Now Alan looked at her. There was one thing that he wished above all others—that she would let him go. But this he did not dare to ask; moreover, it would have been utterly useless. After all, if the Asika’s love was terrible, what would be the appearance of her outraged hate? What could he ask? More gold? He hated the very name of the stuff, for it had brought him here. He remembered the old cannibal chief, Fahni, who, like himself, languished a prisoner, daily expecting death. Only that morning he had implored him to obtain his liberty.
“I thank you, Asika,” he said. “Now, if your words are true, set Fahni free and let him return to his own country, for if he stays here he will die.”
“Surely, Vernoon, that is a small thing,” she answered, smiling, “though it is true that when he gets there he will probably make war upon us. Well, let him, let him.” Then she clapped her hands and summoned priests, whom she bade go at once and conduct Fahni out of Bonsa Town. Also she bade them loose certain slaves who were of the Ogula tribe, that they might accompany him laden with provisions, and send on orders to the outposts that Fahni and his party should be furnished with a canoe and pass unmolested from the land.
This done, she began to talk to Alan about many matters, however little he might answer her. Indeed it seemed almost as though she feared to let him leave her side; as though some presentiment of loss oppressed her.
At length, to Alan’s great relief, the time came when they must part, since it was necessary for her to attend a secret ceremony of preparation or purification that was called “Putting-off-the-Past.” Although she had been thrice summoned, still she would not let him go.
“They call you, Asika,” said Alan.
“Yes, yes, they call me,” she replied, springing up. “Leave me, Vernoon, till we meet to-morrow to part no more. Oh! why is my heart so heavy in me? That black dog of yours read the visions that I summoned but might not look on, and they were good visions. They showed that the woman who loved you is dead; they showed us wedded, and other deeper things. Surely he would not dare to lie to me, knowing that if he did I would flay him living and throw him to the vultures. Why, then, is my heart so heavy in me? Would you escape me, Vernoon? Nay, you are not so cruel, nor could you do it except by death. Moreover, man, know that even in death you cannot escape me, for there be sure I shall follow you and claim you, to whose side my spirit has toiled for ages, and what is there so strong that it can snatch you from my hand?”
She looked at him a moment, then of a sudden burst into a flood of tears, and, seizing his hand threw herself upon her knees and kissed it again and again.
“Go now,” she said, “go, and let my love go with you, through lives and deaths, and all the dreams beyond, oh! let my love go with you, as it shall, Vernoon.”
So he went, leaving her weeping on her knees.