“I would have it so,” answered Onrai, as he turned and again started for the shore. “I can understand now, I think, why these people have turned on their guests. In some way they have learned of my love for Enola, and a fear has taken possession of them that I would give myself up to the fascinations of this fair woman. And they have attributed a supernatural power to her, for they could not believe that any other could make me so far forget my laws and people as to love; and I do not know just how I am going to deny their charges and still ask them to allow the strangers to remain with us. This they must do, however, for I would have them with us until they have fully learned our customs and ways. They will not fully know these until they have seen the ceremony of the Day of Resis. And, am I still weak? May be so; but I cannot now see Enola leave me. I will be strong, I will bury the love, which, if mentioned, will ruin my whole life and that life to come. But I must see her; I must have her with me yet awhile. Ah, I am approaching the appointed place. Now for the struggle.”
The party had seen him coming and were now drawn up before a large rock, which was intended for a platform, from which Onrai was to speak; Onrai approached and took his stand on the rock; the men stood in a semicircle about him, their heads uncovered and as Onrai took his position on the rock they bent their bodies respectfully, and then stood waiting for him to speak.
“My people,” he commenced, “you came to me last night with a strange complaint. For a short time we have had in the Land of On a number of strange people, the first which has ever visited our world since we can remember. If at any previous time such visitors came to the Land of On, we know not, for the events of the past ages are not made known to us. But we are concerned only with these strangers from a distant planet. When we stop to consider, we cannot wonder that these enlightened people, of another world, seeing our world as we see theirs, should wish to visit it and learn, if here was a race of people like unto themselves. We cannot fully understand, perhaps, the curiosity which should prompt this desire, for we have been taught to be contented with the good land which God has given us and not to seek anything which we have not here given us. We have certain laws to follow, and these laws are life and death. But it is not so with the people who are now here as our guests; they have certain political and moral laws, as they call them, which they must adhere to, but they have no laws restricting their research into the unknown. They may invent new contrivances for making their labor easier, they may advance new theories on great subjects, even their religion, not being altogether as ours is, but a number of different beliefs, these beliefs being subdivided, each advancing different theories, which in the end are widely varying. And they are allowed to study the heavens and learn the different stars and to name them; and they learned that there was a world similar to theirs and they determined to visit it, and immediately devised new means to do so; and they came and found that another race was here, a race much like themselves in many respects but different in others, principally in physique; but they worshiped the same God, the great God, and this makes them brothers, and now you would destroy them, or send them back to that world from whence they came, even before they have fully learned the world or people which they traveled so far to find. You have an imaginary complaint to make against them; it cannot be a genuine complaint for I have been with them almost constantly since they came to our land and I know that they are as pure in heart and deed as any among us. Accept your King’s word for this, for he knows of what he speaks. I have done.”
The party of men had stood perfectly still during this speech of the King, but it would be impossible to tell from their mobile features whether they were being convinced or not. They stood stolidly silent, not a muscle moving, leaning against their zebras. They made a grand sight, these thousand men in their beautiful tunics, holding their bright helmets. A body of men which would make the armies of the civilized world look like pigmies and which would make the eyes of a general open wide with admiration. But that stolidity; not one among them betrayed an emotion in the face. As Onrai finished they did not even change the position which they had held while he was speaking.
Onrai now stepped to one side of the rock and the leader, who had spoken the night before, came forward and mounting the rock, bowed to Onrai and then proceeded with his explanation.
“Oh, King, I was chosen by the people, who sent us here to make the charge against the strangers last night, but you ordered us away, and we have always learned to obey our King before all else, so we have waited until this morning. The decision reached by the people was caused by a report which was brought to the city by one, who has been a member of your expedition since you left the city and was for some time before attached to the woman Enola before she left the Temple. She was alarmed by certain things which transpired, and no longer being able to keep them to herself, rode to the city yesterday morning, arriving even before you did, oh, King. She tells of the King of On, being in the company of the woman Enola most of the time, and that certain expressions passed between the King and this woman, which could mean but one thing; the King had become infatuated with the woman. This news could hardly be credited and would not have been believed probably, if one of our men, who was also in the party, had not rushed madly into the city yesterday, giving out that the King was mad; that he had stood on the terrace of the villa, occupied by Onrai and his party on the night of the storm, and had heard the King accuse the woman Enola of having bewitched him; of her having known before the laws and customs of the people of On, even before she had come here; but notwithstanding this she had thrown a spell over him, the King. The King told her that she had been balked in her machinations before it was forever too late, by the warning of God. This warning was the storm. The man had not stopped to listen longer; the storm causing him to seek shelter. The people had seen the King come to the city, where he should be in the time of great trouble, but that word had come from the woman Enola and he had forgotten his people and had rushed off quickly, even killing the zebra which he had ridden. This latter, we learned afterwards. The people love their King, oh, Onrai; they feel that he has not sinned but that he is in the meshes of one who would ruin him, and they have decided that the woman and her party should die, and we have come to fulfill this mission.” And the man, as if this declaration ended the matter, stepped down from the rock and commanded the men to don their helmets and again mount.
“Hold,” cried Onrai, “what would you do? Consider well the step which you would take. Have you forgotten that these people are our guests and as such demand our protection? The stories which you bring are true, but they are the results of my own blindness and are not due to any supernatural influence, which Enola has had over me. She is innocent and even now lies at the point of death, and, will you not at least wait and see if her injuries are fatal? Oh, heed your King and do not this thing which hurts him. Let them be escorted to the place where they were found, and let them from there return to their own world. Do not kill them,” and Onrai wrung his hands in despair.
The only answer the leader made him was, “We must save our King, for we love him and this is the only way,” and he ordered the men to march. Onrai jumped from the rock and ran like a deer ahead of the riders, and reaching the villa, met Mr. Bruce, Mr. Graham and Harry on the terrace awaiting his return. The hurrying figure of Onrai coming toward them told them that something was wrong, and stepping up quickly toward him, Mr. Bruce asked, “What is it?”
“It is settled,” said Onrai; “they are coming to kill you; I tried to dissuade them, but it was useless. Rush to the rear and take zebras and make all possible speed to where you were found. I will try to keep them back for a while; it will mean my death, but that matters little.”
The three men turned white, but did not move.