THE WAND OF SA'ABA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 77

THE WAND OF SA'ABA.

By Frank Morton.

*Tm glad to be aboard again," said J "Mortimer. "You know, Lenton, that I I am not an innocent. or a beginner, neither » a prig nor a hypocrite ; but Port Said is filthy without being interesting, vicious .without novelty, vile without picturesquejiess — makes me sick."

"Port Said," said Rathbone sententiously, "is a sort of object-lesson to the vrorld. ' Here you have a place set halfway to everywhere on the high road of the nations, and governed by none of them. Here the children of Shem and of Ham have settled -down to pluck the passing stranger from the West ; and in many of their speculations and conspiracies children of Japhet are interested. These heathen are in daily, almost hourly, contact with the flower of our new eivili- | cation. They are able to observe our j habits as we travel, and upon occasion ' they are permitted to minister to our Christian pleasures. They have apparently ,-the best chance that heathen ever had, but - it don't seem' to-work out -as itshould:;- -PortvSaid, as you' say, is the sink of the worst iniquities, and all really bad things ar».woroejhere th'an-elsewhere. | -But you, knew all that before you went ashore, Mortaner." . • " | ,"0f course. I did. I'm not pretending to be sorry I went ashore. Was H not Carlyle who recommended an occasional , mud-baih? I'm glad I- went ashore, because I met Banerji." j "Strange!" said Ralhbone. "I met a man in Bombay just before we left who had just seen Banerji in Calcutta. I . wonder, how he's fixed it so as to be up i 'ere so soon?" , "I don't know ; but here he is. Told me he was leaving for India in an hour ; so he may not be here now, after all. We had an interesting ' talk on magic, and , Banerji made a lot of devilishly wild state- j reente that I laughed at. Hypnotism's j one thing, you know, and magic's another. \ I* mean, where magic isn't hypnotism it's j pure fake and fraud. Banerji laughed at that. Says there is such a thing as magic, j and that it has no connection whatever . with hypnotism or any other recognised J phenomena. He kept his opinion,' and I : , Kept mine. Rather decent chap Banerji, ' though, for a Babu. He gave me — apropos ' dcs bottes, as he said — a rather quaint j curio. Away somewhere here in the hinter- • land there used to be a reputed great i magician named Sa'aba. Where he is now, j nobody seems to know ; but years ago he : gave . Banerji a wand. Banerji gave it ' to me this afternoon, as a. souvenir of j our conversation. Rather decent of him, | don't you think? You see, the thing ! must ba valuable." j -Mortimer took from his breast' pocket a j little, jewelled wand. • It was made of • ebony, curiously carved and chased. The i thicker end was finished off with a broad j band of enamelled gold, such wonderful < enamel as is created by the master crafts- j men of Jodhpur. The actual butt of the ; wand was an uncut turquoise, and at its elendts*' tip a ruby gleamed. "It is a pretty thins," said Lenton. "and you're right in thinking that it is worth money. But there's something J queer about it, don't you think? It looks ; deadly, like a sleeping snake. None of J us has forgotten the night we o\red to i Mr Banerji in Calcutta. Did it not strike \ you that he may have given you this valuable thing rather with the" idea of proving his argument than of expressing his affection for you?" "Oh, no," eaid Mortimer. "It was the most natural thing in the world. Besides, no one was ever foolish enough to pretend that in the actual wand of the magician there was any virtue ; certainly Banerji suggested nothing of the kind." "Perhaps you're right," said Lenton. "If you're not " "If I'm not, you will at least find it a matter of difficulty to prove it. Heie are the ladies." Mrs Rathbone and Nesta admired the dainty thing, and the Wand made no sign. 1 Nesta imagined a hundred pretty uses for it, aud the Wand said nothing. Mortimer balanced it on his finger-tip, and the ruby sparkled joyously in the sun. . • .. . That night at dinner all were at their best. There was in the air a something inexplicable that' breathed spiritual intoxication. Mortimer was especially brilliant and irresponsible, and Lenton kept him close company. Everybody was very gay. At midnight the first strange thing happened. The party of the Nell had retired, with the exception of Rathbone, who was chatting with the Chief Officer on the bridge. The noises of the town were subdued by distance, so that the - elemental quiet of the night lav practically undisturbed. It was absolutely still, the yacht motionless. And suddenly the great ship rolled far to port and then as far to starboard, while she groaned and murmured as though she were in the clutch of a strong sea. Instinctively the men grabbed the rail, and 6O kept their feet. The ship quivered and settled again on an even keel, while the waves made by her sudden movement rolled away greasily to right and left. "What is the meaning of that?" asked Rathbone. He was perfectly calm, that Jbeing his habit. •The Chief Officer was also calm, judging ihat to be the correct attitude ; but his surprise was obvious. "Lord knows," he sajd, "unless there's a touch of earthquake •shore." A couple of quartermasters came along the deck, and stood talking in low tones

at {he foot of the bridge ladder. ' "That's not earthquake," said Rathbone. *1 know, because I've "seen some. An earthquake that would tumble us like that ,wculd have shaken the town into splinters." The- reek of a Rangoon cheroot filled the air, and they were joined by Lenton.

"Funny business," he said ; "the quartermaster says the moorings are right, but that roll 6hot me out of my bunk. What's the trouble?"

Rathbone explained elaborately that there was no trouble other than an unjust suspicion of earthquakes. To point his assertion, there came a sudden roar of steam, and each of the big funnels was dimly seen in a haze of clouding vapour. They saw the. Chief Engineer, a choleric and portly man, disappear down the engineroom hatchway, whence he presently emerged with objurgations, closely followed by his protesting Fourth. "The fires were banked." explained the irate Engineer to the bridge, "and she was scarcely carrying a pound of steam. Now they're glowing like the Pit and she has a full head — just humming with it."

"It's a most extraordinary thing," said the Fourth Engineer. "Most extraordinary negligence !" stormed , the Chief." "There must have been at least a dozen of the firemen mixed up in this pretty little joke, and you never heard anything. Pretty watch you kept, and ; no mistake!"

"There's r*ot a fireman below," said the Fourth sulkily, "nor has been." "That's right, ' sir,", said a voice from the deck. "It must 'a' been some o' they niggers." ( "Never' saw such fires in my life," grumbled the Chief. "I could ,get thirty knots out of her this minute. How those fires were made and fed without anybody hearing's, a problem that baffles creation." "I think," said Rathbone quietly, "that we'll pret out of this. Where's Captain Goring?" "Coming off now, sir," said a quartermaster.

Rathbone met the Captain at the gangway, nd a few minutes'" later the huge yacht was feeling l*er way out to sea. That, at lnyrate, was hea master's intention. But the yacht seemed to have other ideas. Captain Goring stepped to the telegraph and Teiterated his order of half-speed -ahead, but the bit, ship still rushed through the water at a speed that was disturbing. The telegraph rang for quar-ter-speed, and a few seconds afterwards tbev swirled past a light with shcli a rush as made Captain Goring gasp. "There's the devil in it," came the voice ot the Chief Engineer. "She's barely up to her limit of pressure now, but 6he seems to be carrying all the steam on earth. I can't put her on a slower speed, unless I stop her." •

[ Captain Coring 6aid nothing, but for half : an hour he tasted the measure of Ms re- ; spor.sibilities. The yacht roared into the , open Tracer doing an easy thirty knots. Meantime. Rathbone and Lenton Tiad gone below to encounter marvels. A wise sense of comfort in Rathbone Jiad securedcomplete privacy for himself and his quests. Servants came when they" were called, and in the intervals they did not 101 l about and become nuisances. The lolling steward on .assenger steamers is the • primal curse of ocean travel to-day. I They turned into the smoking room on the main deck. A lictle distance from this room, Lenton and Mortimer were quar- : tered. The Rathbones and Nesta were farther aft. Now in this main smoking room they came upon Mortimer, and Mortimer was plainly perturbed. " Wondered where you fellows were," he i said. "Here's the deuce an' all of a busi- ' i ness ! I went to sleep'like a bird when I ! turned in, and was only roused iust now , by the row on dock. What's up?" I " We're away,"' said Raihbone. j " Great Scot ! Then here's a pretty posij tion ! When I woke up just now, there was a person sitting on the settee, smiling at me." "Why didn't you turn him out?" asked Lenton. " Him ! That would have been easy enough. But this is a woman. How she eot in I can't pnes-s. Seeing we were at Port Said, I locked my door. I found it still locked when I got dp just now. How she got in, or where she comes from, I can't for the life- of me understand." "What's 6he like?" asked Lenton. in his j tone "a certain dry ness. 'Is she old and , horrid, or- young and frolic?" " She's lika nothing I ever dreamt of," said Moi timer, shortly- "Perhaps you cm explain her. Come and see." , They followed him to his room. The settee was there. The tumbled bed' was as he had left it. There was a certain strange suggestion of perfume in the air. They thought they caught a film of silvern laughter, as though from a great distance. But lady there was none." "Mortiirer," said Lenton, '^ou must really stop those little suppers, or you'll always •be waking suddenly and seeing things." Mortimer rubbed his eves. "I saw her," he said, "as plainly as I see you now. I looked at her, I should think, for five | minutes. She's not the sort of thing I s»ho>uld be likely to forget or make mistakes over." " Better come back in the smoking room and have a talk," said Rathbone. "This seems to be the yacht's night out, and I'm well past beginning to be ,glad that the ladies are in bed." In the smoking room Mortimer turned on them. "Now," he 6aid, "who's dreaming?" On the central lounge the marvel .sat revealed. She was wonderfully clothed in diaphanous- silks that shimmered and glowedf and -withal scarce hid the t>eau- ) ties they adorned. The masses of Iter J inky hajr were "coiled about her head, and in the coils great jewels glistened : one, a living opal, burning on her forehead. As she sat, leaning forward and smiling at ! them, she was nursing her right foot on her left knee-, and they saw that her very J sandals were jewelled, while golden anklets stowed ruddy against the perfect creamy whiteness of lier skin. Her face was bejond imagination beautiful, with a mouth

that was incarnate ecstasy, and such eyes as no earthly woman ever had, else had all earthly men run mad. The splendid face was wonderfully sweet and kind. It might almost have been called roguish, were not the word too trivial. She rose with superb grace as they came in, and they saw that she was divinely tall. " Shall I bid you be not dismayed," she said, "or is it needless?" Her voice was ,as lovely as her face, and probably neither was lovelier than her little hand. " Tell us who you are," said Mortimer. "They call me — those beyond — they call me Srina. And then?" "And how came you here?" "I came because it was so willed. Not, as you seemed fearfully to suspect in your chamber just now, O Mortimer — not because I was smitten by your eyes." "That could not have been," said Mortimer smiling. "You never saw me before." The gir 1 laughed gently. "I saw you many times," she said. "I saw you, perhaps, a thousand years be&re you were what you call born. Come, I shall show you." She signed .0 them to follow her, and they prepared to obey. There was nothing to cause fear- in this lady, but her force was compelling. "Listen!" she said. The ship's bell sounded clearly. "Three bells," said Rathbone. "Ah," said the girl. "You will remem--ber." She took them back to Mortimer's room, and closed the door behind them. Then she turned with a smile, and kissed each of them on the Sorehead. " Have no fear," she said. "I shall stay by you- Have no fear for your ladies or your ship. No harm shall befall them. Now." # The men looked round with a gasp. The room and the ship had disappeared. "They felt no^ longer the mighty motion of the sea. Instead, they stood on a little tower, high above an enchanted garden. The tower was of marble. On the ledge before them was a flask of silver and a golden dish of fruit. Beneath them, with frequent breaks of groves and gardens, stretched a wonderful city. They could see richly robed figures moving along the city ways, with here and there a horse and rider gaily caparisoned. " This fruit," said the lady, " was grown two thousand years before you were what you call born, Mortimer. These are grapes and pomegranates of Babylon." Mortimer took up a pomegranate. "Guard that," she said. Mortimer slipped it into the pocket of his incongruous dressing jacket. The lady stooped again and kissed their foreheads. They stood now on a grassy knoll, and a rich and undulating country stretched on all sides of them as far as the eye could see. Near at hand was a rough tent made of undressed skins, and at the entrance of this an old man of fierce aspect was standing. , "That man," said the lady, "stood *so twice two thousand of, your years before the first stone of great Babylon was hewn." Again, after the same preliminaries, the scene changed. On a rugged hillside they saw a shaggy hunter, savage and uncoutli, fling down his spoil at a cave-mouth. They saw the woman who emerged at his call, a woman as fierce and strong and supple almost as himself. "Ten thousand years before a stone was laid in Babylon that beast was slain/ said the lady. Back and back she took them, till they f tared for their courage. Back and back, while the beginnings ot humanity took ever stranger and lees lovely shapes. They saw the mastodon in his might. They went back till ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus fed hard by them, till they heard the pterodactyl 6cream above its young. Back and back, till the things that were the 6mall beginnings of the human vanished from off the earth, and only the creatures of slime were there. Back still and back, till again they stood on a tower. The stone of it was gleaming black, but the stranger flowers below were not less lovely than those of Babylon, and the city was incomparably grander/ Near by them was a table, littered with dainty mirrors and all the pretty toys of a woman's toilet. The guide took up a tiny brooch of exquisite design, and handed it to Lenton. " Guard that," she said.

They looked about them with increasing confidence". In the broad ways of the city were vehicles that moved noiselessly at high speed. They saw great, creatures sweep across the sky, and alight on the roofs or at the portals of some of those huge houses, and they saw that the creatures were men. One such swooped down to the tower where they were standing, but plainly saw them not at all. He was dressed in some tight-fitting costume of buff leather, with a hood that could be drawn down for the protection of the face. He carried in his hand a small machine of exquisite intricacy, which he put carelessly down on the table amid the toilet litter as he alighted. His face was very comely, his expression wonderfully attractive and benign.

"Ten million years before the beginning of your life and civilisation this man lived and loved," said 1 the lady. "He lived in a world of beauty, in a city of great peace. He was noble in a world where all were noble. But he passed from being in the thick night, and all traces of his life went with him. His civilisation was far older than yours, and far more stable, his knowledge infinitely deeper and more humane. He knew neither disease nor pain. He had mastered his own thoughts so that they worked all his will. But he passed like a cloud in the night. Will you go back still farther!"

" No," 6aid Rathbone. "It is jpnougb. One could, it seems, go back and back for ever to a limitless past."

The lady smiled. '"There is no limit," she said. " There is neither past nor present, but only the eternal Now. I give you farewell." Again they were sitting in Mprtime/a

room on the Nell. 'Mortimer was gazing' in .perplexity at a ripe pomegranate, in his hand, while Lenton pondered over a. beautiful small brooch of gold. They heard six bells strike. • ""» " Ah !" sa<id Mortimer, suddenly, "I have it! „ . . the Wand!" He reached for the clothes he had ■worn the night before, and drew the Wand out of his breast "pocket. It was qnit© warm, and the ruby seemed to have developed new fire. "Yes," said a voice behind them, "I think I will have it now." " Banerji !" <*■ "Yes," said the Hindu suavely. "And now our dear Mortimer shall tell us how hypnotism fired your boilers and drove your ship to the edge of apparent disaster, and how hypnotism brought my beloved Srina out of the beyond to -lead you into the heart of the nearer night." , '. .' "I give it up," said Mortimer. Banerji laughed gently. "It will be just as well," he said. He took _the Wand, and for a moment stood smiling on them with r 'the bright bauble clasped in his -hand. Then 'he made a gesture o f adieu, and almost before they could realise it he -was gone. . , - . But the pomegranate" and the brooch were left as testimony-., ' C/C^ " v " *