see. Light flowed upon her, the light of the moon

which hung in a clear sky. like SOTie great lamp of gold. By it she saw '■&»*», robed all in white, she lay upon a couch in a pavilion, whereof the silken curtains were drawn back in front, and tied to gilded posts. At her side, wrapped in a grey robe, lay another figure, which she knew for Asti. It was still, so still that she was sure it must bo dead, yet she knew that this was Asti. Perchance _vti dreamed also, and could hear her in her dreams; at least, she would speak to her. "Asti," she whispered, " Asti, can you hear me ?" The grey figure at her side stirred, and the head turned towards her. Then the voice of Asti, none other, answered: "Aye, k<h\' 1 hear and see. But say, wh;:rt» are w. now '!'' "In the Under-world, I think, Asti. Oh ! thai fire wa< death, and now we journey to the Place of Souls." '"If eo, lady, it is strange that we should stii! i'iive ejes and flesh and voices as mortal women have. Let us sit up and look." So they sat up, their arms about each other, and peered through the open curtains. Behold ! They were on a ship more beautiful than any-they had ever seen, for it seemed to be covered with gold and silver, while sweet odours floated from its hold. Their pavilion was set in the centre of the ship and looking aft, they perceived lines of white-clad rowers seated at their .oars in the shadow of the bulwarks, and on the high stern— robed in white—a tall steersman whose face was veiled, behind whom in the dim glimpses of the moon, they caught sight of ■ a wide and silvery river, and on its distant bank palms and temple towers. ( "It is the boat of Ra," murmured Tua, " which bears us down the River of Death to the Kingdom behind the Sun." Then she sank back upon her cushions, and once more fell into swoon or sleep. Tua woke again, and lo! the sun was shining brightly, and at her side sat Asti watching her. Moreover, in front of them was set a table spread with delicate food. "Tell me what has chanced, nurse," she said faintly, "for I am bewildered, and know not what world we wander." "Our own, Queen, "I think," answered Asti, "but in charge of thoso who are not of it, for surely, this is no mortal boat, nor do mortals guide her to her port. Come, we need food. Let us eat while we may." So they ate and drank heartily enough, and when they had finished even dared to go out of the pavilion. Looking around them they saw that they stood upon a high deck in the midst, of a great ship, but that this deck was enclosed with a net of silver cords in which they could find no opening. Looking through its meshes they noted that the oars were inboard, and the great purple sails set upon the mast, also that the rowers were gone, perchance to rest beneath the deck, while on the forecastle of the ship stood the captain, whiterobed and masked, and aft the steersman, also still masked, so. that they could see nothing of their faces. Now, 100, they were no longer sailing on a river, but down a canal, bordered by banks of sand on either side, beyond which stretched desert farther than the eye could reach. Asti studied the desert, then turned and said :

I think I know this canal, lady for once l sailed it as a child. , I think it is that which was dug by the Pharaohs of old, and repaired after the fall of the Hyksos kings, and that it runs from Busbastis to that bay down which wanderers sail towards the rising sun." ' " Mayhap," answered Tua. "At least, this is the world that bore us and no other, and by the mercy of Amen and the power of my Spirit we are still alive, and not dead, or so it seems. Call now to the captain on yonder deck; perhaps he will tell whither he bears us in his magic* ship." So Asti called, but the captain made no sign that he saw or heard her. Next she called to the steersman, but although his veiled face was towards them, he also made no sign, so that at last they believed either these were spirits or that they were men born deaf and dumb. In the end, growing weary of staring at this beautiful ship, at the canal, and the desert beyond it, and of wondering where they were, and how they came thither, they returned to the pavilion to avoid the heat of the sun. Here they found that during their absence some hand unseen had arranged the silken bedclothing on their couches and cleared away the fragments of their meal, re-setting the beautiful table with other foods. "Truly here is wizardry at work," said Tua, as she sank into a leather-seated ivory chair that was placed ready. "Who doubts , it?", answered Asti calmly. "By wizardry were you born ; by wizardry was Pharaoh slain; by wizardry are we saved to an end that we cannot guess; bv wizardry does the whole world move, only being so near Ave see it not." •' .-■ '. ■■' Tua thought a while/ then said: "Well, tin's golden ship is better than the sty of Abi the hog, nor 'do I believe that we journey to no purpose. Still I wonder what that spirit who named herself my Ka does on the throne of Egypt; also how we came on board this boat, and whither we sail." . " Wonder not, for all these things we shall learn in due season, and, for my part, although hate him, lam sorry for Abi," answered Asti drily. So they sat there in the pavilion watching the desert, over the sands of which their ship seemed to move, till at length the sun grew low, and they went to walk upon the deck. Then they returned to eat of the delicious food that was always provided for them in such plenty, .and* at nightfall sought their couches, and slept heavily, for they needed rest. When they awoke again it was daylight, though no sun shone through the clouds, and their vessel rolled onward across a wide and sullen sea out of sight of land. Also the silken pavilion about them was gone, and replaced by a cabin of massive cedar wood, though of this, being sated with marvels, Tua and Asti took little note. Indeed, having neither of them been on an angry ocean before, a strange dizziness overcame them, which caused them to sleep much and think little for three whole days and nights. At length, one evening as the sun sank, they perceived that the violent motion of the vessel had ceased with the roaring of the gale above, which for all this while had driven them onward at such fearful speed. Venturing from their cedar house they saw that they had entered the mouth of a great river, upon the banks of which grew enormous trees that: sent out long crooked roots into the water, and that among these roots crouched crocodiles and other noisome, reptiles. Also, the whiterobed oarsmen had appeared again, and, as there was no wind, rowed the ship up the river, till at length they came to a spit of sand which jutted out. into the stream, and here cast anchor. Now Tua's and Astis desire for food returned to them, and they ate. Just as they had finished their meal, and the sun was sinking suddenly, there appeared before them two masked men, each of whom bore a, basket in his hand. Asti began to question them, but, like the captain and the steersman, they seemed to be deaf and dumb. At least they made no answer, only prostrated themselves humbly, and pointed towards the shore where now Tua saw a fire burning upon a rock, though who had lit it she did not know. "They mean us to leave the ship," said Asti. " Come, Queen, let us follow our fortunes, for doubtless these are high. "As you will," answered Tua, "seeing that we should scarcely have been brought here to no end." So jthey accompanied the men to the side of that splendid vessel, for now the netting that confined them had been removed, to find that a gangway had been laid from its bulwark to the shore. As they stepped on to this gangway their masked companions handed to each of them one of the baskets, then again bowed humbly and were gone. Soon they gained the bank, and scarcely had their -feet touched it when the gangway was withdrawn, and the great oars began to beat the muddy water. Round swungtho ship, and for a minute hung in mid-stream. There stood the captain, on the foredeck, and there was the steersman at the helm, and the red light of the sinking sun turned them into figures of flame. Suddenly with a. simultaneous motion these men tore off their masks so that for a moment Asti and Tua saw their faces)—and, behold! the face of the captain was the face of Pharaoh, Tua's father, and the face of the steersman was the face of Mermes, Asti's husband. /' iOCo be continued daily.)