Chapter IX
The Mad Man of the Moon
Thus it was that Agno and his ministers found me. Again, I may say their coming added no new horror to these last hours. It is the interminable waiting that wears to a thread a man’s courage. I would, of my own wish, have that which was to come, over quickly. Already was the strain beginning to tell. It would not be an easy death, this I knew, for it was a death of the High Priest’s contriving. It was a death feared by Lah, a death from which she would fain have saved me,—and how? After all, I was glad that the Lord had put temptation from me. Brought face to face with unknown terrors, I felt that my strength might have given way before the trial. I set this down plainly with the rest.
Read on, and see what fair foundation of truth had I for doubting mortal strength in such extremity.
Well, a day had come and gone, and Satan’s chiefest emissary was at hand. The lagging feet of justice quickened. By Agno’s order was I again blindfolded, and by his order was I loosed from my cage.
Supported by two of the priests of Edba,—for my cramped legs refused to do my bidding,—I was half dragged, half led, away.
Still blindfolded, I was laid upon a stone and fastened there securely by a band about my middle, and by thongs that tied me, wrist and ankle, to rings set in the altar’s side.
Then my bandage was taken off, but it was some minutes before my dazzled eyes could see clearly, and then I found, to my surprise, that the High Priest and his followers had vanished. For all I knew to the contrary, I was quite alone. I looked about me, and I saw that I was in a cleared space in the form of a circle. This was guarded by a high and thorny hedge of some tropical plant, strange to me, whose narrow leaves bristled like so many bayonets.
The sun beat pitilessly upon my uncovered head, but I knew from its position that night was not far off. I was bound to a rude granite-hewn altar, and carved upon it in many places, amid a throng of grotesque images, I saw the familiar sign of Edba, the crescent moon.
This altar stood at one side of the circle; directly opposite, was reared a hut shaped like a bee-hive, and made of close-woven branches. There was no door to this strange dwelling, but a thin veil of plaited grasses partly hid the entrance. I strained my eyes in a vain effort to see beyond this curtain. Once or twice a faint rustling from within broke the deathly silence, and that was all. These singular noises made my heart beat faster, for I judged, and rightly, that here was the abode of my enemy, perhaps of my executioner.
The hours wore on. I was giddy from the length of my fast, the horrors of my imprisonment, and the nameless dread of what was to come. A chill crept over me, and though the day was hot, I shivered so that the rings of the altar rattled. I thought I saw two fiery eyes gleam for an instant upon me, from behind the curtain that veiled the entrance to the hut, but when I looked again I knew my own base fears had called up the vision.