Alroy: The Prince of the Captivity Read online

  CHAPTER II.

  _The Slaying of an Ishmaelite_

  SPEED, fleetly speed, thou courser bold, and track the desert'strackless way. Beneath thee is the boundless earth, above thee is theboundless heaven, an iron soil and brazen sky. Speed, swiftly speed,thou courser bold, and track the desert's trackless way. Ah! dost thoudeem these salty plains[6] lead to thy Yemen's happy groves, anddost thou scent on the hot breeze the spicy breath of Araby? A sweetdelusion, noble steed, for this briny wilderness leads not to the happygroves of Yemen, and the breath thou scentest on the coming breeze isnot the spicy breath of Araby.

  The day has died, the stars have risen, with all the splendour of adesert sky, and now the Night descending brings solace on her dewy wingsto the fainting form and pallid cheek of the youthful Hebrew Prince.

  Still the courser onward rushes, still his mighty heart supports him.Season and space, the glowing soil, the burning ray, yield to thetempest of his frame, the thunder of his nerves, and lightning of hisveins.

  Food or water they have none. No genial fount, no graceful tree, risewith their pleasant company. Never a beast or bird is there, in thathoary desert bare. Nothing breaks the almighty stillness. Even thejackal's felon cry might seem a soothing melody. A grey wild rat, withsnowy whiskers, out of a withered bramble stealing, with a youthfulsnake in its ivory teeth, in the moonlight grins with glee. This istheir sole society.

  Morn comes, the fresh and fragrant morn, for which even the guilty sigh.Morn comes, and all is visible. And light falls like a signet on theearth, and its face is turned like wax beneath a seal. Before them andalso on their right was the sandy desert; but in the night they hadapproached much nearer to the mountainous chain, which bounded thedesert on the left, and whither Alroy had at first guided the steed.

  The mountains were a chain of the mighty Elburz; and, as the sun rosefrom behind a lofty peak, the horse suddenly stopped and neighed, as ifasking for water. But Alroy, himself exhausted, could only soothe himwith caresses. And the horse, full of courage, understood his master,and neighed again more cheerfully.

  For an hour or two the Prince and his faithful companion proceededslowly, but, as the day advanced, the heat became so oppressive, andthe desire to drink so overwhelming, that Alroy again urged on the steedtowards the mountains, where he knew that he should find a well. Thecourser dashed willingly forward, and seemed to share his master'sdesire to quit the arid and exhausting wilderness.

  More than once the unhappy fugitive debated whether he should not allowhimself to drop from his seat and die; no torture that could await himat Hamadan but seemed preferable to the prolonged and inexpressibleanguish which he now endured. As he rushed along, leaning on hisbearer's neck, he perceived a patch of the desert that seemed of adarker colour than the surrounding sand. Here, he believed, mightperhaps be found water. He tried to check the steed, but with difficultyhe succeeded, and with still greater difficulty dismounted. He kneltdown, and feebly raked up the sand with his hands. It was moist. Henearly fainted over his fruitless labour. At length, when he had dugabout a foot deep, there bubbled up some water. He dashed in his hand,but it was salt as the ocean. When the horse saw the water his earsrose, but, when he smelt it, he turned away his head, and neighed mostpiteously.

  'Alas, poor beast!' exclaimed Alroy, 'I am the occasion of thysuffering, I, who would be a kind master to thee, if the world would letme. Oh, that we were once more by my own fair fountain! The thought ismadness. And Miriam too! I fear I am sadly tender-hearted.' He leantagainst his horse's back, with a feeling of utter exhaustion, and burstinto hysteric sobs.

  And the steed softly moaned, and turned its head, and gently rubbed itsface against his arm, as if to solace him in his suffering. And strange,but Alroy was relieved by having given way to his emotion, and, charmedwith the fondness of the faithful horse, he leant down and took water,and threw it over its feet to cool them, and wiped the foam from itsface, and washed it, and the horse again neighed.

  And now Alroy tried to remount, but his strength failed him, and thehorse immediately knelt down and received him. And the moment that thePrince was in his seat, the horse rose, and again proceeded at a rapidpace in their old direction. Towards sunset they were within a few milesof the broken and rocky ground into which the mountains descended; andafar off Alroy recognised the cupola of the long-expected well. Withre-animated courage and rallied energies he patted his courser's neck,and pointed in the direction of the cupola, and the horse pricked up itsears, and increased its pace.

  Just us the sun set, they reached the well. Alroy jumped off the horse,and would have led it to the fountain, but the animal would not advance.It stood shivering with a glassy eye, and then with a groan fell downand died.

  Night brings rest; night brings solace; rest to the weary, solace to thesad. And to the desperate night brings despair.

  The moon has sunk to early rest; but a thousand stars are in the sky.The mighty mountains rise severe in the clear and silent air. In theforest all is still. The tired wind no longer roams, but has lightlydropped on its leafy couch, and sleeps like man. Silent all but thefountain's drip. And by the fountain's side a youth is lying.

  Suddenly a creature steals through the black and broken rocks. Ha, ha!the jackal smells from afar the rich corruption of the courser's clay.Suddenly and silently it steals, and stops, and smells. Brave banquetingI ween to-night for all that goodly company. Jackal, and fox, andmarten-cat, haste ye now, ere morning's break shall call the vulture tohis feast and rob you of your prey.

  The jackal lapped the courser's blood, and moaned with exquisitedelight. And in a moment, a faint bark was heard in the distance. Andthe jackal peeled the flesh from one of the ribs, and again burst into ashriek of mournful ecstasy.

  Hark, their quick tramp! First six, and then three, galloping withungodly glee. And a marten-cat came rushing down from the woods; butthe jackals, fierce in their number, drove her away, and there she stoodwithout the circle, panting, beautiful, and baffled, with her whiteteeth and glossy skin, and sparkling eyes of rabid rage.[7]

  Suddenly as one of the half-gorged jackals retired from the main corpse,dragging along a stray member by some still palpitating nerves, themarten-cat made a spring at her enemy, carried off his prey, and rushedinto the woods.

  Her wild scream of triumph woke a lion from his lair. His mighty form,black as ebony, moved on a distant eminence, his tail flowed like aserpent. He roared, and the jackals trembled, and immediately ceasedfrom their banquet, turning their heads in the direction of theirsovereign's voice. He advanced; he stalked towards them. They retired;he bent his head, examined the carcass with condescending curiosity,and instantly quitted it with royal disdain. The jackals again collectedaround their garbage. The lion advanced to the fountain to drink. Hebeheld a man. His mane rose, his tail was wildly agitated, he bent overthe sleeping Prince, he uttered an awful roar, which awoke Alroy.

  He awoke; his gaze met the flaming eyes of the enormous beast fixed uponhim with a blended feeling of desire and surprise. He awoke, and from aswoon; but the dreamless trance had refreshed the exhausted energies ofthe desolate wanderer; in an instant he collected his senses, rememberedall that had passed, and comprehended his present situation. He returnedthe lion a glance as imperious, and fierce, and scrutinsing, as his own.For a moment, their flashing orbs vied in regal rivalry; but at lengththe spirit of the mere animal yielded to the genius of the man. Thelion, cowed, slunk away, stalked with haughty timidity through therocks, and then sprang into the forest.

  Morn breaks; a silver light is shed over the blue and starry sky.Pleasant to feel is the breath of dawn. Night brings repose, but daybrings joy.

  The carol of a lonely bird singing in the wilderness! A lonely bird thatsings with glee! Sunny and sweet, and light and clear, its airy notesfloat through the sky, and trill with innocent revelry.

  The lonely youth on the lonely bird upgazes from the fountain's side.High in the air it proudly floats, balancing its crimson wings, and it
ssnowy tail, long, delicate, and thin, shines like a sparkling meteor inthe sun.

  The carol of a lonely bird singing in the wilderness! Suddenly itdownward dashes, and thrice with circling grace it flies around the headof the Hebrew Prince. Then by his side it gently drops a bunch of freshand fragrant dates.

  'Tis gone, 'tis gone! that cheerful stranger, gone to the palmy land itloves; gone like a bright and pleasant dream. A moment since and it wasthere, glancing in the sunny air, and now the sky is without a guest.Alas, alas! no more is heard the carol of that lonely bird singing inthe wilderness.

  'As thou didst feed Elijah, so also hast thou fed me, God of myfathers!' And Alroy arose, and he took his turban and unfolded it,and knelt and prayed. And then he ate of the dates, and drank of thefountain, and, full of confidence in the God of Israel, the descendantof David pursued his flight.

  He now commenced the ascent of the mountainous chain, a wearisome andpainful toil. Two hours past noon he reached the summit of the firstridge, and looked over a wild and chaotic waste full of precipicesand ravines, and dark unfathomable gorges. The surrounding hills wereploughed in all directions by the courses of dried-up cataracts, andhere and there a few savage goats browsed on an occasional patch oflean and sour pasture. This waste extended for many miles; the distanceformed by a more elevated range of mountains, and beyond these, high inthe blue sky, rose the loftiest peaks of Elburz,[8] shining with sharpglaciers of eternal snow.

  It was apparent that Alroy was no stranger in the scene of his flight.He had never hesitated as to his course, and now, after having restedfor a short time on the summit, he descended towards the left by anatural but intricate path, until his progress was arrested by a blackravine. Scarcely half a dozen yards divided him from the oppositeprecipice by which it was formed, but the gulf beneath, no one couldshoot a glance at its invisible termination without drawing back with acold shudder.

  The Prince knelt down and examined the surrounding ground with greatcare. At length he raised a small square stone which covered a metallicplate, and, taking from his vest a carnelian talisman covered withstrange characters, he knocked thrice upon the plate with the signet.A low solemn murmur sounded around. Presently the plate flew off, andAlroy pulled forth several yards of an iron chain, which he threw overto the opposite precipice. The chain fastened without difficulty tothe rock, and was evidently constrained by some magnetic influence.The Prince, seizing the chain with both his hands, now swung acrossthe ravine. As he landed, the chain parted from the rock, swiftlydisappeared down the opposite aperture, and its covering closed with thesame low, solemn murmur as before.

  Alroy proceeded for about a hundred paces through a natural cloisterof basalt until he arrived at a large uncovered court of the sameformation, which a stranger might easily have been excused for believingto have been formed and smoothed by art. In its centre bubbled up aperpetual spring, icy cold; the stream had worn a channel through thepavement, and might be traced for some time wandering among the rocks,until at length it leaped from a precipice into a gorge below, in agauzy shower of variegated spray. Crossing the court, Alroy now entereda vast cavern.

  The cavern was nearly circular in form, lighted from a large aperturein the top. Yet a burning lamp, in a distant and murky corner, indicatedthat its inhabitant did not trust merely to this natural source of thegreat blessing of existence. In the centre of the cave was a circularand brazen table, sculptured with strange characters and mysteriousfigures: near it was a couch, on which lay several volumes.[9] Suspendedfrom the walls were a shield, some bows and arrows, and other arms.

  As the Prince of the Captivity knelt down and kissed the vacant couch, afigure advanced from the extremity of the cavern into the light. Hewas a man of middle age, considerably above the common height, witha remarkably athletic frame, and a strongly-marked but majesticcountenance. His black beard descended to his waist, over a dark redrobe, encircled by a black girdle embroidered with yellow characters,like those sculptured on the brazen table. Black also was his turban,and black his large and luminous eye.

  The stranger advanced so softly, that Alroy did not perceive him, untilthe Prince again rose.

  'Jabaster!' exclaimed the Prince.

  'Sacred seed of David,' answered the Cabalist,[10] 'thou art expected. Iread of thee in the stars last night. They spoke of trouble.'

  'Trouble or triumph, Time must prove which it is, great master. Atpresent I am a fugitive and exhausted. The bloodhounds track me, butmethinks I have baffled them now. I have slain an Ishmaelite.'