The Plot thickens.
Separated from the wagon, and thus under no further obligation to regulate our pace by that of the slow-moving oxen, we now, at Pousa’s command, advanced at a trot along the road leading directly to the palace; and as we rapidly approached that structure I became increasingly impressed by the remarkable grace and beauty of its architectural decorations, the exquisite details of which forced themselves more insistently upon my attention with every foot of our progress. For instance, I saw now that certain irregularities in the surface of the walls and the shafts of the columns, which in the distance I had taken as due to the effect of weather, were really a vast number of small pictures, sculptured in very low relief, representing scenes in the history of Bandokolo, many of those scenes being, naturally, battles. And although the figures were conventionally drawn, the vigour of action and the truth to nature of the attitudes portrayed evidenced the work of an artist of no mean power.
But I had no opportunity just then to study the sculptures at leisure, for Pousa was evidently very anxious to complete his responsible task of delivering me safely within the precincts of the palace. I was therefore obliged to content myself with a hasty glance at the façade as a whole, while dismounting and resigning my horse to the care of a groom who awaited my arrival at the foot of the broad flight of steps leading up to the main entrance. Then, accompanied by Pousa, who also had dismounted, I ascended the steps, fifty in number, and was ushered through a wide and lofty doorway provided with a pair of heavy swing doors of massive gold, the panels of which were decorated with figures in high relief, into a cool and lofty hall, where I was received by and formally turned over to an official whom I afterward learned was the major-domo, or master of the queen’s household. This individual very cordially welcomed me to Masakisale, in the name of the queen, and, bidding me and the attendants bearing my belongings to follow him, led the way to the rear of the hall, which, as soon as my eyes grew accustomed to the somewhat subdued light, I saw was about fifty feet long by fifty feet high by twenty-five feet wide, with a broad balcony, supported by columns, running all round it at a height of some thirty feet from the pavement.
At the far end of the hall was a massive flight of steps, hewn out of the solid rock wall, leading up to the interior balcony, to which we climbed; and, arrived there, I was conducted to a suite of two rooms, which I was given to understand had been assigned for my use by the queen. The larger room of the two was a front room looking out upon the palace gardens, and was evidently intended for day use; while the one behind, which had no window and derived its light from the front room and from a handsome gold lamp suspended from the ceiling, was a combined bathroom and sleeping chamber. This latter room, the stone floor of which was covered with fine matting, contained a very beautiful and spacious ivory couch, most luxuriously furnished, a number of elegant and equally luxurious divans, and an immense bath, almost big enough to swim in, sunk into the floor. The official who had me in charge pointed out these various matters to me, as well as a very handsome suit of clothing, evidently made expressly for me, which, he intimated, it was the queen’s wish I should wear during my stay in the country; told me that by clapping my hands I could summon a servant who had been detailed to attend upon me; and then bowed himself out.
Left at length to myself, I instructed the people who had brought my belongings where to put them, satisfied myself that nothing was missing, and then, dismissing the men, proceeded to take stock of my surroundings. The apartments assigned to me were very spacious, lofty, cool, and airy, and were furnished with a degree of elegance and luxury that was simply astounding, especially in view of the fact that I was in a part of Africa which, so far as I knew, but one white man had ever visited before, and from which no white man had ever emerged; and I felt that I was fully justified in regarding myself as very highly honoured. Then, when I had completed my inspection, I clapped my hands, and, upon the appearance of the attendant, intimated that I should like a bath; whereupon the man withdrew a wooden plug from a hole in the wall, and in a few minutes the immense bath was full to the brim of bright, cold, sparkling spring water, into which I at once plunged, completely submerging myself for about half a minute, to the amazement and consternation of my attendant, who afterward confessed that he feared I was bent upon drowning myself, none of the Bandokolo, it appeared, possessing the slightest knowledge of natation. My use of soap, too, and the facility with which by its aid I was enabled to remove the dust and grime accumulated during the day’s travel, was another revelation to him; as was also the comb wherewith I arranged my now much too luxuriant locks. My bath towels likewise came in for a share of his admiration; but the thing which, next to my stature, most excited the fellow’s astonishment was the whiteness of my skin, where it had been protected by my clothing, compared with the deep bronze of my face and hands. Having bathed to my satisfaction I proceeded to clothe myself in the new garments which had been so thoughtfully provided for me—and for which I was indeed grateful, for the best of my own clothes were by this time little better than rags. These new garments consisted of a pair of bathing drawers—at least that is what they were like, for they only reached down to just above the knees—a tunic-like, sleeveless shirt, and a pair of buskins made of soft white leather, soled with ox-hide. The drawers were made quite plain, of thick white silk, and fitted fairly tight to the body; the shirt also was made of the same material, but about the armholes and the hem of it there was stitched a broad band of crimson silk, sewn in a beautiful pattern with gold thread and thickly studded with small gold bosses about the size of ordinary coat buttons, each boss being beautifully chiselled with a flower-like pattern in high relief. There was also a waist belt, made of solid gold links fastened together with a sort of hinge, and clasped in front with a pair of massive gold sculptured plaques, forming a very handsome adornment to one’s person, and very convenient, too, for it happened to be of just the right width to take my pistol holsters. These garments all fitted me as though made to measure, to my great astonishment; and when I asked Langila—that being the name of my new servant—how he accounted for such an extraordinary fact, he further amazed me by saying, as calmly as though it were the most natural thing imaginable, that the articles had all been made according to measurements supplied by the queen! And when I pushed my curiosity farther by asking how Her Majesty could possibly guess so accurately at the proportions of a man whom she had never seen, he simply shrugged his shoulders and repeated Pousa’s astounding statement that “the queen knows all things!” After which I requested that I might be left to myself; for I wished to give this statement my most careful consideration, and to endeavour to fathom all that it might possibly mean to me.
Was it possible that this extraordinary woman, reputed to be old far beyond the limits of the age usually ascribed to humanity—this queen of a wonderful people hidden away in the mysterious depths of Africa, the continent of strange and mystic happenings, was really the possessor of the gift of unlimited knowledge? To me, a plain, simple, matter-of-fact Briton, such a thing seemed impossible; yet Pousa had already supplied me with proof that surely ought to have been convincing to any reasonable man. He had been told that on a certain date and at a certain spot he would encounter me, and he had done so; my appearance had been described to him, and the description had proved accurate in every particular, down to the most minute detail; and he had even learned the facts connected with the death of the unhappy Siluce! How had the queen, his informant, become acquainted with all these matters, seeing that even the fact of my impending visit to Bandokolo could not possibly have been made known through any of the ordinary recognised channels of communication? It was an exceedingly disquieting circumstance; for if Bimbane actually possessed this astounding, supernatural gift of knowledge it practically rendered her all-powerful, and how could any ordinary individual—myself, for instance—successfully contend with such a being—if contention should ever become necessary? I decided that contention, strife, between her and myself must not be permitted to become necessary: I must cultivate her goodwill and gain her friendship if I could, then all might be well; whereas if I should be so unfortunate as to incur her displeasure—well, there was no use in blinking the fact that she was powerful enough to destroy me.
I had just about arrived at the above conclusion when Langila appeared and respectfully enquired when it would be my pleasure to eat, which reminded me that several hours had elapsed since I had last partaken of a meal, and that, despite the disquieting nature of my recent reflections, I was hungry. I therefore intimated that I was quite ready for a meal at any moment, whereupon he disappeared, to return a few minutes later accompanied by half a dozen servants, who quickly and deftly prepared a table by covering it with a very handsome cloth of spotless white linen, upon which they placed a number of elegantly wrought dishes of polished agate, heaped high with fruits of various kinds arranged with their respective leaves, a most beautiful vase of some wonderfully marked and highly polished stone, full of wine, and several elaborately chased plates and dishes of massive gold, one of which contained a little pile of thin, flat cakes of a kind of bread, smoking hot. Then another man entered, bearing a gold dish containing what looked like a roast fowl, but what I presently discovered was a parrot; and Langila intimated that my dinner was served. And a very excellent dinner it proved to be; for the parrot was tender, juicy, of very appetising flavour, and perfectly cooked, while the little cakes of hot bread were particularly good. Then the wine! It was of a rich ruby colour and exquisite aroma, but light and innocuous as water. As for the fruits, I had never before—and have never since—tasted such luscious peaches and grapes. And all this elegance and luxury, I kept reminding myself, existed in a part of Africa utterly unknown to the white man!
Whether it was the novelty of my surroundings, the somewhat perturbing character of my reflections, or the contrast between the luxuriousness of my couch and the hard cartel upon which I had reposed for so many months under a stifling wagon tent, I know not, but sleep was slow to come to me on that first night of my sojourn in the palace of Queen Bimbane; and when at length it visited me it seemed that I had scarcely closed my eyes before I opened them again to find that it was day, and that Langila was standing beside my couch, respectfully enquiring whether it would please me to bathe before dressing for breakfast. I replied that it certainly would, whereupon the fellow filled my bath for me, and a few minutes later I was luxuriously wallowing in the cold, crystal-clear water. To towel myself dry and dress was the work of but a minute or two, and then I sat down to a meal which in point of elegance and luxury was the equal of that partaken of on the previous evening.
When I had finished, Langila, who was really a most admirable servant, respectfully enquired what I next proposed to do; and when I informed him that I intended to ride to the lower end of the valley, to see how my servants were faring, and that the wagon and oxen were being properly looked after, he assured me that I might rest perfectly easy as to that, but that if I were determined upon doing as I proposed it was the wish of the queen that I should appear in public suitably arrayed. Thereupon he vanished, and presently returned bearing a superb doublet of gold scale armour upon a foundation of doeskin as soft as a kid glove, a broad belt of massive gold links heavily studded with uncut diamonds, supporting a gold-bladed sword in a richly chased golden sheath, and a gold helmet, wadded and lined with silk and surmounted by a splendid plume of ostrich feathers dyed a deep, rich crimson! And, thus magnificently bedizened, I presently set forth, mounted upon Prince, who, in his turn, had not been forgotten, he also proving to be a beneficiary to the extent of a superb crimson silk, gold-fringed saddle cloth, and a new bridle of a kind of velvet, dyed crimson, and heavily studded with gold bosses.
The ride to the lower end of the valley and back proved exceedingly interesting, for there was novelty everywhere; and I noticed that my gorgeous trappings seemed to produce a profound effect upon the people, who now saluted me with the utmost reverence, the fact being—although I did not know it at the time—that I was dressed in the uniform of a general of the Bandokolo army. I found the wagon all right, and the remnant of my team of oxen luxuriating in the rich pasture by the margin of the lake; while as for Piet, Jan, and ’Ngulubi, they had plenty to eat and no work to do, and were therefore perfectly happy. But ’Mfuni, who had developed a most extraordinary devotion to me, gloomily informed me that the country and the people were “’mkulu ’mtagati”, and that he did not at all approve of my being housed in the palace, surrounded by strangers, and with him miles away and quite unable to watch over my welfare. Upon hearing which, I comforted the poor fellow as well as I could by assuring him that I was not in the slightest danger, that the arrangement was merely temporary, and that at the first opportunity I would endeavour to persuade the queen to allow him to come to the palace as my personal attendant.